McKena Miyashiro & Philip Ellefson |
Last Friday, the Voice for Life club wrote anti-abortion chalk messages on the sidewalk of the academic quad and the Clark Library entrance in an effort to start a conversation on abortion.
Many students took offense to the messages.
ASUP senator Joseph Rojo, a sophomore, brought the issue before the Senate meeting on Monday. He said he had received multiple complaints and overheard people reacting negatively to the messages.
“They’re really guilt-shaming. Like the quote ‘Your mom chose life’ is an awful quote,” Rojo said. “It’s really insensitive.”
Others who took issue with the chalk statements used social media to voice their opposition.
Freshman Ariel Haynes shared a Facebook message about the impact of Voice for Life’s messages.
“The statements written in chalk all around the academic quad are accusatory, oversimplified, and extremely triggering for any young women on campus who that might have either terminated a pregnancy or considered doing so in the past,” the post, which was shared 11 more times, said. “This is not protest. This is not dialogue. This is obnoxious. Shame on you.”
According to Julia Anderson, Voice for Life’s vice president , the goal of the chalk messages was not to shame or judge women who choose to terminate pregnancies, but to start a conversation about abortion. Because the club aims to have a bigger presence on campus this year, they decided to write the chalk messages early in the semester.
“With opening the dialogue,” Anderson said, “we want to be able to have peaceful and understanding conversation with people that may not have the same viewpoint as us, to hear their side, but also to kind of break down some of the stereotypes that people have about what it means to be pro-life.”
Anderson, a senior, said that while the messages offended some, the club carefully chose words and images that were peaceful and conducive to dialogue.
On Sunday night, a group of students responded to the anti-abortion messages with their own pro-abortion rights messages. Some of the chalk art included the phrases: “We support your choice,” “Stop shaming women,” and “Pregnant people have heartbeats of their own.”
Junior Patrick Garrison, an entrepreneurship and innovation management major, led the counter-message writing.
"I chose to do this because I, and a lot of my friends, were offended by these messages,” Garrison said. “What the Voice for Life group fails to understand is that these types of messages are hurtful and shame women.”
Garrison, who went through Green Dot training, said he was concerned that the messages could be considered “red dots.”
Some of the messages on the quad included statistics about pregnancies due to rape. Garrison believes that the stigma against abortion causes unnecessary shame for rape survivors.
“The Voice for Life group put up these messages because a lot of women feel sad and guilty after after abortions. What they don’t realize is that a lot of the time, they are the cause of that,” Garrison said. “Women feel guilty and ashamed because of groups like Voice for Life.”
Senior Margaret Persing, the president of Voice for Life, said in November, they will bring two speakers to campus, one of whom identifies as both queer and atheist, but holds an anti-abortion viewpoint.
“We are working to break down the stereotypes that you can’t be atheist and pro-life, or queer and pro-life; the stereotype that you have to be white, Christian, Republican, obnoxious,” Persing said.
Like Voice for Life, Rojo said he hopes to continue discussion on the issue.
"People assume that because we're a Catholic school, we're definitely pro-life,” Rojo said. “It just needs to be talked about that we don't all think that."
Student Activities Director Jeromy Koffler said Student Activities asks student clubs and organizations to submit a written request, usually in the form of an email to Koffler, before chalking campus. He reviews the requests to make sure the planned chalking fits within the parameters of what Student Activities allows.
Koffler said student activities does not allow anonymous chalking, and that clubs are required to post their sponsorship with their chalking. Clubs are also not allowed to chalk on buildings, parking spaces, or the Bell Tower Plaza.
Voice for Life, Koffler said, followed the correct procedures for chalking.
“The response (to the anti-abortion chalking) was technically a violation of the policy,” Koffler said. “It’s a tough situation, obviously.”
Physical Plant washed both the anti-abortion and pro-abortion rights messages off the sidewalks Tuesday afternoon. Koffler said Physical Plant generally washes chalking off the sidewalks if it doesn’t have sponsorship listed with it.
-Kelsey Thomas contributed to reporting in this story. McKena Miyashiro is a reporter for The Beacon. She can be reached at miyashir17@up.edu. Philip Ellefson is the news editor for The Beacon. He can be reached at ellefson15@up.edu or on Twitter @philipellefson.
