COLUMBIA, Missouri, December 21, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – Graphic abortion images meant to bolster #BlackLivesMatter efforts are being decried as “anti-Semitic” by a Jewish student group at the University of Missouri's Columbia campus.
Last week, the Genocide Awareness Project posted photos of aborted babies on the university campus. The images were brought to campus by a New Jersey pastor, Clenard Childress, who told The Columbia Tribune, “If all black lives matter, then we should consider all black life.”
“That includes the children being discriminated against in the womb,” said Childress.
The display compared abortion to some of the world's worst genocides, including the Holocaust.
However, the images are opposed by Mizzou Students for Life, which said they received negative feedback after having the Project on campus in the past. On Twitter, the group said they “share the same beliefs” as the Genocide Awareness Project “but don't believe they should use these methods.”
The most aggressive opposition came from the Jewish Student Organization. In a statement, the group said, “The images and comparisons made are not only inaccurate; they are offensive and triggering to students.”
“This organization hijacks the tragedies that groups have faced in order to progress their political, anti-abortion agenda,” continued the statement, which also said that “this use of the Holocaust is an act of Anti-Semitism[.]”
While the Jewish group says it “recognizes the right of free speech,” “the messages that the Genocide Awareness Project uses go beyond freedom of speech.”
Graphic images are common among certain types of protests, such as those against animal cruelty. Additionally, #BlackLivesMatter protests have used images of people shot to death by police in protests, and the American public turned aganist the Vietnam War and slavery in part because of graphic images of victims in both circumstances.
In 2013, a Slate.com analysis hammered the U.S. Supreme Court for not protecting the right of pro-life activists to hold graphic images on public sidewalks. According to author Emily Bazelon, the Court's decision meant that “in the end, we all lose, because this is our collective right to free speech. The Supreme Court this week said it would not hear an appeal of the Colorado ruling. The justices' decision to duck this one instead of standing up for the First Amendment is completely baffling.”
