by Matt Martinez
Daily Lobo guest columnist
An exhibit by Justice for All - a nonpartisan, nonreligious organization - is now in the last day of its stay at UNM. The group's goal of creating dialogue about the issue of abortion was a success, as hundreds of students engaged in critical thinking about a sensitive and under-discussed issue on campus.
While many people were glad the display was on campus, others protested, claiming that Justice for All should have been barred from campus or effectively neutered in its presentation. Many claim that the student population should not be forced to deal with pictures that they consider disgusting or offensive. However, if the display accurately portrays the death of unborn children, then shouldn't one at least be as angry at the act of abortion as he or she is at the pictures of the act?
Pro-choice feminist Naomi Wolf has criticized people who say that pictures like these are disgusting and hurtful, especially toward women. She writes, "How can we charge that it is vile and repulsive for pro-lifers to brandish vile and repulsive images if the images are real? To insist that the truth is in poor taste is the very height of hypocrisy. Besides, if these images are often the facts of the matter, and if we then claim that it is offensive for pro-choice women to be confronted by them, then we are making the judgment that women are too inherently weak to face a truth about which they have to make a grave decision. This view of women is unworthy of feminism."
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Some students conceded that Justice For All had a right to show the pictures but should have done so in an enclosed space away from the general public. However, this requirement would have effectively placed a muzzle over Justice For All's right to free speech and severely hampered its efforts to spread its message. If other groups, like those who are opposed to the war in Iraq or genocide in Darfur, are presumably allowed to display upsetting imagery to save the lives of born human beings, then shouldn't Justice For All be allowed to do the same in order to save unborn babies?
Another critique leveled at Justice For All is that members don't do anything to help reduce abortions by helping women who are considering abortion find alternatives. Exposing injustice has historically motivated people to take an active part in ending that injustice. Those responsible for the Justice For All exhibit have previously helped start crisis pregnancy centers and have adopted unwanted children. How many of us, pro-life or pro-choice, regularly help families in crisis or adopt children?
It is too convenient to claim the unborn are not human beings. We encourage you to visit the display today and evaluate the visual and scientific evidence in favor of the humanity of the unborn. This controversial issue deserves rational discussion, and Justice For All staff and volunteers will not yell, intimidate or threaten you - unlike some of their opposition.
Justice For All welcomes dialogue and favors the search for answers. It upholds the tradition of the University being a free market of ideas and a haven of civil discourse and understanding.
Matt Martinez is a member of Justice For All
