Abortion 4: Update

According to Suzanne, the CUSA passed the motion to deny funding to the campus pro-life group, Carleton Lifeline.

In regards to my hope expressed at the end of the other abortion quote, it turns out Crusty Curmudgeon has put together a helpful, terse and congent response to the claims made by the CUSA, many of which expand upon the thoughts I was developing earlier.

One point I haven't seen discussed is the Charter right to peaceful assembly. Since the CUSA's decision effectively restricts the free assembly of students (that the CUSA is a non-voluntary, student institution is paramount here) who have displayed absolutely no violent tendencies, the decision violates one of the Lifeline student's basic human rights. I'm not familiar with constitutional law, but I'm sure there has been a case which applies to this situation. Hopefully I can find it.

In my own opinion, the only way the CUSA could legitimately denied the Lifeline funding was by proving that their actions were either (a) violent or (b) discriminatory. Since the CUSA has said that Lifeline can oppose abortion, just as long as it does not argue for criminalization, they have conceded that the opinions expressed by the group are in fact not discriminatory. For if criminalization is their bone of contention, it could be then argued that if the CUSA believes student's can express their pro-life opinions, then they must also grant the students the ability to go so far as to question the criminality of at least some abortions, since this would be the rational, reasonable, and logical conclusion to the students' beliefs. It is not the role of the CUSA to decide whether or not certain conclusions are expressable and which ones are not, and more importantly, they have already allowed for the students to express their arguments for that conclusion.