Maybe there is some hope for Freedom of Speech on the college campus as conservative students are allowed their 15 minutes of fame.
This story will not make THE NEW YORK TIMES
Signs stating "Warning: Genocide pictures ahead" did not prepare psychology major Zach Mayez for the graphic photos of aborted fetuses juxtaposed with holocaust victims and lynched black men that made up the Genocide Awareness Project display put on by the Center of Bio-Ethical Reform and the Pro Life Club at UCF."I'm pretty disgusted," Mayez said. "But I don't agree with abortion anyway."Fletcher Armstrong, director of CBR Southeast, said that the demonstration was necessary to show people that developing fetuses are human beings and deserve "rights of personhood" and that "abortion is an act of violence.""People talk all the time about choice, but they don't know what choice really means," he said. "At the most basic level, we're trying to show people that an unborn child really is a human being, really is a baby, and that abortion is a violent act of murder."Armstrong emphasized that in his view, abortion was genocide, plain and simple. "I chuckle when people say they don't see it," he said. "There are many parallels, the most important is the issue of personhood. In every case of genocide we display, personhood was redefined by the people in power to exclude the victim class."
Armstrong compared the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision to the 1857 Dred Scott decision where the Supreme Court declared that all blacks, slaves or free, were unable to become citizens of the U.S."The Supreme Court said no to personhood rights in the Roe v. Wade case and in the 1857 Dred Scott decision," he said. "The Nazis said the Jews didn't deserve rights of personhood, too. It goes beyond legal status."Volunteer psychology major and Pro Life Club member Jessica Cuadros agreed with Armstrong. "All of these acts of genocide were OK in the law. Hitler was OK, slavery was OK. Right now, abortion is OK," she said.Some students were upset by the way the display was presented. English and language arts major Megan White said that, though she identifies herself as anti-abortion, she did not think the GAP display was the best way to bring about change."It's more of an exploitation of shock value," she said. "I don't think you really change people's minds by shocking them as they walk by."
Psychology major Jessica White said that displays like GAP's wouldn't help lessen the number of abortions, nor would making them illegal. "I don't really see the point," she said. "Sure, they say it's to let people know a fetus is a baby. I think most people have grasped this fact. I think the activists groups don't understand that even pro-choicers like me don't want abortions to happen; they just don't think the government should interfere with a person's body. Making abortion illegal won't lessen the problem. It would worsen it."Biology major Andrew Watson said he was leery about some of the claims the GAP project's signs listed. "See that sign linking abortion to breast cancer," he said. "I've never heard of that. I'm not saying it isn't true. I could have missed it. But it seems like a scare tactic to me."
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