Abortion and the Media

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Carrying banners and posters, University students climbed aboard a bus. Five hours after they left they arrived in Washington, DC, where they joined the March for Life demonstration against abortion. After hearing prominent pro-life leaders speak at the Ellipse near the White House, the rally-goers marched up Constitution Avenue to the Supreme Court building, origin of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision.

It's news to most people that every January, usually on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, tens of thousands of people take part in the March for Life to protest abortion. In the early '90s, when the U.S. Park Service still estimated attendance numbers at Washington marches, officials reported around 200,000 people gathered for the event.

This year was the first time the University sent an organized group to the march, and the group was greeted with surprise by other marchers. "I think people reacted strongly to the presence of the University banner at the March," said junior Mike McClane. "University, I think, signifies to many people - and particularly the type that would attend the March for Life - an institution that supports liberalism, political correctness, and many cultural values that pro-lifers are not in favor of."

Most of the pro-life crowd closely follow issues in bioethics. President Harold Shapiro's advisory role to the Clinton administration and the recent faculty appointment of controversial bioethics professor Peter Singer have put University in the spotlight.

"Many of the people at the March were aware of the presence of Peter Singer on our campus, and came up to us with comments related to that subject. Overall, given University’s reputation with pro-lifers, I think many peop...

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...y of 1993 abortionist David Benjamin was convicted of murder in New York after a messy abortion killed Guadalupe Negron. Earlier that year, Angela Ruiz Hanna, a woman with no medical training who still performed abortions, killed Angela Neito Sanchez during an botched abortion. Sanchez had arrived at the clinic with two of her children.

Suresh Gandora lost his California abortion license after he perforated Magdalena Ortega-Rodriguez's uterus and she bled to death.

All of these events, with a few exceptions, were more or less ignored by the national media.

Next January, University students will again meet in Washington to march for life. Most likely, before then we will continue to see the same type of slanted picture of abortion. And although most of us won't hear much about them, the people who gather for the March for Life are still important.

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