Love of Truth Ministries volunteers displayed images of fetuses to aid in explaining their views on abortion in the Sombrilla Plaza on Oct. 27. 

Also in the Plaza was a large canvas titled “Free Speech.” Students were allowed to write down their views on the issue as volunteers spoke to students. 

Karenna Havens, a sophomore global affairs major, wrote ‘women’s rights are human rights’ and explained how seeing the anti-abortion stimuli made her motivated to speak up for what she believes in. 

“It makes me inspired to keep fighting and standing up for what I believe in and hopefully others will not stop either,” Havens said. “This just makes me want to fight more, it kind of makes you say ‘oh you need to have a louder voice than they do.’”

Julianna Martinez, a biology major, wrote ‘pro-abortion and explained she felt that people should be given the choice in every instance because no one can predict what is happening behind closed doors.  

“There are so many kids in the foster care system because of parents who aren’t ready, are too young, or are in a bad situation and there are so many kids who need homes, so I don’t think there is a need for unwanted pregnancies to bring more children to broken homes,” Martinez said.

Ava Zwartjez, an English major, explained why she wrote ‘bodily autonomy is a human right.’ 

“I wrote that because I believe that men are given the choice every single day,” Zwartjez said. “They are given the choice for all sorts of healthcare, they don’t have to take birth control and yet for some reason, there is a disconnect when it comes to women and their own uterus. We are living in a fully patriarchal society and we are expected to believe that pregnancy is 50/50, it’s a complete double standard. We aren’t saying that all abortions are amazing and that we love them; it’s just a matter of being given the choice.”

Finally, nursing major Sydney Brooks wrote ‘no uterus, no choice’ because she felt that no one should be obligated to have children if they don’t want to and no one else should make the decision other than the individual. 

One of the main components of the demonstration was graphic images of an aborted fetus. Havens explained the ineffectiveness of the images as well as how upsetting the images are. 

“They are trying to get their point across and are doing it in any way they thought could be persuasive, they are doing what they think it’s right, but it’s not persuasive,” Havens said. “If anything it made me agree with them less and it drives people away, it’s an aborted fetus on a poster, that’s a lot.”

Ava Acosta Litton, a psychology major, explained how the information on the posters has been debunked. 

“All of their information about abortion has been debunked. It takes a three-second search to figure that out and the photos they use on their posters aren’t accurate at all. It’s a misrepresentation of reality and it makes people scared,” Acosta Litton said.  

Finally, Martinez pointed to the scare tactics being used and how such tactics alienate a person seeking an abortion, making them feel worse about themselves. 

“This is sad because it’s an education institution, most of us are majoring in sciences and are very intelligent and seeing stuff like this that is medically incorrect is fear mongering,” Martinez said. “It’s all done to make women feel bad about their choice like they can’t grieve after an abortion and that’s completely normal.”

Acosta explained her reason for being pro-choice and how the overall demonstration was upsetting.

“It’s sad to see this because all of the people out here are all men and they are mansplaining abortion to me. There are only men here. None of them know what it is like to get pregnant and have a period, they should have zero opinion of what a woman gets to do in a private medical decision,” Acosta said. “When you get angry they tell you to calm down and you cannot be civil in this situation because you are taking my bodily right away. I am a person, I am almost 20 years old, I should have the choice over my body, not some guy. I’m tired of it.”