“An anti-choice terrorist group.” That was how one pro-choice student described  the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, the group which puts on the Genocide  Awareness Project on college campuses throughout North America, in an e-mail the day before G.A.P. even debuted at U of M on Sept. 25th. Without having even seen the display or knowing an iota about the people who were behind it, this student had already labeled the upcoming G.A.P. display as unworthy to be heard. Why? The pro-choice groups and their allies would later try to come up with a variety of so-called reasons, such as that it was too “insensitive” and too graphic, it blocked student access to the Diag, and yes, that it was even racist and sexist (despite the fact that ironically the G.A.P. participants were about 10 times as more diverse than the handful of pro-choice fanatics who came out to spew hate in their face). But the real reason as to why the handful of pro-choice crazies opposed G.A.P. was that they feared its power to change the minds of students, and the fact is their fear was well placed because it has.

The Genocide Awareness Project was invited to come to U of M by Students for Life. SFL is very proud of the fact that it approached the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform about G.A.P. and that the situation was not reversed. SFL brought G.A.P. to campus as part of its on going effort to convert the campus from a culture of death, which supports abortion, euthanasia, assisted-suicide, and the death penalty, to a culture which respects life in all its stages of development, from womb to tomb. In bringing G.A.P. to campus SFL had three main goals: 1) to save the lives of the unborn, 2) to educate students through a visual, yet very logical, comparison of why abortion is in fact a form of genocide, and 3) to help those women who may have experienced an abortion to come to terms with what happened and to begin the healing process. Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, or in favor of SFL’s bringing G.A.P. to campus or not, one thing all can agree on is that G.A.P. sparked enormous debate here at U of M.  It caused everyone to re-examine his or her beliefs in light of the visual evidence and intellectual argument that G.A.P. displayed for all to see on the Diag for two extraordinary days. SFL deems the Genocide Awareness Project a huge success. The fact that SFL could bring G.A.P. here with very little opposition reaffirms the fact that over the past year SFL has dominated the abortion issue on campus. We have been one of the most active groups on campus, as evidenced by last year’s Tombstones for the Unborn event, candlelight vigil on the Diag, public video showings, our participation in the March for Life in Washington, D.C. for the first time ever, bringing a national pro-life speaker to campus, and the list goes on.

Meanwhile the pro-choice groups on campus have done nothing. It was no surprise then that only a handful of pro-choice fanatics with their signs and their idiotic chanting showed up to oppose G.A.P. Their silly, childish antics simply reinforced the notion in most students’ minds that if nothing else the pro-choice student groups were the ones that were desperate, not SFL.  We weren’t reacting to them, they were reacting to us.  SFL is on the offensive here on campus; they are on the defensive and have been for quite some time. This year SFL has an eleven-member leadership team, which is thoroughly dedicated to changing the culture. We have nearly 50 active members (and growing) whom are enthusiastic and motivated to achieve our goals, hence the fact that nearly 20 SFL members actively participated behind the barricades of the G.A.P. display.

SFL knows that it is far from winning the war for students’ minds and hearts on campus and that it must continue to challenge the culture of death and fight new pro-choice attitudes, most recently in regards to the legalization of RU-486, the so-called abortion pill. But we also know that the culture is changing and that with educational events such as G.A.P. we have the pro-choice groups on campus scrambling in desperation because they now know that they are indeed losing.

Guest Editorial submitted by Andrew Shirvell President of Students for Life.