As Associate U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was being welcomed to Loyola before delivering a lecture Monday, protesters gathered at the school to voice their disapproval of the university’s choice to invite a pro-choice advocate to speak.About 30 protesters gathered in the horseshoe, and more near the law school, Monday afternoon, carrying signs featuring demands that people “study the Bible” or showing pictures of aborted fetuses. Ginsburg, who has been a general consul of the American Civil Liberties Union, came to Loyola to deliver the 14th annual Ainsworth lecture at the Law School. Pro-life protesters gathered to denounce Ginsburg’s career, especially her reputation as one of the nation’s most pro-choice judges.”She has dedicated her life to preserving the right to privacy, as she called it, and the right to reproductive choice, and we know that reproductive choice is a euphamism for baby killing,” said Kathleen Benfield, director of the American Family Association of New Orleans. Protesters said they were upset that a Catholic university would invite as a guest speaker someone whose views came into conflict with Catholic teachings.”We’re just appalled that a Catholic institution of higher learning would invite someone who advocates a woman having an abortion,” said Bill Shanks, pastor of the New Covenant Fellowship and director of United for Life, the pro-life group that sponsored the protest. “The idea to invite someone here that advocates the killing of innocent children is appalling. It would be like Xavier University inviting David Duke to speak.”Shanks said he had more against Ginsburg than her pro-choice rulings. “She was a general consul for the ACLU; they wanted God out of the schools, wanted God out of secular society. She stood against and fought against every element. I’m talking about taking crosses off nativity scenes, off of public property, Bibles out of school. She has nothing in common with the Catholic church.”Pam Richard, who, along with her husband, coordinates the Catholic Charismatic Sidewalk Counseling and Picketing Ministry, agreed with Shanks. “For the Jesuits to be inviting her to come and speak here, someone who is so blatantly pro-abortion and anti-life, we find is scandalous to the Catholic faith,” she said.Richard said if the situation were different and Ginsburg had been speaking at a non-Catholic university such as Tulane, she would still protest but would not feel as stongly about the situation. Richard said she tried to contact the Rev. Bernard Knoth, S.J., university president, and James Klebba, dean of the Law School about the situation, but never got a response from either of them.She did say, that she had received much response from the Catholic community. “They’re outraged,” she said. Shanks, who said he is a Loyola alumnus, said he and fellow pro-lifers have rallied support for their cause by calling the archbishop, and major donors of Loyola.”The archbishop and a number of donors are appalled at Loyola,” he said. “We even called the dean of Loyola (sic) to voice our disapproval, and he hung up after he said that he was proud to have her (Ginsburg) … he should be fired.”When asked, the Rev. Lawrence Moore, S.J., associate dean of the Law School, said that Ginsburg’s lecture had nothing to do with abortion.Some Loyola professors have mixed views about Ginsburg’s invitation to Loyola. Carl Bruger, religious studies professor, said he found merit in the protesters’ arguments.”It is a real issue that faces a university like this. … Our literature speaks of giving students an education that comes out of a Catholic tradition and world view… should be held accountable for who we invite to speak.”Associate philosophy professor Contance Mui, however, applauded the university’s effort to expose students to varying ideas.”It is certainly good that we are inviting people with different views… like when we invited Antonin Scalia, a staunch supporter of the death penalty. … There is certainly a parallel there,” she said. Scalia, who has been a Loyola Ainsworth lecturer in the past, angered religious leaders Monday when he addressed a group of students at Georgetown University, criticizing Catholic leaders who are opposed to the death penalty. Shanks accuses the law school of ignoring Catholic and legal fundamentals.”You know it’s very strange that Ruth Bader Ginsburg is speaking at a Catholic Law school,” he said, “when the foundation of our entire law system was based upon the ten commandments. God said, ‘Thou shalt not kill’ — that wraps it.”

—with reporting by Nick Boeglin and Muetze Hellmer

Click here to start a discussion on this story.