A disturbing presence on campus

After a long day of lectures, what is the first thing you want to do; a quick pint in The Font, a nice workout in the gym, or to have a look at five foot high photographs of aborted foetuses?

The latter is what you may have been presented with were you to be walking through campus on Thursday, when the noted pro-life group Abort67 decided to make Liverpool the latest stop on their nationwide whistle-stop pro-life campaign.

Abort67 arrived uninvited on campus

Following similar events at Sussex, Nottingham and Cambridge universities, Abort67 turned up unannounced, armed with their placards and radical statements.

They were both pushing their aggressive agenda and frustrating those who wished to argue with them by not giving them the warning needed to come down and prove them wrong.

Having missed out on the opportunity to debate with the group face to face, a number of students took to their Facebook page to both challenge the scientific and moral integrity of the statements they had been making.

They also used the page to voice their disgust at their presence on campus, but things also took an interesting twist when students took to checking, with reputable text books and peer-reviewed sources, the statements they were making.

They overwhelmingly found them to be untrue.

While perhaps we can’t deny the group the right to hold their awful opinions, we must ask ourselves if is it truly right of to allow them a platform to try to force their opinion on others?

When the BNP were scheduled to visit the University they were eventually denied such an opportunity due to their repellent and offensive views.  So why were Abort67 afforded this right?

We rely on the University to protect us from extremists on all issues, not just on race as with the BNP.

Even more importantly, why were the student body not informed of their intent and permission to have a presence on campus?

With there being talk of Abort67 visiting campus once more, we must stand as a progressive institution and maintain our reputation as open minded, critical thinking and perceptive individuals, by talking to them, arguing with them, and ultimately not allowing them a platform among us.

Abort67 have stated they would be open to holding a debate. Those of us with balanced and informed views, both pro-choice and pro-life, eagerly anticipate this opportunity.