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Friday, March 29, 2024
The Observer

Abortion not a Holocaust

First of all, I don't want to discuss pro-life vs. pro-choice in this letter but rather the usage of the Holocaust in connection with abortion. Coming from a country which was engaged in the mass-killing of Jewish people under Hitler, Austria, I was surprised to what extent the Holocaust is used for pro-life propaganda here in the United States. I was even more surprised when I read the sentence "Though educating everyone about the holocaust of our time is essential [...]" on the homepage of Notre Dame Right to Life (http://www.nd.edu/~prolife/legislation/). The Notre Dame pro-life group should consider a few facts before using the term: Abortion is not the result of a centuries old Anti-Semitism which cumulated in the industrialized extermination of Jewish women, men and children throughout Europe. Abortion is not comparable to the total war launched by the Nazis. Abortion is not comparable to the gas chambers of Auschwitz. The singularity of the Holocaust is not comparable to any other event in human history. Hence it is disrespectful to the dead and to Jewish people today to consider abortion as a Holocaust. It is morally wrong and in my eyes disgusting to trivialize the suffering and death of millions of people who died during the Nazi terror regime in order to use it for certain propaganda purposes. I don't know if it is either a lack of historical knowledge or simply an intellectual shortcoming to connect the Holocaust with abortion, but I know that it is absolutely inappropriate for a group at a high profile academic institution like Notre Dame.

Florian Plocekgraduate studentoff-campusApril 10