Pro-life speaker at Catholic school challenged by student with pamphlets and coat hangers
St. James Catholic School in Guelph was the location of an important protest this past week. When the school hired Rebecca Kiessling to speak to the students about pro-life stances on abortion, Tyler Dillman, a grade 12 student, protested the event. He handed out pro-choice pamphlets, and hung coat hangers from students’ lockers to symbolize the dangers of restricting access to abortion.
Dillman notes the importance of seeing both sides of the issue, stating that the school’s 100 per cent pro-life stance does not open discussion and education on the salient issue of abortions. His hopes are to demonstrate to his peers that restricting abortion access does not prevent abortions, but, rather, makes them unsafe and dangerous, as women must resort to methods other than government-funded operations.
“I want every single girl in that audience to know that they have a choice. The pro-life speaker was taking that choice away from them. It was the school’s obligation to inform these students completely, and they didn’t,” explained Dillman.
Many of the school officials tried to prevent Dillman’s message, removing the coat hangers and confiscating his pamphlets. The school takes a completely pro-life stance on abortion and many of Dillman’s fellow students oppose the school’s stance, especially given that the Catholic school system is province-funded, and should, therefore, be neutral on abortion.
Dillman raised the point of free speech, explaining how only putting one side of the issue into the students’ minds is unfair and disrespectful: “The students have the right to be informed about these topics, and, if you didn’t want to start this discussion, you shouldn’t have had an assembly promoting pro-life.”
While the school stated that they are not against their students being pro-choice, their actions speak louder than their words, through their removal of the coat hangers and pamphlets, as well as the fact that they hired a pro-life speaker.
Kiessling herself takes an extremely conservative stance on abortion, being against the practice even in cases of rape or a miscarried fetus. Such a stance can be harmful to young students who will be lead to believe false claims about abortion. Dillman hopes to demonstrate to his peers that making abortions illegal would prove much more dangerous as women would be forced to use more harmful practices such as a coat hanger, the symbol of his protest.
Kiessling is set to speak at several other high schools, as well as the University of Guelph, in the following days.