A graphic anti-abortion display called the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) will be outside Sidney Smith today, but it sparked controversy on campus before a single sign went up.
The display is hosted at U of T by Students for Life. Students for Choice and The Women’s Centre are organizing a counter-protest.
GAP is a project of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform which tours university campuses in North America with images that juxtapose graphic images of bloody fetuses that they claim have been aborted with images of victims of the Holocaust and black lynching victims. It has come to campus before and drawn crowds of dissenters.
But these dissenters have expressed concern about GAP’s history of suing those who oppose their views.
“Groups which oppose the GAP have had to be very careful about their actions and what they say, because it is a very litigious group,” said Alexandra Mandelis, co-coordinator of Students for Choice.
GAP’s website details their past legal actions against various organizations.
“You lie [about us] and we sue. If we sue, we win. If you don’t believe us, just try us,” said one press release on GAP’s site.
“It is our belief that the Genocide Awareness Project and the accompanying images promote misogyny, racism, and violence while seeking to undermine women’s rights,” says a statement from Students for Choice. “[GAP] exposes members of the university community to graphic and traumatic photos as well as inaccurate and misleading content.”
The Black Students’ Association, while not taking a position on abortion in general, objected to the imagery that GAP uses.
“We do not appreciate the oversimplification of the despicable acts of genocide perpetrated in the recent past that results from this comparison,” said their executive in a statement. “Although there may be some similarities, the history and circumstances surrounding these issues are very different and should be acknowledged as such.” Other campus groups, notably Hillel, have not commented publicly on the project.
Andrew Chun, President of Students for Life, said “the comparison we use is misunderstood.”
“We are not calling mothers Nazis, or abortion doctors white supremacists,” he said. “We are pointing out the fact that under each case, each group of people were not recognized as persons under the law, and thus, killing them was justifiable.”
Chun also defended GAP’s legal record.
“If a lawsuit is the last resort, then I agree it is the necessary course of action to protect freedom of speech,” he said. “Who is going to speak for the unborn child?”
U of T administration maintains that GAP’s display is within their free speech rights.
“We do realize that some of the images are extremely graphic in nature […]. For this reason, we have taken the position that people should make a conscious decision to view the display,” said Jim Delaney, Assistant Director of Student Affairs. To comply with this, Delaney said, the display should be set up in a horseshoe shape, facing the student lounge at Sidney Smith, where the blinds will be closed.
Whichever way the signs are facing, Students for Choice plans to protest.
“We want the protest to be organized and have a point,” said Mandelis. “There’s going to be a forum for people to register complaints which we should then pass on to the administration of the university for having this on our campus.”
