By Steve Weatherbe

THE UNIVERSITY of Victoria’s  pro-life club has won a partial victory in its fight for the right to advocate its cause on campus.

Responding to a lawsuit launched by Youth Protecting Youth (YPY) and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, the board of directors of the UVic student society voted in June to reinstate the club with full funding.

The newly-elected board even voted to pay the $719 that previous boards had denied the club over the past two years, on the pretext that its pro-life messaging constituted harassment and intimidation of pregnant co-eds.

Finally, the board removed several additions to the harassment policy passed by the previous board, specifying pro-life advocacy as a form of harassment.

“Our reaction is mixed,” said YPY spokesman Eric Kyfiuk. “We’re pleased that the student society seems willing to consider what we’ve requested. But concern remains that they have failed to respond on all the key points in our lawsuit.”

The preamble to the motion reinstating and re-funding YPY makes it clear that the board was motivated by a desire “to avoid the expense and avoid litigation whenever prudent”; but at least some members of the new board opposed the initial sanctions on principle.

Kelsey Hannan, the student society’s new treasurer and one of a minority of directors on the previous board opposed to the sanctions against YPY, said he was “personally pro-choice,” but also saw free speech as a fundamental principle that made Canada “the peaceful country that it is.”

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The abortion issue, he said, is an important one, and the divisions on it are profound within Canada. “There is a deep debate in this country on this issue. My moral philosophy class spent a week on it,” he said, to rebut the argument heard from YPY’s opponents that the issue had been resolved forever.

Moreover, said Hannan, free speech was at stake. “I don’t think the people who argued against YPY are aware of the fundamental importance of the right to free speech in the history of their own causes in this country.”

Kyfiuk said YPY also wants the student society board to declare its previous actions against YPY unlawful and to promise to leave the club alone as long as it continues with postering and hosting speakers.

“As it stands, there’s nothing to stop the society should it want to discriminate against pro-lifers in the future,” he told BCCN.

Whether to proceed or not with the suit is under discussion, said Kyfiuk.

YPY attracted censure by putting up posters, bringing in speakers who talked about the health risks of abortion, and showing a graphic video of an abortion in progress.

Its pro-choice critics claimed YPY advocated the passage of laws against abortion, which YPY denied,  and accused the club of racism because other pro-life organizations have compared abortion to genocide.

July 2010