Update: Story has been updated to include statements from Secular Pro-Life.
Students at the University of North Georgia gave away fetus-shaped cookies to students who then wrote perverse justifications for legalized abortion as part of an event.
Last week, the Skeptics Society held a tabling event and asked students to finish the phrase “Abortion Should Remain Legal Because.”
The event received attention after blogger Matt Walsh shared a picture from “a reader named Carly” on his Facebook page. Some of the answers included typical pro-choice talking points, but others were crude novelties.
Walsh’s commentary on the post addressed the irony of how hyper-sensitive college students have reacted to much less than this, noting (emphasis in original):
Georgia Right to Life last week shared pictures of the Skeptics Society’s table, as well as their own pro-life presence, of which they noted a “stark contrast.”
One of the pictures posted by the group included a response which read “It’s constitutionally protected!” with a smiley face, and included a cookie which had the unborn child’s head separated from the rest.
The Skeptics Society addressed the controversy on their Facebook page, which included the claim that using cookies was “the least graphic way” to make a point.
The group’s mission “is to seek to engage in collaborative conversation and critical thought through the spread of secular tolerance.” The page also notes that “this group is not only religious discussion, but critical debate over a variety of topics in order to engage members in skeptical thinking.”
Secular Students Alliance, which the Skeptics Society is a chapter of, also provides a “group discussion guide” for abortion.
That the group would associate a secular or atheist view on the abortion issue reflects assumptions and stereotypes that one need be religious in order to be pro-life. It also neglects to acknowledge the existence of pro-life groups such as Secular Pro-Life (SPL) and Pro-Life Humanists.
SPL president Kelsey Hazzard told Red Alert Politics in an e-mail statement that the tabling may further a false perception of secular pro-lifers. “This incident will no doubt contribute to the popular perception of secular people as anti-child, which is a shame. The truth is that non-religious Americans are incredibly diverse, and millions of us acknowledge the humanity of children in the womb,” she explained.
