Posted on 10/27/2003 3:27:48 PM PST by Timmy
University of Missouri-Columbia students walking to class on this chilly autumn morning saw more than their breath.
By 9 a.m., a dozen 18-foot-tall banners were lined up on Kuhlman Court, each offering information on abortion. They included graphic images of terminated fetuses and the abortion process.
"We think it’s information," said Jonathan Block, media liaison with an MU student group called Justice For All: Students for Bio-Ethical Equality. "It’s graphic … but abortion is horrifying."
At Speaker’s Circle, on the other side of the Arts & Sciences classroom building, students could see and hear from pro-choice activists who said they were brought out by the Kuhlman Court display.
"We just believe women can make a choice without this graphic display, and their facts are false," said Sarah Amos, a sophomore pre-journalism major and a member of Spiritual Youth for Reproductive Freedom.
The banners also present arguments that human life begins at conception and that abortion can be detrimental to a woman’s long-term health. They draw comparisons between abortion and the persecution of blacks and Jews.
Pedestrians entering the court were notified of the display’s presence by signs reading: "Warning/Genocide/Photos/Ahead." Walkers leaving the area can see signs displaying a telephone number for women with unplanned pregnancies.
The Open Arms Crisis Pregnancy Center had a table set up near the display.
Justice For All brought the displays to campus in an effort to start a dialogue on abortion, Block said. He said his group is apolitical and doesn’t advocate legislation. Block further said his group describes itself as pro-life and not anti-abortion.
"It’s not about dissuading" women from undergoing abortions," Block said. "It’s about learning."
The national chapter of Justice For All brought the display to MU. Tammy Cook, the group’s director of field operations, said the display or ones like it have been shown at about 45 campuses over five years.
The group shows the display at college campuses to reach the age group "most vulnerable to women being in a crisis pregnancy and choosing abortion," Cook said.
Amos said the display is unnecessarily graphic. She said linking abortion to the Holocaust and lynching are offensive. She also contends that Justice For All’s attempt to link abortion to increased rates of breast cancer is not based in fact, a claim that Block denied.
Amos refuted the notion that Justice For All isn’t trying to dissuade women from choosing abortion.
"Dialogue has been going on for 30 years and even before Roe v. Wade," she said. "I don’t see why we have to do it in such a disturbing manner."
In protest against the display, Amos and other pro-choice advocates held signs portraying abortion as a constitutional right. Other signs claimed that anti-abortion supporters had murdered seven doctors in 10 years.
Students walking across Kuhlman Court offered differing opinions of the Justice For All display.
"It just gets the facts out there," said Brittany Niemeier, a junior education major.
But Courtney Beatty, a freshman majoring in pre-journalism, said the display was too graphic.
"I personally think it is demoralizing," she said. "It is going to be hurtful to those women or even those men who have gone through abortions."
The Justice For All presentation will be on display from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. today through Wednesday.
Block said Justice For All went through all the proper procedures to obtain university permission for the display.
The MU chapter of Justice For All says it has more than 100 members and is one of the largest anti-abortion student groups in America.
Their "facts" are simply pictures. Don't believe your eyes!!
What the heck is spiritual about sucking the brains out of a baby that is half-way out of the birth canal and would have an even-odds chance of surviving if it wasn't being murdered? She must belong to the new wing of the Episcopal Church that has what the Bible calls abominations as Bishops...Gay Bishops will probably form a Spiritual Butt-Humper Freedom Society...
He actually wrote a news article describing what was displayed by both sides and what supporters on each side had to say about the issue.
He forgot to praise one side and stick snide little comments in about those on the side he disagreed with.
Two points here. The women and men didn't "go through abortions", their children did.
How callous to worry about the feelings of murderers and not the murdered.
This woman is clearly against the posters, but her claims, if true, strengthen the case for their use. To quote the apostle Paul:
Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done. (2 Cor 7:10-11)
This is an example of the Left trying to claim the High Moral Ground. (It fails, of course, as do all the other examples that come to mind.)
True enough.
We're only taking about 40 million kids cut to pieces with knives.
He actually wrote a news article describing what was displayed by both sides and what supporters on each side had to say about the issue.
I actually noted the same thing and sent him an email making that point.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.