The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, a secular institution against abortion, set up a large display with many graphic images of aborted fetuses juxtaposed with pictures of lynchings and genocides in the Brickyard Wednesday and will continue today. The display, however, was met by a counter prostest of about 25 students.
The CBR travels to college campuses across the country and recently paid a visit to UNC-Chapel Hill.
The Students for Life, a pro-life group on campus, sponsored the CBR’s presentation. Bobby O’Brien, a senior in mathematics and member of Students for Life, said, “We wanted to make sure our voice would be heard in a way that couldn’t be ignored.”
Students in opposition brought signs and posters and formed a wall in front of the display facing the atrium.
“I disagree with their political views, but that’s secondary to my offense at these images being displayed on our campus,” said Jacquelyn Fitzgerald, a sophomore in biological sciences. “I don’t think that they’re appropriate, they create an unsafe campus environment and it is bad publicity for our schools. There are campus tour groups moving through here, and if I were a student on this campus, I would not want to come here if they allowed offensive and inappropriate images like this to be on campus. There are images of people being lynched and comparisons that are racially charged; I do not feel safe with this imagery on campus.”
John Dees, a senior in English literature, expressed a slightly different perspective on his reasons for protesting. “My primary motivation is information,” Dees said. “Whatever you feel about abortion, you should make up your mind after gathering information from both sides. This display does not do this; it scares you into an opinion. They are robbing people from making informed decisions.”
David Hallen, a freshman in business, said, “Who wants to eat lunch while looking at this? It’s just wrong.”
Hallen represented the N.C. State chapter of National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, or NARAL, which is a national organization that advocates for and provides comprehensive information on reproductive rights.