Group’s comparison of abortion, genocide draws ire

Beneath a large poster displaying images of aborted fetuses on The Green Thursday sat former university employee Rae Stabosz with her 10-month-old grandson bouncing on her knee. Stabosz, a volunteer at last week's anti-abortion protest, kissed and hugged her grandson, as students passing by looked on.

"Oh my God, is that a real baby?" said one student onlooker, as others debated the baby's appearance at the protest.

While some university students felt the baby was out of place at the demonstration, Stabosz found his presence fitting amidst graphic images of aborted fetuses.

"They show what choice is," Stabosz said, and lifted up her grandson. "This is what you get when you leave a zygote, and then a fetus, to grow and do what it's supposed to do. You get this little guy."  

Stabosz, who retired from her job in computer support at the university three years ago, was stationed on The Green during the student group Pro-Life Vanguard's anti-abortion protest, which continued into Friday.

The group sponsored a display by the Genocide Awareness Project, an initiative of the national anti-abortion group Center for Bioethical Reform. The project brings displays featuring photos of concentration camp victims, lynching and aborted fetuses to college campuses across the country.    

The display's comparison between abortion and genocide, as well as its use of disturbing images of concentration camp victims, has drawn criticism from the university community for the second year in a row, with students assembling next to the display in passive protest this year.

Sophomores Ben Spiegel and Sara Laskowski milled about the display Thursday. Laskowski, who participated in the sit in-style counter-protest held a few feet away from the display, said the event's sole purpose was to agitate the student body.

As a Jewish student at the university, she was offended by the display and finds the inclusion of Holocaust photos obnoxious.

"They're really just trying to be shocking to piss you off," Laskowski said. "I think realistically and logically they know that abortion is not genocide, but it makes people angry."

Spiegel, who came to speak with pro-life demonstrators at the event, said the display's comparison between genocide and abortion is illogical.

"What comparisons are you making, that people died?" Spiegel said. "That's a pretty broad comparison to make. ‘Oh, people died in the Holocaust, people die when there's abortions.' That doesn't make any sense. That's not analogous in any way."

He said the display was laced with propaganda and lacked any solid facts or information, and Laskowski agreed, saying the pro-life protesters use scare tactics to prove their point.

Kurt Linnemann, the executive director for the Center for Bioethical Reform's Maryland office, said his organization does not equate genocide with abortion, but rather draws comparisons between the two acts. He said unborn children have been designated as non-people, much like the Jews were during the Holocaust.

"They were dehumanized, they were deemed as non-people and subsequently were abused and ultimately killed," Linnemann said.

The same designation was given to the unborn in 1973, he said, with the Supreme Court's ruling on Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States.

Rabbi Jeremy Winaker, senior Jewish educator at the university's Hillel Foundation, said the timing of the protesters' appearance on campus during Holocaust Remembrance Week brought the display's offensiveness into sharp relief.

"There's no question for the Jewish community that the equation between abortion and genocide fails and dishonors the memory of those who have been victims of genocide in our world," Winaker said.

One panel distinguished between the various "actors" in abortion: "Aborting mothers are not like Nazis. Many are more like victims. But abortion doctors act like death camp doctors."   The anti-abortion display's panels featured little explanatory text.

Rabbi Eliezer Sneiderman, who works at the Chabad Center for Jewish Life on campus, called the project's use of genocide and abortion images hyperbolic.

The project's theological foundations are not grounded in Judaism, he said, where the life of the mother takes precedence over the baby and abortion, though harmful, is not equal to murder. He said the project uses images of fully formed fetuses to incite emotion and further the argument that abortion is equivalent to the murder of Jews in the Holocaust.

Sneiderman said if they used images related to early-term abortion, like those in the first trimester, their presentation would be less inflammatory.

"A microscopic picture of a fertilized egg, is that also comparable to the Holocaust?" Sneiderman said. "Why don't they use that? Why don't they use a piece of paper with a microscopic red dot, a fertilized egg, and have that next to a picture of the Holocaust?"

Winaker, who spoke with the anti-abortion protesters last year, said the display brings negative attention to what could be a meaningful campus-wide conversation on the issue.

"I feel like the Genocide Awareness Project is an example of an outside organization not fitting into campus culture, and by repeating its efforts has only diminished them," he said.

Jonathan Darnell, 29, travelled from his home in Arlington, Va. to volunteer at the protest Thursday. Standing on The Green next to a photo of small dismembered limbs of fetuses, Darnell said his organization forces people to think about their stance on abortion.

"I know it's an unpopular thing to look at and people have ideas and values that they treasure, and we're questioning that," Darnell said. "But heck, what is college for if not to grow up and test what you believe and see if it stands up under close scrutiny and reason?"