The anti-abortion campaign is returning to UF’s free-speech zones this week with a new tactic.
Anti-abortion organization Created Equal will show a real abortion on a Jumbotron-like system from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday on the Plaza of the Americas.
Mark Harrington, national director of the Ohio-based group, said it’s not a huge departure from what it usually does.
“It’s just important for people to understand the actual procedure and see it, see what it is,” Harrington said.
Created Equal visits UF frequently with signs showing graphic abortion images. This will be going on today and Wednesday as well.
He said Created Equal visits UF because it’s a large public university in a key political state. The more common view on campus is probably pro-choice, he said, and the organization is trying to offer a countervailing view, raise awareness and create dialogue.
“We believe this is what the university should be about,” he said. “It’s a marketplace for ideas. It’s the place where topics like abortions should be discussed intellectually, and to be using the victim imagery only makes sense.”
UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes said it will be graphic, but Created Equal went through the same approval process as any other organization that wants to book the plaza.
“If you don’t want to see it, don’t walk over there,” she said.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 3/10/2015 under the headline “Organization to show abortion video on Plaza of the Americas”]
