Pro-Abortion Senate Candidate Dan Hynes
On September 30, Vote Life America picketed a reception honoring State Comptroller Dan Hynes, a pro-abortion candidate for U.S. Senate. The fundraising event was particularly objectionable because it was hosted by faculty and graduates of St. Ignatius College Prep, a Catholic high school of which all seven Scheidler children are alumni.
Hynes is also an Ignatius alumnus, and a Catholic who has chosen to reject the Church’s teaching on abortion and the duty of Catholic politicians to uphold the sanctity of life.
The Pro-Life Action League supplied the signs used during the picket of the fundraiser, held at the School of the Art Institute, 112 S. Michigan Avenue, and many League volunteers were among the score of protesters joining Vote Life America, an Illinois group formed to strengthen the pro-life vote and protest public officials’ support for abortion.
A handful of Art Institute students held an impromptu counter-protest with hand-made signs that appeared to have been inspired by the abstract expressionist school, achieving with magic marker on neon posterboard what Jackson Pollock did with paint on canvas. Annie Scheidler talked at length with one of the protesters, whose sign read: “Old Privileged White Men Against Women.” Annie is neither old, nor a man, and no more privileged than a student of the prestigious School of the Art Institute, though she is white.
Another budding artist carried a sign that read “Kill More Babies.” As shocking as a statement like that is even to most “pro-choicers,” and as sad as it is on a personal level to contemplate a soul so embittered as to express such a sentiment, counter-protesters like this actually help the pro-life cause. We’re supposed to be the zealots, but we look great in comparison to the “Kill More Babies” crowd, and if some of that rubs off on the Dan Hynes campaign, so much the better.
The protesters, including St. Ignatius alumni and parents of alumni, did not recognize any faculty among those entering the building for the Hynes reception, raising doubts about the authenticity of the invitation letter sent out to many Ignatius alumni that featured a long list of faculty co-chairs.
