Debaters Forfeit Rather than Argue for Abortion
Team Gives Up Chance to Win Tournament over Partial-Birth Procedure

January 14, 2004

A Christian college debate team chose to forgo the chance to win a recent tournament rather than argue in favor of partial-birth abortion.

The team, from California Baptist University, would have had to defend the position that the U.S. Supreme Court should reverse the ban on the procedure, which was recently signed by President Bush.

"We wanted them [the judges] to know firmly that we did not believe in partial-birth abortion," Mary Pryfogle, 20, captain of the CBU team, told Baptist Press. "It's not like theater where you role play and distance yourself from your morals. ... We've debated other moral issues that were not as heavy, but Scripture is very clear on this."

Several members of other debate teams and one of the judges at the tournament congratulated the CBU students for their stance, the news service reported.

Matt Taylor, host of the December debate tournament at Cal State Long Beach, says he regrets the Baptist team was unable to participate.

"I always like to see people stand up for their principles," he told Baptist Press. "In this case, I wish the debaters could have seen a way to debate and maintain true to their faith. ... Students from Pt. Loma [Nazarene], Azusa Pacific [University] and the Christian members of my own team were able to role play without sacrificing their faith."

According to the report, Taylor said he had never seen anyone forfeit a debate before.

"We thought, surely, this is not what they are asking us to defend," team member Wendeth Matyas told Baptist Press. "We went back to discuss how we could rearrange the topic to find a way to debate it. But there is no good in killing 4- to 9-month-old babies" – a reference to the procedure in which the brains of a near-term baby are vacuumed out to cause his or her death.

"It was very admirable," John Pate, chairman of the CBU communication department, told the news service. "They had other students coming up to them all day long telling them they did a good job. There was a win within a loss. More people noticed their stand for losing rather than winning. It stuck with students all day long."

Team members said they were surprised Christians from other teams at the tournament decided to go ahead with the partial-birth abortion topic.
 

Aquired from: www.wnd.com