Pro-choice, anti-speech

[Conor Friedersdorf]

Kids on college campuses really have a talent for acting out the worst tendencies of the left:

In response to a series of controversies over abortion debates on Canadian campuses, the student government of York University in Toronto has tabled an outright ban on student clubs that are opposed to abortion.


Gilary Massa, vice-president external of the York Federation of Students, said student clubs will be free to discuss abortion in student space, as long as they do it "within a pro-choice realm," and that all clubs will be investigated to ensure compliance.

"You have to recognize that a woman has a choice over her own body," Ms. Massa said. "We think that these pro-life, these anti-choice groups, they're sexist in nature ... The way that they speak about women who decide to have abortions is demoralizing. They call them murderers, all of them do ... Is this an issue of free speech? No, this is an issue of women's rights."

The vaunted right to not have people disagree with you in ways you find offensive. Here's a weird detail:

Margaret Fung, co-president of York's Students for Bioethical Awareness, the school's only anti-abortion group, was not consulted.


"It's just very strange that I was never contacted," she said. "I guess that means we can't use the student centre building."

Somehow I'm not surprised that they didn't call her up. The school's administration, to its credit, is criticizing the policy.