HEIDELBERG, Germany (LifeSiteNews) – A pro-life student group has been denied recognition as a university group at the University of Heidelberg for allegedly engaging in “misogynist activities.” The Referatekonferenz (Ref Konf), the organization handling official university groups at the University of Heidelberg, first denied the recognition of the group associated with ProLife Europe in May 2023 and then rejected the group’s appeal in July.
“The Ref Konf has discussed your application and has come to the consensus to reject your inclusion in the list due to clearly misogynist activities in the sense of the incompatibility resolution of the student body,” Ref Konf wrote in a statement.
Miriam Becker from the board of ProLife Europe told the Christian outlet IDEA: “As soon as you are against the right to abortion, i.e., against women’s reproductive rights, as it is often called, you are considered misogynist.”
“Denying the group admission and accusing them of being misogynist is a complete absurdity and undermines the principles of open discourse and intellectual diversity that the university prides itself on,” ProLife Europe wrote in a statement.
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ProLife Europe started a petition demanding the admission of the pro-life student group at the university on November 3, 2023.
“We call for the admission of the Pro-Life Heidelberg Group, as it can help to shed light on the taboo subject of abortion, support women in crisis pregnancies, and raise awareness of the potential health risks of abortion in a university context,” the petition reads.
According to IDEA, the petition will be open until April and handed over to the student council and university management in the summer semester of 2024.
The hostility towards pro-life student groups is not limited to Heidelberg, as ProLife Europe has been excluded from seven universities in German-speaking countries since 2020. In May 2023, Regensburg University rejected the accreditation for the second time.
According to IDEA, the Technical University of Munich student council also denied the ProLife Europe accreditation, as did the “autonomous women’s department” at the University of Wuppertal. At the University of Augsburg, the pro-life group has been waiting for admission for almost two years despite four requests. The University of Linz prohibited the students of the group from talking about abortion, and the rectorate of the University of Vienna banned an information stand run by a pro-life group.
Authorized by Pope Urban VI, the University of Heidelberg was founded in 1386 with the University of Paris as its model. During the Protestant Reformation, it became Lutheran and even Calvinist in scope. Today it is a state-funded public university.