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Bill Blair, far right, a volunteer from the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, talks to Emily Houston, a junior at Colorado College, in the MU Quad Thursday during the Genocide Awareness Project demonstration as Meghan Nielson, a senior in sociology, protests the displays.

GAP display inspires debate

Women's Center, Genocide Awareness Project spread awareness on two sides

By: Candice Ruud

Posted: 5/23/08

Haunting images of bodies hanging from trees, emaciated and tortured concentration camp victims and 10-week-old aborted fetuses took residence in the MU Quad on Thursday as part of the Genocide Awareness Project's pro-life display.

These images were surrounded by metal barriers as a form of protection against those who might feel inclined to destroy or act out against the GAP, as some have done in the past.

According to the GAP, abortion is genocide. In their pamphlet, handed out to those who walked by in the quad, genocide is defined in Webster's New World Encyclopedia as "The deliberate and systematic destruction of a national, racial religious, political, cultural, ethnic or other group defined by the exterminators as undesirable."

The widely controversial GAP believes that this definition fits perfectly with abortion and that the "national group" described is, in this case, unwanted unborn children.

According to the pamphlet titled "Why Abortion is Genocide," one out of every three unborn children conceived in America is aborted.

"I have family members who have had abortions," said Darius Hardwick, the Northwest regional director for the Center of Bioethical Reform, the center that developed the GAP. "Everyone in my family who has had an abortion is hurting and suffering from it. I don't pile guilt onto them."

On the other side of the quad, the Women's Center set up booths and handed out free condoms and informational packets about Planned Parenthood in protest of the graphic nature of the GAP's display.

Protestors held pro-choice signs that read "My body, my choice" and held wire coat hangers to remind passersby of a time when abortion was illegal and the dangers women faced with "back alley" abortions when they had nowhere to turn.

Now, having an abortion holds less physical risk than having a tonsillectomy, said Megan Nielsen.

Nielsen, a senior in sociology who is in her first year of working for the Women's Center, said they represented a strong, educated presence needed in the quad that day to show and support the pro-choice believers on campus.

"Their argument is so one-sided and doesn't acknowledge both sides of the issue. In years past I would avoid the quad when the Genocide Awareness Project came to campus because it's scary," Nielsen said, with a sentiment that was echoed by many students.

Alisha DeVogele, a senior in health management and policy who has worked at the Women's Center for two and a half years, disagrees with the ideology of the GAP and noted that people seemed to be largely avoiding the quad on Thursday.

"I've known people who have had abortions, who have had babies and people who have given babies up for adoption. It's a spectrum. We want women to choose what's right for them," DeVogele said. "A woman's life should not be dictated solely by the parameters of her body."

Behind the metal barriers, volunteers for the GAP stood stoically, representing the seriousness of the issue.

"The unborn can't stand up for themselves, so we need to stand up for them," said Angela Schierling, a volunteer and pro-life supporter.

When asked hypothetically if she became pregnant what she would do, Schierling said that she would have the baby, regardless of the situation.

"I don't think the baby did anything to deserve death."

Dana Toma, another volunteer for the GAP, said that the parallels between images of victims of the KKK, victims of the Holocaust and images of aborted fetuses made sense to her, that it all represented genocide.

"Life is an emotional issue," Toma said. "I've known people, and family members, who have had abortions, and these people had huge regrets.

The Women's Center and the GAP, while within 30 feet of one another, respectfully and civilly represented two different views that are at odds with each other all across America.

"I think debate is healthy. In order to be an informed society we have to hear both sides of the argument," Hardwick said.

Candice Ruud, staff writer

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