By Erica Scalise

Last week, a petition entitled “STOP Pro-Abortion ‘Internships’ at Catholic Campus” was addressed to Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, on the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) Student Action Website. The petition calls for a removal of advocacy groups from the Fordham website such as Planned Parenthood and Amnesty International.

Currently, with 19,165 supporters, the petition has support from those inside and outside of the Fordham community.

Fordham will remain aligned with catholic teachings that concern abortion, according to Bob Howe, director of communications for the university.

But he says the university is also committed to academic freedom.

“Fordham University is fully committed to the teachings of the Catholic Church, including those on sexuality and the sanctity of life. The University is also committed to academic freedom and the intellectual autonomy of its faculty in providing opportunities for students to discuss tough topics and learn from one another,” said Howe.

The petition refers to these internship opportunities as “pro-abortion listings” and asks, “How can a Catholic university encourage students to connect with Planned Parenthood and other pro-abortion groups?”

Howe said that “while the University does not recommend nor support some of the organizations that sponsor the internships/employment opportunities listed by the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies program, it does support the faculty’s right to list the opportunities on the program’s website.”

Some students, however, beg to differ.

“People in the Fordham community are following the Jesuit Catholic tradition by promoting this petition to defend the inherent sanctity and right to life,” said Ryan Wolfe, FCRH ’19, executive board member of Respect for Life.

Tina McCain, FCRH ‘18, general coordinator of Women’s Empowerment offered push-back towards the petition.

“The petition against pro-abortion internships is another instance of attempted control of female and/or trans and gender non-conforming bodies,” said McCain.

“It attempts to limit their political efficacy as well as their bodily autonomy. It is frankly absurd.”

The Fordham website lists internship opportunities with organizations such as Girls Write Now, UN for Women, Women’s Media Center and Girls Educational and Mentoring Services.

Although none of these organizations focus exclusively on reproductive rights, the National Organization for Women (NOW-NYC) provides escorts for patients entering abortion clinics, according to their website.

According to their websites, Amnesty International as well as GLAAD run pro-choice campaigns and Planned Parenthood says 3% of the services it provides yearly are abortions.

One student said the website that hosts the petition also hosts articles that uses family values to to propagate hateful content.

Claire del Sorbo, FCRH ‘18, said “I looked at some of the other articles on the website and all of them were sexist, racist, and homophobic, wrapped under the premise of preserving family values which is something that doesn’t align with Fordham’s messages of progress.”

“It would also be absurd to deny academic and career resources to students like me, who are interested in careers at pro-choice companies, just because we don’t follow the Catholic Church” said del Sorbo.

As of now, there are no plans by the university to remove these internship opportunities from their website, according to Howe.