UF’s most unsettling annual tradition rolled into town Tuesday, as anyone who had the displeasure of walking on Turlington Plaza or the Plaza of the Americas knows.
Every Spring, dozens of pro-life activists descend on these and other high-traffic areas of campus. They’re members of an Ohio-based organization called “Created Equal,” on a tour through major universities in Florida because we’re a politically valuable state. They call this a “Justice Ride,” fancying themselves as the 21st century Freedom Riders — their website plays an audio-recording loop of the “I Have a Dream” speech.
They argue against abortion on the grounds that it’s a violation of human rights. Abortion, they say, is an ugly crime of ageism: discriminating against individual persons on the basis of age. Though it depends on one’s definition of what constitutes “personhood,” at least it’s an arguable position.
Being pro-choice makes it difficult to get along with activists who dedicate their lives to an opposing cause. But the belief itself that abortion is wrong isn’t alarming or even offensive.
But the problem we, and most other students, have with Created Equal is not its position. What concerns us is that Created Equal and its advocates use incredibly graphic photos of what they call “abortion victims” — aborted fetuses — on large signs and posters in areas of campus that are hard to avoid. Today, they’ll be playing a loop of similar images on a Jumbotron.
These tactics go beyond rhetoric. Most people have a fully formed opinion on abortion; few are undecided or swing from one view to the other. Photos of aborted fetuses will not cause people’s views to suddenly change. The supposed secret Created Equal so gratefully shares with us on its posters is: “Abortion isn’t a pretty thing.” Here’s the deal: This isn’t a surprise to anyone. We’ve formed our thoughts on abortion, be they for or against the right, knowing what goes on in those clinics. It’s not like pro-choice people have been told fetuses are laid to rest on silk sheets after they’re removed from the womb, completely intact.
Displaying images like these isn’t an act of informing an ignorant public. These posters are propaganda to deliberately scare, intimidate and demonize women who have gotten abortions by extremists with a flair for the traumatic. They are meant to publicly shame women for making a private choice. They bring unnecessary pain, suffering and anxiety to students of every background. They reduce this important, nuanced issue to a knee-jerk reaction to the sight of blood and guts.
Is Created Equal totally delusional, or is its leadership doing this intentionally?
Due to its self-reported years of “full-time pro-life work,” Created Equal’s leadership has become well-versed in the ins and outs of the abortion debate. They’re not idiots, either — and for all their extremism, they’re probably not delusional. They are here for everything but good faith conversation and dialogue.
[A version of this story ran on page 6 on 3/11/2015]
