This week, the Genocide Awareness Project, a group of extreme anti-abortion, pro-life activists will be in the Brickyard for its annual on-campus protest. If it is anything like the previous years, and likely it will be, the group will have large posters covered with gruesome images of unborn fetuses after they have been removed from the womb. These pictures are big, bloody and right in the middle of the Brickyard.
Along with this, there are several representatives from the club actively protesting abortion and attempting to persuading students to feel the same way. With abortion being the “genocide” to which they are referring, they actively stop students and try to persuade them. Additionally, a counter-protest almost always ensues and surrounds the GAP posters, so the Brickyard becomes this battleground for the never-ending pro-life vs. pro-choice argument.
If you are anything like me, then the sight of blood tends to make you feel nauseous or faint. Walking in the Brickyard during this time, which for me is unavoidable because of where my classes are, will make me uncomfortable. I know that I am not the only one who is impacted by the sight of blood. Even if I could handle blood better, images like these are not pleasant for anyone to have to see.
One argument made against this is “If you don’t like them, then just avoid them.” So, I’m supposed to, what? Not walk through the Brickyard even though that’s the only way I can go to get to class on time? Not go to D.H. Hill Library? Not eat at the Atrium? State students shouldn’t have to avoid part of State’s campus because of an organization inhabiting the Brickyard.
In no way am I trying to deny that the GAP has every right to protest in this manner. I know that the organization is completely within its rights of freedom of speech and assembly to do these things.
But if you want to persuade somebody to be pro-life, then this is not the right way to do it. The tone that these protests put out is overall very aggressive. They are using shock-and-awe scare tactics to urge us into fearing the possibility of abortion. This protest surpasses the level of aggressiveness of any other organization that uses the Brickyard throughout the year.
And why?
Why has it escalated to this level? What about college campuses makes the GAP people use these methods to promote anti-abortion?
Because, unfortunately for them, what this does is actually turn people away from the pro-life movement. This group of extremists are now what people who were once neutral or pro-choice think about when they think of the pro-life movement. Kind of like “wow, those people are crazy” or “oh, the dead baby pictures people.” It’s the same way that the aggressive Brickyard preachers actually end up turning people against the idea of Christianity. There are some things that we students just do not want to see or hear when we are trying to get to class.
Whether or not you are pro-life, there is no denying that there are several different types of pro-life agencies that promote a much more peaceful view. For instance, there are places where counseling is provided to those who are pregnant and considering abortion. There are places that help provide for new mothers who need assistance raising their child. There are peaceful protests against the idea of abortion where people rationally talk about their ideas and don’t shove a bloody picture in your face. More positive, non-aggressive tactics are generally much more effective when you are trying to persuade somebody of an argument.
And I also know that these are not the only group of protestors who use shock-and-awe tactics to promote their cause. But, if the majority of the student body — even other pro-life supporters — either tries to avoid this protest, strongly disagrees with these people or overall just hates everything about the pictures they put up, then that’s when you know that something isn’t working.
