Marquette feminists condemn Church's 'oppressive' pro-life stance

Marquette’s feminism club has now publicly condemned Thursday’s pro-life display at the Catholic institution as “damaging to the mental health of students” and an act of “public shaming.”

The “Marquette Empowerment” student group—which “strives to maintain an environment in which each individual opinion is valued”—slammed the pro-life display as a means of “stigmatizing abortion” in a letter Sunday, though the statement also offered a half hearted condemnation of students who vandalized the display with pro-abortion literature.

[RELATED: Marquette Dems celebrate defacement of pro-life memorial]

“The ‘Memorial of the Unborn’ is a display which directly undermines this healing by further stigmatizing abortion,” the letter states. “Rather than fostering discussion and understanding, the display is damaging to the mental health of students and a disturbing act of public shaming.”

As Campus Reform initially reported, the annual pro-life display put on by “Marquette for Life” was vandalized and defaced, an act which was later celebrated by the school’s College Democrats.

Now, Marquette Empowerment is criticizing the Catholic institution for its stance on abortion, even celebrating the 100-year anniversary of Planned Parenthood in its letter.

“Empowerment acknowledges the extreme challenges of navigating and understanding sexual health, along with concepts of reproductive justice, with a Catholic identity or at a Jesuit university,” the letter asserts before criticizing “the denial of comprehensive health care (which includes sexual health care) to students by our institution” as a “personal issue by which we are all affected.”

[RELATED: GW prof gives extra credit for pro-abortion, pro-Dem event]

“This year, we celebrate 100 years of Planned Parenthood, an organization that has continuously supported the health and well-being of our community and the protection of our rights, where our institution fails us,” the group notes.

The letter concludes by mocking “the harmful nature” of the previous year’s pro-life display, which “employed crosses to emulate a ‘fetus graveyard.’”

After several students apparently complained to the school’s administration about the crosses, Marquette for Life decided to use pink and blue flags in their place, but still faced criticism this year for promoting “the gender binary.”

[RELATED: Student senate says admins should take pay cut to fund on-campus abortions]

“The shift to pink and blue—gendered—flags offers no recompense to those interested in human rights and, rather, demonstrates the harmful and misguided conflation of sex and gender and promotion of the gender binary,” the letter declares, advising students not to listen “when people tell you to be more tolerant of other’s intolerance.”

Notably, the school’s Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) chapter has called on Marquette’s president to denounce that act of vandalism, as Vice President of Student Affairs Xavier Cole has already done, saying in a press release obtained by Campus Reform that the president “refused to defend the pro-life students and the dignity of the unborn.”

“As Dr. Cole wrote, Marquette’s mission requires the respect and dignity of all individuals,” the YAF group points out. “The Young Americans for Freedom-Marquette call on President Michael Lovell and the university to stand up to both the vandalism and the unborn. With this act, liberals made clear: conservatives and the unborn are not safe in the space of a university.”

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @AGockowski