Letter to the Editor: Crosses placed by Students for Life create shame

This is our Letter to the Editor of the University News in this weeks paper:

In “celebration” of Respect Life Month, SLU Students for Life has kindly turned our quad in to a graveyard. The Cemetery of the Innocents is a yearly display of wooden crosses, each of which signify a certain number of abortions performed daily. This year the crosses are decorated with colored ribbons which represent the country in which the abortions are performed and proportionally represent pregnancy terminations by nationality. The cemetery, however, is an intentionally misleading display and an incomplete homage to Respect Life Month.

The question of terminating a pregnancy has never been, and never will be, simple enough to carve out of wood. When a woman finds it necessary to make a decision that will profoundly affect her future, she is confronted with more complicated questions than whether she wants children. Resources, timing, those she is dependent upon and those dependent upon her are all substantial and emotional variables that affect her choice. Simplifying this heartbreaking process into a morbid display of loss is ignorant and cruel. Instead of enlightening SLU students on the reality of abortions, the cemetery serves to shame those who have made a very difficult decision.

Similarly, the cemetery is an inadequate tribute to what Respect Life Month should represent. By focusing only on abortion and ignoring the millions of people that die for unjust reasons, Students for Life has created a hierarchy of worthiness. Those who claim to fight for life should be concerned with the causalities of war, capital punishment, starvation and disease, among other things. The cemetery promotes the belief that life is only worth protecting in the womb. Post birth, death begins to lose its sadness.

Next year, Students for Life should hold themselves to a higher standard, one that respects the lives of the women that were forced to make these decisions and one that encompasses the varied and complex instances of loss.

- Written by B*llikens for Choice.

Make sure your voices are heard on this. Feel free to comment on the actual article here:

http://www.unewsonline.com/2011/10/13/letter-to-the-editor-crosses-placed-by-students-for-life-create-shame/

We're Back!!!

It’s time to get the ball rolling again, folks, and B*llikens for Choice is officially back in action!

We haven’t updated in a while, so let’s refresh your memories about who we are and what we do.

Our mission statement:

B*llikens for Choice is a group of Saint Louis University** students who are pro-choice, pro-reproductive justice, and pro-sexual health. We support everyone’s right to make independent choice about their body and their sexuality, including (but not limited to): the choice to have sex, to remain abstinent, to use contraception, to have an abortion, to become a parent and to express their sexuality in whatever ways they choose to express it. We believe that people deserve information about and access to all available options in order to make safe, informed and independent decisions. As such, B*llikens for Choice believes SLU has fallen short by not providing its students adequate information on sexual health, birth control or pregnancy services. SLU is a Jesuit institution founded on the principle that “serious and sustained discourse among people of different faiths, cultures, and beliefs promotes intellectual, ethical and spiritual understanding.” We believe that active discourse around sexual health and reproductive choice fulfills this mission, and that pro-choice students must be integral participants in this discussion.

**Please note, B*llikens for Choice is a financially and ideologically independent collective of individual, independent students. Any views expressed in this blog are the views of the individual, and do not imply endorsement or support by Saint Louis University or the Society of Jesus. 

There’s the “who.” As for the what, we’re gearing up for another year of promoting informed decision and educated choice on SLU’s campus. We’re here to provide you with information about sexual health and safe sex upon request, and we’ll be happy to serve as a resource for you any way we can. Please keep in mind, however, that we are not trained professionals. We are just students who encourage wise choices when it comes to sex and sexuality. If we do not feel we can assist you in the best way you can be assisted, we can direct you to one of many wonderful organizations who can. Don’t be afraid to contact us with any questions, comments, or concerns!

Also, condoms. The Condom Fairy is back in business and is ready to fulfill your condom wishes! To receive three, free condoms and some nifty information, send your MSC box number to prochoiceslu@gmail.com. The Fairy will get those to you ASAP, so keep an eye out!

And feel free to send us an email if you’d like to get involved with B*llikens for Choice or have suggestions for things you would like to see us do or post about. We’d love to get your feedback.

Be sure to check this blog for useful information about the cause and about upcoming events and activities in the future. Feel free to also follow us on Twitter (@ProChoiceSLUe) and Like us on Facebook!