Whether you were blacked out in Mexico, blacked out in Key West, going on some crazy adventure or just chilling at home over Spring Break, we can all agree no one was about anything. The first week back from any break is like a drawn out 120-hour Monday. But after the Monday proper back, we were greeted by the “GRAPHIC IMAGES AHEAD” sign outside Turlington, which could only mean one thing: the abortion people are back. Ugh.
The campaign is run by an activist organization called Created Equal, who describes themselves on their Facebook page as “a social action movement seeking to end the greatest human rights injustice of our time.” They’ve titled their campaign through Florida schools as the “Justice Ride,” because they believe they are fighting discrimination towards “pre-born children” and deem abortion as “ageism.” By recruiting college-aged kids and invading college campuses with graphic images of these “murdered pre-born children,” they believe they are effectively educating our generation about this “age-based discrimination.”
Via: facebook.com
There is nothing inherently wrong with Created Equal’s message. Actually, they take a more scientific approach to anti-abortion activism, which is usually dominated by Christian radicals, claiming that because human life scientifically begins at conception, so does personhood. That’s all fine and good, but the problem lies in their methods. If Created Equal is operating under the “any publicity is good publicity” school of thought, then completely taking over Turlington Plaza and Plaza of the Americas for two days with their violent depictions of aborted fetuses at various stages of gestation is the way to go. A quick Twitter search of “Turlington abortion” brings up plenty of tweets condemning the posters while heavily lacking any messages of support.
While I would never suggest that free speech zones should be eliminated on campus, maybe “free” should have an asterisk. While most UF students are mature enough to just walk by and ignore the signs, we are not the only people that come to campus. UF has hosted people from all walks of life, from Michelle Obama and Seth Myers to, well, your mom, but there are two groups of people that really should not see these signs: children and high schoolers.
Every day I see at least one child walking around campus. They roam around with their parents, walk around campus holding the rope from Baby Gators (possibly one of the cutest things ever, let’s be honest) and visit on school field trips, the whole class carrying their supah-cool lunch boxes. I hope even the people at Created Equal can agree that their posters, which are prefaced by a warning, are not suitable for children.
Via: facebook.com
The entire month of March is also spring break season, and while we were not turning down for what, high schoolers were touring colleges to decide which school has the best microbiotelecom program. Think of all the soon-to-be freshmen seeing our school for the first time and while their Cicerone is explaining to them that we have both French fries and a baked potato, but no hash browns, they’re hit in the face with a circle of contorted bloody fetuses. It’s definitely not our school’s best selling point (SEC CHAMPIONS. NUMBER 1 SEED. #blessed).
The Supreme Court has ruled that free speech may be limited on obscene content, but violent content, like the Created Equal posters, should fall under that category as well. Free speech zones exist so students may freely share and exchange ideas, not show disgusting pictures. Whether it be student government, the university itself or even the powers that be up in the Nasty, somebody should hold the power to remove this type of “speech” from college campuses.
Featured photo courtesy of: Facebook
