As a follow-up to Dr. Willie Parker’s speech on abortion from a Christian Pro-Life point of view, Students for Life and the Catholic Campus Ministry hosted Christina Bennet who presented “Abortion, Idolatry, and Christ’s Call to Compassion” Tuesday.
Bennet is a Connecticut native, a licensed minister and prides herself on speaking from a Christian perspective. In Bennet’s speech, she stated one can idolize things such as money and sports, but in this instance, she was speaking on the topic of the idolization of abortion.
“There is a massive demand and extreme acceptance of abortion,” Bennet said.
From Bennet’s hands-on experience as the current communications director for the Family Institute of Connecticut, she deals with women of all ages daily, and feels as if this acceptance of abortion is harmful. She describes the attitudes of Pro-Choice activists as “radical.”
“They say things like ‘reproductive rights are women’s justice and freedom,’” Bennet said.
Bennet said she understands the struggle for rights and justice because she is an African-American woman. She argued against the idea of viewing abortion as “reproductive justice and freedom” by stating abortion does not bring women justice. Bennet said her experience with women who have considered or experienced abortion, allows her to understand how many are mentally and emotionally unstable after the fact.
“I know what it’s like to see a woman look at her pregnancy test and exclaiming that this is the worst day of her life,” Bennet said.
Based on Bennet’s Christian beliefs, she stated she “believes life begins at conception.” In a personal story, Bennet stated her mother highly considered abortion. This option stemmed from Bennet’s father threatening her mother to leave if she had the baby.
“Child birth is so much more than a choice; I would have been dismissed and thrown in the trash,” Bennet said.
Bennet continued to challenge Dr. Willie Parker’s notion “the word abortion is not in The Bible.” Bennet gave several biblical verses to counter this idea.
“The Bible talks about God as a father to the fatherless, loving, kind and the creator of life,” Bennet said.
Bennet continued by stating society “allows guys to wash their hands of the issue.”
“This idea continues to enable men to treat women like objects,” Bennet said.
Bennet also placed emphasis on the ideals of abortion in the African-American community. She described some women’s experience in abortion clinics as life changing.
“There was forced sterilization of women of color,” Bennet said.
She describes these injustices as an “agenda” and societal notions of African-American children and disabled children would not benefit society. As a result of these continued marketing plans and propaganda from industries such as Planned Parenthood, Bennet strives to show compassion toward women who are interested or have considered abortion.
Joseph Kerstiens, president of Mississippi State University’s Catholic Campus Ministry, said the talk from Bennet completes the value of the debate on abortion.
“I appreciate the fact that we can have an academic debate on this issue,” Kerstiens said.
Being of the Catholic faith, Kerstiens said he “values life from conception to natural death and the Catholic Church is a strong proponent of the sanity of human life.”
President of MSU’s Students for Life Annaliese Gill describes the debate of Pro-Life or Pro-Choice as “a dynamic subject.”
“With any argument, knowing both perspectives before making influenced decisions is important,” Gill said.
A student advocate who is Pro-Life, Gill and additional members of Students for Life “support freedom of speech and other viewpoints,” and offer many resources to help students and mothers to be.