As a club dedicated to genocide prevention and awareness, we are writing to express our concern over the misuse of the word genocide. On Thursday, Oct. 21, AU Students for Life displayed on the quad a poster with the question “What is genocide?” The answers they listed were Rwanda, Darfur, Holocaust and abortion. We respect that American University is an environment where people can freely hold and express different political, social and economic views.
However, we are alarmed at the poor judgment used in the group’s presentation. Comparing abortion to genocide is not only offensive, it is incorrect. Genocide is the intended killing of a massive group of people for their religious, ethnic and political background. This is the actual definition given by Raphael Lemkin, the Polish lawyer who created the word “genocide” in 1943. Although infanticide is sometimes used as a weapon of genocide in other countries, it should be made clear that women who have abortions in the U.S. do not wish to systematically exterminate the existence of all infants. Abortions here are often used in emergency situations when women cannot raise the child for health reasons. In this respect, abortion, at face value, is fundamentally different than genocide.
STAND, the anti-genocide coalition on campus, consists of members who are both pro-choice and pro-life. We recognize many problems that come with abortions as tactics used in genocide. In fact, we plan on partnering with All Girls Allowed, a group that focuses on gendercide and infanticide issues in China, where families are forced to abort their female fetuses due to the one-child policy. There are many clear, undeniable wrongs associated with abortion practices throughout the world. However, abortions practiced in the United States are neither forced nor driven by the intent to massacre. Some of us support the choice for women to have a safe abortion. Some do not. Both sides are legitimate. In return, we ask that people act wisely in the way that they communicate their opinions. Abortions in the United States, right or wrong, are not genocidal in practice.
Most sincerely,
The AU STAND Coalition
