ore and more colleges over time have become more suppressive of conservative and pro-life voices. The State University of New York (SUNY) in New Paltz broke the status quo, giving pro-lifers a voice by standing by its relationship with a life-affirming pregnancy center, the Bravo Center.
The Bravo Center focuses on encouraging women and letting them know they are not alone. Their services include: providing women with pregnancy tests, options counseling, abortion recovery support groups, community referrals, and material resources such as diapers to those in financial need. All of their services are free of charge.
The university’s student activities and union services director, Mike Patterson told the school paper:
“We must remain viewpoint neutral and even handed when we make determinations [regarding guests]… If we had a Planned Parenthood, then it is only fair to have the Bravo Center. It protects the interests of those students that might want this. That means you’re going to have different viewpoints and ideologies.”
This variance began when SUNY’s International Socialist Organization (ISO) did a search on the Internet and found that “reproductive health care is barren in the town.” Instead, Google brought up the Bravo Center, which has two nearby locations.
Students became outraged and along with writing an opinion piece for the school paper, they protested outside the Bravo Center’s New Paltz location citing they wanted to “expose this fake clinic and demand the right to safe, accessible abortions.”
Recently, the Bravo Center director received permission to meet with clients on campus once a week for a couple hours. Despite the protests and general outrage from some students, the Bravo Center continues to provide services to the community of New Paltz. The Bravo Center is helping provide life-affirming services to students who are the most in need of emotional and medical support, and hopefully more pregnancy centers will follow in their footsteps.
College student, Catholic, journalist, and writer. Jeremiah 1:15. Passionate about all life, from conception to natural death, no matter what.
