By CRISTINA ODONE - THE TELEGRAPH
Added: Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:10:51 UTC
Can UCL force pro-choice onto its students?
Had I been a good girl in my twenties I probably would have joined my university's Catholic student society. I would have found myself among like-minded folk, signed petitions supporting freedom of conscience, waved placards outside a Richard Dawkins lecture… that sort of thing. I certainly would never have expected to be forced to listen to pro-abortion arguments.
But that is precisely what a Catholic student at UCL endures today. The UCL Union voted this month to ensure that "any future open events by UCLU Clubs or Societies focusing on the issue of termination invite an anti-choice speaker, a pro-choice speaker, and an independent chair, to ensure there is a balance to the argument". In other words, no matter what its members' religious beliefs, they must agree to give a platform to supporters of abortion. Oh, and to ensure that the "chair" in such a debate, be "independent". Given its heavy-handed stage-management, I'm surprised that the Union doesn't request the right to pack the audience with pro-choicers too (just as many people suspect the BBC packs the Question Time audience with liberal Lefties).
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