Controversial pro-life activists Ann and Joe Scheidler of the Pro-Life Action League, who have appeared before the Supreme Court three times to defend themselves against allegations from the National Organization for Women, spoke to about 25 Georgetown students Tuesday night.
In 1993, the League was found guilty of extortion under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act and the Hobbs Act because their demonstrations outside of abortion clinics deprived doctors and patients of their right to give and receive medical care. The Scheidlers appealed the decision and were found not guilty in 2002 and again on February 28.
Ann Scheidler, Executive Director of the Pro-Life Action League, said she believed that college students are the ideal audience for the group’s hard-line anti-abortion message, because they are often more aware of abortion issues than older Americans.
“Of course, young people are more enmeshed in the culture that spawns abortion,” she said. “I think people should wait until they’re married to have sex. You have to be willing to accept the entire person, including that person’s fertility, which is a consequence of the sex act.”
Along with her views against premarital sex, Scheidler strongly opposes contraception.
“You know, they refer to protected and unprotected sex,” she said. “Protection from what? If you love someone, why do you need to be protected?”
Scheidler’s husband, Joe Scheidler, called abortion “evil” and compared the pro-life movement’s fight against abortion to the abolition of slavery.
“It’s the crisis of our time,” he said. “It’s like slavery in the Civil War.”
Scheidler’s portion of the lecture focused more on religion.
“Christ is my leader, and he should be the leader of all of us,” he said. “Christ taught the value of the individual. People say you can’t impose your religion on us, and I say, wake up … this being a Catholic university, I don’t feel that I have to apologize for that.”
GU Right to Life president Chris Picciano (COL ‘09) believes students who oppose and support abortion rights coexist relatively peacefully at Georgetown.
“As a campus community, we really need to work toward not letting polarization get in the way of doing good work,” he said.
Despite his words against polarization, however, Picciano said that he believes that GU Right to Life has a responsibility to dispense its views.
“We have to allow women to choose life, just as the law allows them to choose abortion,” he said.
