Tensions Rise at G.U. With Visit by Planned Parenthood Head

Administrators at Georgetown University, a Catholic institution, have repeatedly refused to prohibit the president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, from speaking on campus. The speech is set to take place April 20.

The Georgetown University Right to Life group condemned the invitation, extended by the Lecture Fund, a nonpartisan student-run organization, as contrary to the school’s Catholic values. Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in the country.

As a reaction to Richards’s much publicized visit, another student-run organization, Georgetown Right to Life, has invited a speaker from the opposing side. Abby Johnson, an anti-abortion activist, is scheduled to speak from the pulpit in the university’s Dahlgren Chapel the same day. Johnson is a former Planned Parenthood clinic director, who won “Employee of the Year” in 2008 from the organization. She abandoned her pro-choice views after reportedly observing an ultrasound of an abortion in 2009, during which she witnessed what she interpreted as the fetus squirming in reaction to the procedure.

Michael Khan, president of Georgetown Right to Life, has denounced the university “for allowing Cecile Richards to speak unchallenged.” He said he hopes that Johnson will illuminate “Planned Parenthood’s careless disregard for human life,” with her “life-affirming message.”

In addition to Johnson’s talk, Georgetown Right to Life will be hosting “Flag Day” on April 20. Members of the group plan to plant 3,600 miniature flags on Copley Lawn to represent the number of fetuses terminated daily in the United States.

Hyas for Choice [sic, see below], Georgetown’s unofficial and unrecognized pro-choice group, has admitted its disappointment at the protest and invitation of Johnson. Hyas for Choice President Sophia Kleyman stated that the “dialogue in opposition to Planned Parenthood is not only factually incorrect but also damaging and triggering to people who have sought their services.”

The university refuses to recognize the group due to its un-Catholic mission.

The word, “Hoyas,” is a register trademark of the university and as such cannot be used by the group.

Georgetown University President John DeGioia has trod a moderate path in reaction to the recent tension on campus over the issue of abortion. He has simultaneously affirmed Georgetown’s commitment to “academic freedom and freedom of speech” and to the importance of the dignity of life. On April 12, the university hosted a panel event, entitled “Resisting the ‘Throwaway Culture’: Protecting Human Life and Dignity.”