The requests to show Bella in colleges, schools, community halls and churches are continuing to come in, after the warm response it received in NUI Maynooth and DCU last week. This is in stark contrast, however, to UCD, who decided to cancel the event at the last minute. Although the event was organised through the Newman Society, a legitimate Catholic Society on the campus, it was claimed that, because it was an Ultrasound project, it was not a 'UCD society' event.

The students union once again tried to taint Youth Defence with rehashed slurs about supposed violence and extremism, that have long since been proved untrue, and even went on to say that the organisation is banned from the university.

We should seriously question the legitimacy of such decisions on a state-funded college campus. What happened to freedom of association, or more importantly, freedom of speech? Who in fact made this supposed decision, and on what basis?
Clearly, a handful of pro-abortion extremists hold some authority in the University, and are so intent against people even watching a pro-life film, that they ripped down posters and demanded that the event be cancelled. These are the same people who preach about 'open-mindedness' and 'tolerance'. Ironic.

Youth Defence said they will be sure to investigate, to find out if ever such a decision was made, and if it was at all democratic. "We have members studying at UCD, and it is completely undemocratic to deny them the right to set up or join a peaceful, pro-life society, because of some people's intolerance and personal opinion", said Rebecca, speaking on behalf of Ultrasound. "It is an affront to free speech, and something which reflects very badly on the University as a whole; we did not come across such blatant bias on any other campus."

If you are interested in hosting a screening of Bella, please contact the office on 01 8730463 (ROI).

Source : Irish Family News

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