Giant, Pro-Choice Mountains

So, I was in Law class today, which is taught by an awesome teacher who I really like. And she notified everyone that she'd received mail info of a grant available only to Law 11 or 12 students in BC, the info sheet for which she handed out.

Now, I'm pretty big on scholarships. They're handy! That said, I read the information and rules page – fairly straightforward – good english, double-spaced, legible, don't submit more than one essay. But then I turned the page: here's what I saw (emphasis mine).

The competition is open to grade 11 or 12 BC secondary school students, and is designed to encourage students to recognize the dignity of every human life.

...

ESSAY TOPICS (600-700 WORDS): CHOOSE ONE.

Topic 1. In recent years student societies in a number of Canadian colleges and universities have prevented pro-life groups from operating on campus. In what way is this sort of censorship in conflict with the role of post-secondary education in fostering the free expression of opinion and argument?

Can we all agree that this is messed up? For one, it's not in conflict. These groups that have been barred from operating on campus– crisis pregnancy centers, anti-choice activists, and the ilk – are more than often the ones doing the censoring. CPC's are dangerous, scary places. They lie about what they do, refuse to offer abortions or contraception, and preach abstinence-only sex ed.

So I did a little digging. Turns out that the grants are awarded by the British Columbia Pro Life Society, and the application form includes a link to The Signal Hill, a particularily nasty CPC that's in Vancouver.

So, obviously, I was kind of startled to get this essay application piece from the teacher who I had trusted so much. There's good news, though – it turns out she hadn't looked past the first couple lines (which are very inoccuous), and when I told her, she got about as outraged as I was. Together, we're trying to get this organization to quit including our school in their letters – she's already written a notice on her whiteboard informing kids of the links behind the essay competition, and three other students have already given up on trying anything – it's obvious what they want the essays to preach, and we just don't roll that way.

Not that I'm going to ignore it – I plan to finish writing the essay I'm working on (a rebuttal!) and send it in anyways, if only so they'll read it.

We are not powerless against these organizations. Though individually we're small, together – we can move mountains. Giant, pro-choice mountains.