Pro-Life group unveils 'Demographic Winter' project

An advocacy group that opposes abortion, the organization is also active in many other issues and is gearing up for the next semester with a new theme, what it calls “Demographic Winter.”

The theme will examine different demographic groups that PPL claims are targeted by abortion, such as women, the disabled and minorities.

The organization hopes to have meetings and events focusing on one of these demographic groups at a time. PPL vice president Caroline Bazinet ’14 said that these events are meant to show students that abortion has larger implications in their own lives and in society.

Bazinet said that the new theme will cause some students who are supportive of abortion to pause. The campaign will encourage students to reflect on how abortion negatively affects members of particular demographic groups.

“The temptation is thinking that abortion is kind of liberating and frees women,” Bazinet said. “I think we see with Demographic Winter that abortion is sort of another case for the strong to take advantage of the weak and powerless because we are now seeing, with the demographics, that abortion is disproproportionally affecting ... historically disadvantaged groups.”

Bazinet argued that lower birthrates in already underrepresented demographic groups will lead to fewer workers, negatively affecting the economy.

PPL also hopes to convince sympathetic students to become more active in the cause.

“I’ve been pro-life longer than I’ve been in the group, but this summer I realized the importance of being involved rather than just holding an opinion,” said Bazinet, who just joined the group this past fall.

Bazinet cited her religious views as a reason for getting more involved but noted that students may be motivated by other factors as well.

“You don’t have to be Catholic to be pro-life,” Bazinet said.

Princeton Pro-Life’s new theme follows a semester that featured events focused on many different religious reasons for opposing abortion.

In October, the group held a week-long event called “Respect Life Week,” which included an interfaith service, faculty speakers, a screening of the film “The Human Experience” and a candle-lit vigil.

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“One of my favorite events is the candle-lit vigil,” Princeton Pro-Life president Natalie Scholl ’13 said. “Everyone stands on the Frist North Lawn with a candle and takes anywhere from half an hour to an hour to meditate or pray and remember ... the students who would have been at Princeton if it weren’t for abortions.”

Last semester, Princeton Pro-Life hosted a panel discussion with a local Jewish crisis pregnancy center, which gave students a Jewish perspective on issues like abortion.

The group also held an event called “Baby Blue Thursday,” which encouraged pro-life supporters to wear baby blue shirts during the day to raise abortion awareness.

Princeton Pro-Life also organizes discussions with different faculty members, including politics professor Robert George, to talk about pro-life issues from a religious perspective.

“We actually have a ton of faculty support, and I think we are really fortunate that way,” Scholl said.

Politics and Wilson School professor John Londregan has been particularly supportive. Londregan has been involved with the group since he began teaching at the University 10 years ago and said he has observed an increasing amount of support for Princeton Pro-Life from faculty and students.

“I became involved in PPL because I am sickened by abortion, and because I want to raise public awareness on and off campus about this terrible and cruel practice that takes the lives of so many unborn members of our society,” Londregan said in an email.

Londregan has also participated in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., with the group. This year, the group sent 50 students to Washington, D.C., for the march, reflecting what Scholl said was a large amount of student support this year.

Currently, Bazinet said that the group does not experience opposition from a pro-choice campus group and that there has not been much controversy surrounding the group of late.

The Pace Center’s website does not list a registered pro-choice group, and Princeton Pro-Choice Vox — which was last listed in 2009 — is currently inactive.

Bazinet attributed the lack of concerted opposition to the group to a respect for differing views on the University’s campus.

“I have sometimes sent out emails about something and will get responses asking questions that are a little hostile,” Bazinet said. “However, I think the community at Princeton knows that people hold different opinions. They can be firm in their opinions but understand that people here have good reasons for believing what they do.”

This semester, Scholl hopes to expand the group’s advocacy agenda. Particularly, she wants to make the campus more aware of pro-life issues beyond abortion, such as euthanasia and the meaning of being human.

Though pro-life groups sometimes take stands on capital punishment, PPL does not have an official opinion on the issue due to a lack of consensus.

“I think some people have a narrow idea of what we are,” Scholl said. “Sometimes people think we only deal with abortion, which isn’t true. We are interested in a broad range of topics.