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Abortion proponents have been known to try to censor pro-lifers from showing the reality of abortion depicted in photos of the victims. 

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But there has been a recent surge.

It’s interesting to me that showing abortion victim imagery generates so much negative energy from the other side. What’s the problem with owning what they support?

On March 4 abortion proponents “erected a wall of censorship” around a Justice For All display at the University of Georgia according to The Daily Caller:

To prevent members of the campus community from actually seeing the images, students from two pro-choice groups – the Women’s Studies Student Organization and Sexual Health Advocacy Group – stood around the display holding up sheets.

They also held vulgar signs, so becoming.

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To be clear, the pro-abortion effort was not simply to counter one expression of free speech with another view. It was to suppress the other’s view. Their rationale? Again quoting The Daily Caller:

Danielle Duncan, one of the pro-choice activists, said the pro-life display constituted “hate speech,” because it could trigger negative emotions to people who saw it.

If this is how hate speech is defined, then there is pretty much no such thing as acceptable speech. But the First Amendment wasn’t written to protect speech everyone agrees with. That sort of speech needs no protection. It was written to protect speech people might disagree with, find offensive.

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At Norman High School in Norman, Oklahoma, abortion zealots took a different tactic, mockery, when faced with abortion victim imagery displayed by Abolish Human Abortion’s Project Frontlines. According to okcfox.com, February 28:

“Talk to your family, not these yahoos!”

“Know your audience!”

“May the fetus you save be gay!”

These signs of protest aren’t for the passersby at Norman High School. They’re signs protesting the protestors right across the street….

“It’s ridiculous, they shouldn’t be doing this at a school,” said Ryan Steinmeyer, a Senior at Norman High. “If they want to voice their First Amendment rights, I am too. And my First Amendment protects that.”

Steinmeyer says his fellow students are trying to run them off and confuse them with satire.  The message he chose is simple.

“I want everyone to know that the Star Trek sequel wasn’t really that great!”

Others are following suit.  One student held up a sign stating he misses the TV show Firefly.  Another student held up a sign stating he needed a dollar for a bus ticket.

Actually, showing the reality of abortion is perfectly suited for a high school, because high school students get abortions. They should know who they’re aborting. It’s called education.

At Paschal High School in Ft. Worth, Texas, pro-choicers took yet a different tack to oppose the display of abortion victim photos by Project Frontline. According to the Star-Telegram on February 28:

Iris Hayes, a 17-year-old Paschal senior, stood nearby Thursday with a poster bearing images of puppies.

“I don’t agree with the posters,” she said.

She and two Texas Christian University students stood next to anti-abortion activist James Lewis, 25, with their own signs showing both kittens and puppies. They said they brought out pleasant images to make their point: They said they don’t believe a high school campus is the appropriate place for graphic images of abortions.

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“Iris,” an interesting name for someone who doesn’t want others to use theirs. And accompanied by two students for a Christian university? Shame on these abortion enablers. Do they also oppose the crucifix? It’s graphic, too.

And countering abortion with puppies? How utterly offensive and degrading to these poor dismembered children.

School officials appear to respect constitutional rights:

[W]rites principal Terri Mossige in a Feb. 26 letter to the Paschal High School community… “As United States citizens, we have the chance to see our rights in action every day. Paschal High School is a microcosm of our society and is not exempt from these situations. However, we can take positive steps to mitigate the distractions and discomfort that might result from these experiences.”

Students who said they were bothered by the exhibitions were referred to school counselors or intervention specialists, Mossige said.

I’m always blown away by the blindness that can be so offended by photos of abortion victims and those who show them, and recognize the photos are so disturbing as to potentially require counseling after viewing, but yet not be horrified by the atrocity being committed against helpless, innocent babies in the photos.

[Top photo via thefire.org; second photo via georgiatipsheet.com; third photo via okcfox.com; bottom photo via star-telegram.com]

Reprinted with permission from Jill Stanek.