Conflicting organizations hold opposing meetings simultaneously.

By: Katie Dusza, Contributor

At 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 2, Canisius Students for Life held their annual “Everyone Deserves a Birthday” event outside of the library where they gave out cupcakes. In response to that event, Canisius student Becca Nagel partnered with a local pro-choice activist, Queen City Feminist to distribute free Plan B birth control to students, as well as flyers with information regarding abortions, choice, and safety. 

The “Everyone Deserves a Birthday” event that was held on Wednesday aligns with the 40 Days for Life campaign which is a nationwide, Catholic oriented initiative to try to end abortion. This event is inspired by the pro-life expression “Everyone Deserves a Birthday” which characterizes an abortion as a missed first birthday. This alludes to the club’s idea that a fetus is considered human and in turn, abortion is a violation of human life. The Students For Life group also is anti-death penalty and human trafficking. 

Founded in 2012, Canisius Students for Life is nationally affiliated with Students for Life of America which is a Catholic non-profit organization that nationally forms groups across universities and high schools with a strong pro-life stance. Canisius Students for Life is anti-war, anti-human trafficking and anti-death penalty according to president Alexandra Hackett. The appeal of this club is its space for people to freely express their opinions regarding the value of life and what those things mean. According to Hackett, “Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. That’s the beauty of the clubs. Get involved or don’t.” 

Just off campus on the corner of Eastwood and Main on the same day and the same time, you could find the “Everyone Deserves Free Plan B” event. A group of students and people in the community handed out Plan B supplied by the nonprofit organization Shout Your Abortion, pro-choice themed buttons and flyers were also provided. The motivation for the time and date of this event was to express their differences regarding the Students for Life’s cupcake event. 

This event was held on public property partially because they were handing out medicine

which can not be distributed on school property. The other determinant of the non-Canisius affiliation of this event was Canisius’ opposition to a pro-choice club. Students have received push back from administration in the past for pro-choice oriented clubs, according to Nagel. Historically, the Catholic Church holds strong views against abortion and contraception.

Organizer of this event Becca Nagel describes this as a violation of free speech and expression. 

All in all, Canisius students agree that the best part of clubs is self expression. It is important to protect the right to practice personal beliefs on and off campus.