Queensland, Australia, May 16, 2008 / 00:30 am
A Catholic student group at the University of Queensland has been censored and threatened with disaffiliation from the school’s student union because student union leaders believed the group’s “pro-woman” and “pro-pregnancy” campaign took a stand against abortion.
As part of a pregnancy support campaign, the Newman Society at the school displayed a poster and distributed leaflets that bore a photo of an eight-week old fetus in the womb.
According to The Australian, a disciplinary hearing run by the student union’s clubs and societies committee has banned the Newman Society from again displaying the material on a booth outside the student café. The society was placed on 12 months’ probation and must submit all future material to three officials, including the student union president, for approval.
Newman Society secretary Elise Nally, a third-year applied science student, said the union’s action was totalitarian and against free speech.