Sacred Heart pupils’ protest shows the way
by Herman Goodden of the London Free Press, June 10 on Opinion Page.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/London/Herman_Goodden/2005/06/10/1079872.html
"It will be interesting next Thursday, at the convocation ceremonies at Alumni Hall, to see how many people feel compelled to turn out, either to protest or to support UWO’s granting of an honorary doctorate of laws degree to Canada’s foremost advocate and practitioner of abortion, Dr M.
**Though polls reveal public opinion is pretty evenly divided between the anti-abortion and pro-choice camps, I expect the pro-lifers will carry the day next Thursday by a very hefty margin. **
**While the man undeniably has his acolytes, as charismatic figureheads go, Dr M. is a pretty damp squib, lacking both charm and eloquence, and given to blurting poisonous, insupportable and self-promoting bromides about how much his work has driven down crime rates in contemporary society. **
**While many are convinced that unfettered access to abortion is an important human right that must be maintained, they understandably shrink at the prospect of attesting to that conviction in a public way, particularly if it means teaming up with a man such as Dr M. **
**Their position is a tortuous one, full of nuances and counter-considerations. **
**The pickle they find themselves in is not unlike that experienced by certain social libertarians who may be instinctively opposed to any kind of censorship, but would be loath to actually turn out in support of the work of some oily pornographer whose products only degraded their cause. **
**When called upon to show their colours, not very many pro-choicers are comfortable to be seen standing shoulder to shoulder with a vain and self-serving eugenicist, waving a placard that says, in effect, “Hey, I think exterminating preborn human beings is fundamentally a good idea.” **
**Of all the preliminary protests, on campus and off, leading up to next Thursday’s convocation, none has drawn the sort of fire that greeted the silent protest of a group of Catholic elementary students, participating in a track and field meet on UWO campus. **
**In a move that was spurred by their parents, their principal and their pastor, this Grade 7 class all wore black wristbands at the May 31 meet. **
**Asked by the LFP to explain the significance of his wristband, one 12-year-old long-distance runner said, “It sort of stands for all the babies that have been killed in the moms’ stomach.” **
**Among those who were offended by this protest, two main themes have emerged, both of them articulated in that same newspaper article and a subsequent CBC Radio interview by child psychologist, Dr. Svec. **
**One of Svec’s assertions questioned the appropriateness of drawing the students into the debate in this way. “Sport is to be pure,” Svec told the paper. “Sport is about sport. You shouldn’t be bringing in other political issues.” **
**This seemed particularly rich, in light of the fact it was that same precise dynamic of school administrators and leaders imposing an agenda upon a non-political event - a university convocation - that inspired this protest in the first place. **
**As Catholic students who may one day go in search of a university to attend where the pro-life convictions of their church aren’t disregarded and insulted, it is indeed unfortunate that these students were dragged into this debate. **
**But the person who ultimately dragged them into it was UWO president Paul Davenport, in promoting the scheme to honour Dr M. in this way. **
**The second common theme showing up in various commentaries is that these pre-teen students were simply too young to be grappling with an issue as controversial as abortion. **
**As Svec said, “I don’t think they understand – nor do many of us – the complexities of this problem.” **
**Of course, 12-year-olds can’t handle complexities with the dexterity of an accredited child psychologist, but I would argue that they are therefore better equipped than most adults to discern fundamental issues of right and wrong. **
And cherishing their own lives as they do, they are far more likely than compromised adults to reject the use of a procedure so extreme as that which ends a nascent human life as a form of nothing more than sloppy, retroactive contraception."
