University of Northern Iowa bans pro-life club, labels it a ‘hate group’

The student government at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) has rejected the request for approval of a UNI Students for Life group.

The rejection came after a long and charged discussion in which the members attacked the views of fellow pro-life students, including calling them a “hate group,” and this week the public university’s student body’s Supreme Court joined in that effort to block the pro-life group.

A video released by Young America’s Foundation shows UNI students complaining over Zoom that the pro-life club “engages in hate speech.”

“We cannot support diversity and be complicit in its destruction at the same time,” one student says.

“Approving this bill [to allow the pro-life club] is the same thing as approving a white supremacist group that’s trying [to] make an organization on campus,” another adds. “You’re basically saying you support them to violate women [sic] rights. And, like, um, I’m sorry but I don’t want a group on campus that’s gonna, like, when I – just an example – if I’m pregnant, they’re gonna try to force me not to abort my child.”

“I would argue that not all opinions are equal. There are opinions, and then there are opinions that get people killed, in many cases,” said another student without a hint of irony. “There’s really no middle ground here.”

Students for Life of America (SFLA) President Kristan Hawkins said that legal counsel had been contacted on behalf of the group as the appeal process continues, now headed to the university president.

“Despite the school’s own rules that viewpoint discrimination is not acceptable, student government leaders attacked fellow students for their pro-life views and denied a request for a new club based on their personal support of abortion,” noted Hawkins. University of Northern Iowa student leader Sophia Schuster has been advocating for a Students for Life club this school year and appealed the NISG’s decision to the school’s Supreme Court this week, which ruled against the pro-life students.