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Today the Washington Post reports on a 16-year old Virginia girl who sued her public school district after it denied her the right to form an anti-choice student group. The district -- which already had Young Republican, Young Democrat, and Christian Athletes clubs -- eventually reversed its decision. For the record, I support all students' First Amendment rights to organize at school, as long as they aren't creating an unsafe atmosphere or infringing upon other people's freedom of speech or religion. But let's look at the language in Stephanie Hoffmeier's original proposal for the club:
"To educate people about the biggest holocaust that is going on right here in the United States. To come together and pray to end abortion. To be a voice for my generation and a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves."Anyone paying attention to anti-abortion activism nationwide is familiar with the facile analogies comparing the medical procedure to the Holocaust, and also to the enslavement of African Americans. It's past time for reasonable conservatives to disavow this language: The genocide, murder, rape, and enslavement of persons able to live without the assistance of an umbilical cord is not analogous to the termination of a pregnancy. The Anti-Defamation League is absolutely correct to call on presidential candidates like Mike Huckabee to stop using the abortion-Holocaust analogies, which are common in Evangelical circles. I'd like to see the ADL do more of this, and less of calling Walt and Mearsheimer anti-Semites.Stephanie Hoffmeir should be able to launch an anti-choice club at her school. But the adults in her life are responsible for teaching her about why abortion is very, very different from the Holocaust.--Dana Goldstein
