Oxford college bans debate on abortion

A DEBATE ON abortion organised by an Oxford University pro-life group was cancelled this week after students planned a protest to disrupt the event, writes Katherine Backler.

Oxford Students for Life (OSFL), a non-religious, student-run society, had booked a lecture theatre at Christ Church, Oxford, to debate the motion, “This House believes Britain’s abortion culture hurts us all”.

The speaker for the motion was journalist and historian Tim Stanley, who writes for The Daily Telegraph, while speaking against it was Brendan O’Neill, editor of online magazine Spiked.

In the days leading up to the event, planned for Tuesday, a protest was organised by students on Facebook. It encouraged those attending to “take along some non-destructive but oh so disruptive instruments to help demonstrate to the anti-choicers just what we think of their ‘debate’” and took issue with the fact both speakers were male.

The protest quickly attracted support, with more than 300 people indicating they would attend.

Christ Church decided to withdraw permission for the debate to take place after the executive committee of the Junior Common Room agreed a motion for the event to be cancelled on the grounds that it would cause “significant toll on Christ Church students”.

Earlier this year OSFL opposed a motion put forward by the Student Union refusing a platform to groups that provide “directional advice around abortion or explicitly stands against women’s right to choose”.