Controversy over pro-life presentation in Red Deer high school, comparing abortion to Holocaust

Red Deer school under fire for pro-life presentation A Red Deer Catholic high school is under fire for a pro-life presentation in a Grade 10 classroom.

A Red Deer high school is under fire for a pro-life presentation to a Grade 10 class in March. A video shown during the presentation compared abortions to the Holocaust.

The presentation was made by a member of Red Deer & Area Pro-Life, to a religious class at Ecole Secondaire Notre Dame.

The video that’s sparking controversy, titled: The Case Against Abortion, Personhood was created by an agency called Abort73. The video compares abortion to “Hitler’s scheme by which severely disabled children could be murdered.”

On its website, the organization indicates it is a connected to Loxafamosity Ministries, Inc. and is a non-profit online resource “designed to creatively and comprehensively educate students about the injustice of abortion”.

The use of the video in classroom was brought to the attention of Education Minister David Eggen by a student.

“As soon as we heard about this one [presentation] we were in immediate contact with Red Deer Catholic [School Division]. We were the ones that informed them, which I found quite concerning, because it’s their responsibility to ensure the integrity of what is being used in their classrooms,” said Eggen.

Eggen said there is no place in a publicly funded school for a video comparing the horrors of the holocaust to abortion. “If this is taking place in any other classrooms across the province, I want to hear about it. Because the presentation was inappropriate, and misleading, using incorrect information and quite frankly frightening.”

The minister called the presentation ‘propaganda’ and cited his concerns that the division only banned the video, not the pro-life group.

“The presentation as part of the whole package…was using a larger package of inappropriate, misleading and incorrect information. The Red Deer & Area Pro-Life group presenting in schools, I have a big problem with that too,” said Eggen.

The Red Deer Catholic Regional School division denied CTV’s request for an on-camera interview Tuesday but provided CTV with a statement.

The division says they’re now adding steps to screen outside agencies and that “the intended outcome of this presentation was to teach our students that ‘human life must be respected and protected’…the division has requested Red Deer & Area Pro-Life make adjustments to their presentations to ensure it’s more appropriate for students.”

In a follow up email to CTV, Chairperson Guy Pelletier said the pro-life group makes presentations to the Grade 10 religion class once per term. He says the board is working thoroughly on their vetting process to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

CTV also reached out to members of Red Deer & Area Pro-Life. The video remains on their Facebook page.

In an interview Tuesday, a spokesperson said the group understands why the video is seen as disturbing but he stood by the comparison.

“Will we continue to show that video? Probably not. Will we continue to use that example, that comparison? Definitely so. Because we believe it’s a fair comparison, and when you look in history at people, groups that were denied legal protection, the atrocities are horrendous,” said spokesperson and Board Member Joel Soodsma.

Soodsma said Minister Eggen’s label of the video as ‘hateful propaganda’ is disturbing. “I can’t see it as propaganda, it’s certainly a political agenda, and we’d like to see the law changed.”

Soodsma also added that this incident strengthens their concerns over the government changes to public schooling. “We see this as a small part of the radical sexual ideology that’s being forced into the Alberta curriculum.”

But this incident caught the eye of Cristina Stasia, the founder of the organization, Accessing Information not Myths (AIM). The organization addresses gaps in Alberta Education curriculum. Stasia says a message such as this one is medically inaccurate, and fear based.

“We do know that students have complained about this group and presentation in the past and we know this group presented to the teachers during a PD day and the teachers went to the principal and brought their concerns forward. There were alarm bells raised before but this group is allowed to continue to present in schools anyway,” said Stasia.

The AIM founder said “In Catholic school systems discussions of abortions and reproductive rights are important but giving students misinformation, giving them medically inaccurate information, scientifically inaccurate information, myths, shaming sexual assault survivors, that’s not part of having an honest conversation.”

Stasia says their group was frustrated when they saw the video that was used in the classroom, and that seeing the evidence that presenters are using inaccurate information in Alberta schools is troubling as this is something their group works to prevent.

She’s now calling on the provincial government to investigate the state of sexual education in Alberta schools, “Like the rest of the curriculum, we need provincial oversight here to ensure that what students are receiving in the classroom is medically and scientifically accurate and supported by research.”

She adds this problem is happening province wide in both public and catholic schools, and says government intervention is critical.

The minister said the provincial government is working on the Health and Sexual Education curriculum, but want to ensure they’re dealing with this immediate situation first. The school district has been tasked by the province to explain how this landed in the classroom, as well as why this took place.