Images of bloodied, aborted fetuses greeted students Tuesday who
trekked Bruin Walk, as part of a controversial display brought to
campus each year by the anti-abortion group Survivors.
Members of the organization said the enlarged, poster-sized
photographs are an effective way of presenting their stance against
abortion because the impact of the visuals is felt more deeply than
that of worded arguments.
“It is impossible to describe with words something
that’s unimaginable,” said Keith Mason, director of
campus life tours for Survivors.
Pro-life activist and Survivors member Sara Storms held up a
poster comparing abortion in the United States to the
Holocaust.
Students said they were repulsed and disgusted by the
comparison, and third-year undeclared student Sarah Roberts said
the Holocaust, in which she said millions were enslaved, starved
and murdered, had little connection to abortion.
“I don’t even see how that could compare,” she
said.
Second-year English student Avni Thakkar said in addition to
being distasteful, the images of fetuses and assertions about the
Holocaust were unconvincing.
“They’re trying to be too graphic with it. … I
know so many people that are pro-life, but they don’t have to
do it this way,” she said.
Survivors is a Christian group founded on the principle that
members are young people who “survived” ““ people
born after abortion was legalized in the United States in the early
1970s.
The organization bases its argument against abortion on
religious grounds. Volunteers in the group travel to high school
and college campuses, presenting their argument with graphic
photographs that are often seen by minors.
One of Tuesday’s Bruin Walk displays was held in front of
Kerckhoff Hall, the beginning point of campus tours. High school
students and younger children on campus stared at the pictures
while waiting for their tours to begin.