Graphic images help to advance abortion debate

TO THE EDITOR:

As a student who is proudly pro-choice I am disappointed with the community's reaction to last week's anti-abortion posters. There are plenty of good reasons out there to be pro-choice and people who take a side on this issue should know what they believe and why. It is impossible to have an informed opinion however by looking the other way when you're confronted with disturbing images.

I understand that some people honestly have weak stomachs or strong personal desires not to see something that might ruin their day. Some people though simply don't want to be bothered into exercising their moral conscience" so they dismiss the images as mere ""shock value."" A similar thing happens during wartime" when apathetic citizens try to avoid seeing images of the true costs of war. Do photos of blown-up and bullet-ridden bodies also rely on shock value? Certainly but they are morally relevant nevertheless.

The Justice for All campaign is certainly misleading in more than a few ways. At the end of the day despite the fact that abortion can be gruesome I am still unwilling to tell a woman what she can't do with her body. However I also refuse to shut my eyes to the possible consequences of that which I support. To do so would betray a bad conscience.



Jonathan Pattishall

Sophomore

English and German