All entries for November 2005

New Union Policies… Hmmm…

I got an email through this morning about voting for some Union policies, and a couple of things seemed off to me – if I've got any facts wrong, please let me know, and if you're gonna comment with your views, please be respectful of the fact that people will believe differently to you.

The first point being the smoking ban in the union. I'm personally against this to start with, but then I saw this included in what the Union will resolve to do with this new policy:

_"4.That cuts to Union services, as a result of this policy, will begin with the following: –
· The least commercially successful events (possibly including Vapour, Crash, Pressure, Coalition, Heat and live music events);

· Society funding;

· Opening hours;

· Computing and support facilities for clubs and societies."_

Crash and Pressure to be closed due to them being "less commercially successful"?! The times I've been, they have been extremely successful! And Crash is one of the few, if not only, alternative nights the Union holds! Plus all this crap about cutting down on society funding. Societies are the best way for people to meet others with the same views/tastes/interestes/etc; a great way of making friends and making the most of your time at uni. Are they fuckin' crazy?!

The other point was that they want to adopt a policy of ‘No Stance’ on the issue of abortion.

At the moment, the Union is Pro-Choice – this means that it fully supports any member if they decide to have an abortion, and they also fully support those who think abortion is wrong and want to keept their little sprog.

This is in the current Union policy:

_"This Union Believes:
1. That no individual group has the right to impose pressure on a woman to choose whether or not to have an abortion.
2. That the violent and distressing tactics of anti-abortion groups such as Operation Rescue, who have stormed clinics whilst abortions were taking place, should be condemned.
3. That the tactics of the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child (SPUC), such as taking out an injunction to stop a woman having an abortion in 1996, should be condemned.
4. That Life provides biased counselling and information, which emotionally blackmails women and does not provide them with any necessary information which they could not have got from pro-Choice organisations such as the British Pregnancy Advisory Service.
5. That having a pro-Choice policy does not dictate what individual students’ views should be on abortion, but simply reaffirms freedom of choice."_

Now, I'm having a lot of trouble seeing what the trouble with this is. The argument from a lot of people is that as the Union are Pro-Choice, they are forcing those who believe abortion is wrong to look elsewhere for support. What bullshit! That's not what Pro-Choice is about. It's about respecting an individual's views and giving them the advice and support they need for whatever action they choose to take. Had the Union adopted a Pro-Life policy, you can bet your arse the same coutesy would not have been shown to those who believe women have the right to choose! (As can be seen in point 4 above).

And with the past actions of SPUC (1996: taking out an injunction to stop a woman having an abortion) and Operation Rescue (stormed an abortion clinic whilst the abortions were taking place), is it any wonder they are going to opt for taking the stance they have where people are encouraged to make decisions based on their own morals?

When will people learn that their views aren't the correct ones just because they're theirs?

: 15 Nov 2005 16:55 |  Comments (7) |  Close comments |  Report a problem