Why we should allow a pro-choice club

To further the discussion over the polarizing issue of having a pro-choice club on campus, I believe it should not matter your opinion on the issue. Despite this being a Catholic institution, there are many pro-choice people on campus.

The pro-choice crowd has respected the existence of the pro-life club and their views on campus. If we as a campus truly believe in having a strong community, we must respect the differences in opinions of polarizing issues. Even if the message is unpopular, we should respect people who desire to gather and congregate peacefully to discuss their beliefs and ideologies.

What type of community would we be if we shamed more than half the campus for not having the ‘right’ opinion? Why stop there when we can judge students for not going to Mass every weekend? Abortion is a really divisive issue if you all haven’t noticed. Instead of trying to exclude some people’s thoughts and ideas over the issue, we should instead welcome a broader diversity of thought.

Even if we assume abortion is murder and assume pro-life is the “correct” way to think, we should still allow others to disagree and meet to discuss their ideas. The main argument used against establishing a pro-choice club is that this is a Catholic University. By authorizing the club, the school sanctions it. Since the Church is officially against abortion, that means CSB+SJU is to some degree sponsoring the pro-choice message. So some may argue this goes against the beliefs of the faith and by extension, the school. To respond to this argument, CSB+SJU is not bound by Church doctrine or any religious texts.

Secondly, giving an incredibly small amount of money and allowing this club to exist doesn’t necessarily mean the school is changing its stance on abortion since the pro-life club still would exist. The university has indirectly given money to the pro-choice message before, since the College Democrats exists.

Thirdly, instead of thinking of this issue as whether or not CSB+SJU supports abortion or not, think of it as CSB+SJU is promoting a diversity of thought and encourages a dialogue between the community regarding this topic. CSB+SJU would be one of the only Catholic universities to allow the creation of a pro-choice club on campus in the country, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it would just go to show that CSB+SJU actually cares about its community and the opinions thereof.

Regardless of my own opinion of abortion, I firmly believe that the school should allow for a club which represents the opinions of many students to be created.