The CSUSM Pride - February 20, 2007

CSUSM Students face off with anti-abortion demonstration
by Amanda Andreen

Enraged, emotional and impassioned students gathered last Thursday, Feb. 15, in front of University Hall, to show support and opposition for an organization called Survivors.

Large sandwich boards were propped up against a light post, and another was supported by Survivor missionary Joey Cox, to present their cause. Signs displayed presented large, graphic images of abortions and listed facts about conception, human life and abortion provided by the Survivors organization.

As students, staff and the members of Survivors exchanged expressive words, debates, and conversations of agreement, a demonstration began in front of the display as a Women's Studies professor, Dr. Linda Pershing and several Women's Studies students proceeded to stand in front of the signs, blocking the images from other students passing by.

"They are in the free speech area on campus, and I completely support that, but give people a choice. By subjecting them to images-students have no choice here but to see [the images]. The campus police were here earlier and they don't have a permit, and they don't need a permit. The bottom line is that these images are psychologically traumatic to students and that's not right. Some of the Women's Studies students came out of class to boycott this on their own; they came down to provide a barricade in front of the boards so students wouldn't have to see this. There are other ways to communicate the message," said Dr. Pershing.

Sergeant Flores of Campus Police said, "We got several calls from students about the pictures being displayed. We couldn't do anything. We asked [the organization] to go to the free speech area; they were originally located in front of Kellogg Library and that area needs to be reserved before anyone can display anything there. All we could do is monitor it. [The organization] actually called back and said some of the students and other community members were blocking their signs. So we were just there to make sure the peace was being upheld and monitoring the situation."

Survivors is a pro-life organization "based out of Riverside, and we go around to high-school and college campuses across California, and right now we're on a Southern California tour, going to campuses in Southern California," said Amanda Lord, a member of "Survivors" who video taped the event for legal purposes. "Basically I've been on the phone with the organization's lawyer, the one we go through for lawsuits," she said, "and the professor is in the wrong by standing against the signs. It's infringing on our free speech. I don't know who the lawsuit will be against if there is one, either the school or the teacher."

According to the website for Survivors, "Survivors is a Christian, pro-life activism organization" that is "dedicated to defending the right to life of future generations, we are engaged in a battle to end America's genocide. We recognize the urgency of this war, as over 3,000 children die each day in the United States because of abortion."

As a participant in the heated discussion, junior Stephanie Dezee said "I believe in child rights. But I also believe in pro-choice. I think that if a woman doesn't want her child that a child shouldn't have to be born in a world where they're not wanted. I think it's distasteful, referring to the photos and their shock value. I also believe that they should have more reliable information."

Another student present, junior Matt Stratton, said, "I think what they're doing is noble and that people need to know. I myself was adopted, and I have not had an easy life, but there is no way I would have wanted to die before I was given the chance."

Morgan Hoodenpyle, Programming and Events Coordinator for the Women's Center said, "They think they're offering choice to women by claiming that Planned Parenthood offers only one side of the issue. But their ultimate political goal is to illegalize abortion, so they are actually limiting women's choice."

Miranda Mendez, a junior in the Women's Studies program said, "[they have] the right to free speech. However, on a college campus they should come with accurate information. [The images] are just for shock value, and I don't know where the pictures came from… but abortion is a personal issue. Regardless, these people have been rude, and they were just saying that they got arrested on another campus yesterday."

Though at this time the allegations of the arrests of "Survivors" members on other campuses cannot be confirmed, the Campus Police came to the demonstration early on and said it was okay for the organization to be there.