Ohio College bans abortion literature

April 14, 2011
One More Soul representative Ethel Borel-Donahue recently distributed several copies of OMS pamphlet “Breast Cancer Risk from Abortion” to her classmates at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio. The college responded by emphasizing its policy that no literature may be distributed in classrooms and other “working areas” of the college. This action and the related policy raise important questions about free speech by students on campus.

UPDATE FROM:

WorldNETDaily

Sinclair Community College has ordered a student not to distribute pamphlets highlighting breast cancer’s link to abortion and oral contraceptives, drawing a challenge that cites, among other things, the idea of free speech.

The confrontation began during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October of 2010 when Ethel Borel-Donohue, a paralegal studies student, shared two sets of roughly 15 pamphlets after a class.

The pamphlets, published by a Catholic organization, asserted overwhelming evidence that abortion and oral contraceptives substantially increase a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer.

But the chairman of the department, Michael Brigner, censored the material from all class areas after a complaint from a fellow student who had had an abortion. And in doing so, he revealed Sinclair’s broad constraints on free speech, which go well beyond the classroom and this particular incident.

From Sinclair’s policy on social and commercial activity:

“Literature may not be distributed in working areas, including: classrooms, laboratories, lecture halls, gymnasiums, libraries, offices, work stations, conference rooms, and corridors leading directly thereto which are an integral part of the work areas.”
“So you can distribute literature, but you just can’t do it anywhere,” jibed Borel-Donohue. “I’ve been to several universities, but Sinclair, it seems, is really totalitarian in their control.”

Read more: Ohio College bans abortion literature http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=286785


UPDATE FROM:

Foundation of Individual Rights in Education

Ohio College Prohibits Student from Peacefully Distributing Literature on Abortion, Birth Control

Sinclair Community College has banned a student from distributing literature about abortion, birth control, and breast cancer to her classmates after class. The college also bans all distribution of literature on vast areas of campus. Student Ethel Borel-Donohue, who never disrupted class with her literature, came to FIRE for help.
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