This past Wednesday and Thursday the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) made an appearance in the Brickyard at NC State. The mission of this project is as follows.
"As part of its Genocide Awareness Project, The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform exhibits large photo murals comparing aborted babies with Jewish Holocaust victims, African Americans killed in racist lynchings, Native Americans exterminated by the US Army, etc. Our purpose is to illuminate the conceptual similarities which exist between abortion and more widely recognized forms of genocide."
The Holocaust, like the other genocides mentioned, demonstrates how groups of isolated people were annihilated based upon their way of life as well as uncontrollable factors, like the way they were born. The Nazis dehumanized inferior groups such as Jews, homosexuals, and others who were viewed as insects that were necessary to exterminate.
Now, I can't imagine for a second that this is a process of a women who decides to have an abortion. Please explain to me how a 17 year old college freshman, who is no where near potentially ready to start family, has become comparable to a Nazi.
I make no arguments for or against choice. However, I am quite offended by this misguided disrespect of this sensitive event. To use the Holocaust, and by association its victims and survivors to further a political agenda, is dehumanization. A similar tactic the Nazis used almost a half a century ago.
Not only are the images used in the display very graphic, they are quite disturbing. I knew, via student media outlets, that this protest would be out there. However, a majority of my peers were unaware and offended of the scene we found on the Brickyard.
First of all, I'm fairly certain there have been students to make the decision to have an abortion, so is it really necessary to remind them of that decision? I know not one single person that has had an abortion that happily made the choice and is not constantly reminded of it every time they see a newborn or a toddler.
Secondly, it is not okay to use a political agenda to scare pregnant women into not having an abortion. There are far better ways to discourage this decision, like directing them to a local pregnancy resource center where all of the options can be explored.
Lastly, for those who haven't decided to make that choice, most of us sat through health class in high school. We know about what fetuses look like during gestation, so why is it necessary to show us these bloody and cruel images in a popular area on campus.
The website that promotes the GAP is called abortionsno.org. So, obviously, it is a pro-life, anti-abortion supporter. However, please ask yourself this question. Does making abortion illegal decrease abortion or make safe abortion illegal?
According to a study done by BBC, it found that all regions of the world have abortion rates that range from 20 to 40 abortions per 1,000 women. However, in regions where abortion is illegal, nearly all of the abortions are unsafe.
I am not naive enough to think that even "safe" abortion is really safe, as I know there are often other long term medical implications such as heightened risk for ovarian cancer, premature or handicap newborns later on, or even death. However, death and these risks are much more common when abortions are not performed by trained personnel.
Unfortunately, the GAP is not the first to compare abortion to the Holocaust. A film called 180 found on YouTube, with an accompanying book, also makes this obscene comparison. “Saying it’s okay to choose is the same thing as saying it’s okay for Hitler to choose,” says a man from the film. Here we go again, with comparing what is typically a young pregnant woman to a mastermind behind the death of 6.6 million people.
"It is blasphemy to reduce a tragedy of such monumental proportions to this human tragedy, and abortion is a human tragedy," Elie Wiesel, a renowned author and Holocaust survivor tells On The Issues Magazine.
Wiesel explains that he refuses to believe that an abortion is an easy decision for a woman, and he expresses frustration with calling the woman a "killer."
Whether you're pro-choice, pro-life or however you choose to define yourself, please think twice before you devalue the traumatic and life-altering experiences that Holocaust survivors and victims endured.
