Sense Project

On Tuesday, October 6^th, Choose Life will host “Echoes of the Holocaust”, a presentation by co-founder of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform and acclaimed speaker on pro-life topics, Jose Ruba. Indeed, Ruba will be drawing parallels between abortion and genocide.

Choose Life is a pro-life club at McGill in support of Ruba’s claim that abortion is an act of “dehumanization and denial of personhood” - two processes, he argues, that have “justified some of the greatest affronts to human dignity that the world has seen, including the Holocaust”. For more details of the event, click here.

Interestingly, pro-choice advocates are in the midst of trying to pass a motion that would prevent this event from happening on the grounds that this presentation “targets” women and their right to choose. They, also, claim that the parallels being drawn to the Holocaust are offensive and classify as “hate-speech”. So, they are inviting members of the pro-choice community to organize at SSMU’s office board room on Friday, October 2^nd @ 5PM. For additional details, please e-mail prochoicemcgill@googlegroups.com or choice.mcgill@gmail.com.

So, what do you think of what’s going on? Do you find that bringing the Holocaust into pro-life discourse is offensive or creative? Moreover, do you think this event should be stopped?

I’m pro-choice but I’m also against censorship. But, that’s just me…

Make your voices heard!!!

In this Gazette story, Health & Social Services Minister Yves Bolduc backtracks on his new bill to impose new regulations on private clinics in Quebec, including abortion clinics.

Bill 34 requires all private clinics that perform operations/surgeries to upgrade their standards to those of specialized operating rooms. This means that all special medical clinics would have to pay for these upgrades, which maybe makes sense if they offer knee surgeries, but abortions are actually a relatively uncomplicated medical procedure.

Now the gov’t is backing off a bit, in response to criticisms from the abortion clinics themselves, community groups like Head & Hands, the College of Physicians, and the Quebec Federation of Specialists.

Here’s what Bolduc’s press aide says:

[The new regulations] were standard norms for all. What we have seen is the norms, as applied to abortion clinics, are maybe not necessary.

The reform could force Montreal clinics like l’Alternative and Morgentaler to shut down if they can’t absorb the costs!

Shutting down even one abortion clinic in this city represents a huge loss, not to mention in Quebec’s rural areas.  Specialized abortion clinics tend to offer a more empowering approach to women’s health, usually because women know that all the staff there support their right to choose.  And it’s not a medicalized, hospital-like environment, which is freaky enough in itself.  Plus, abortions are now covered under public medical insurance even when it takes place in a private clinic.

Turning abortion clinics into operating rooms OR shutting them down?  That’s what I call a restriction on women’s access to reproductive choice.

Check out our own Jos on CTV and then again on Global, talking about this issue when it first hit the fan.

The bill was scheduled to pass on Sept. 30th, but it looks like it will have to be seriously revised before then.

Hard to say if this move was underhanded or just an oversight, but we all know that women’s reproductive freedom is far from secure.  Bill C-484, anyone?

Here is an informative and thoughtful article entitled: Late-term Abortions: Facts, Stories and Ways to Help, written for the Huffington Post by Jodi Jacobson, founder of the U.S.-based Center for Health and Gender Equity , and a women’s health advocate. It sheds some light on the myths and facts about late-term abortions, particularly in the states.

The article follows the extremely unfortunate death of Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the United States who was willing to perform late-term abortions, who was tragically shot to death while at church this past Sunday. As the article reveals, there are a lot of misconceptions about late-term abortions floating around not only the conservative media outlets, but the public health advocacy community as well. Jacobson emphasizes the fact that we should listen to the voices of the people Dr. Tiller treated, advocated for, and worked with, rather than the sensationalist talking-heads in the media. Through stories of women who have undergone late-term abortions, she reveals that it is a decision made out of love and responsibility to one’s self and one’s family.

Canada is one of the few countries in the world that does not have legal limits on abortion. CBC recently published a timeline of significant moments in Canadian abortion rights history. Do you think abortion rights are currently under threat in Canada?

I just ran across this interesting story on Boing Boing, which comes from a Yahoo! Answers post. This relates to issues peer educators from the Sense Project may sometimes face, as high school administrations are not always open to letting students run activities related to sex education or distribute condoms to other students. Here’s the story.

I go to a private school that is rather strict. Recently, the principal and school teacher council released a (very long) list of books we’re not allowed to read. I was absolutely appalled, because a large number of the books were classics and others that are my favorites. One of my personal favorites, The Catcher in the Rye, was on the list, so I decided to bring it to school to see if I would really get in trouble. Well… I did but not too much. Then (surprise!) a boy in my English class asked if he could borrow the book, because he heard it was very good AND it was banned! This happened a lot and my locker got to overflowing with the banned books, so I decided to put the unoccupied locker next to me to a good use. I now have 62 books in that locker, about half of what was on the list. I took care only to bring the books with literary quality. Some of these books are:

>The Perks of Being a Wallflower
>His Dark Materials trilogy
>Sabriel
>The Canterbury Tales
>Candide
>The Divine Comedy
>Paradise Lost
>The Godfather
>Mort
>Interview with the Vampire
>The Hunger Games
>The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
>A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court
>Animal Farm
>The Witches
>Shade’s Children
>The Evolution of Man
> the Holy Qu’ran
… and lots more.

Anyway, I now operate a little mini-library that no one has access to but myself. Practically a real library, because I keep an inventory log and give people due dates and everything. I would be in so much trouble if I got caught, but I think it’s the right thing to do because before I started, almost no kid at school but myself took an active interest in reading! Now not only are all the kids reading the banned books, but go out of their way to read anything they can get their hands on. So I’m doing a good thing, right? Oh, and since you’re probably wondering “Why can’t you just go to a local library and check out the books?” most of the kids are too chicken or their parents won’t let them but the books. I think that people should have open minds. Most of the books were banned because they contained information that opposed Catholisism. I limit my ‘library’ to only the sophmores, juniors and seniors just in case so you can’t say I’m exposing young people to materiel they’re not mature enough for. But is what I’m doing wrong because parents and teachers don’t know about it and might not like it, or is it a good thing because I am starting appreciation of the classics and truly good novels (Not just fad novels like Twilight) in my generation?

“Kid keeping a library of banned books in her locker” on Boing Boing

Original post from the student on Yahoo! Answers