Spokeswoman Nicole Hollmann tells AFN Students for Life of America's (SFLA) fall campus tour entitled Abortion Is Not Right was recently at the University of Missouri (Mizzou) campus. The pro-life group passed out literature, displayed pictures of aborted babies, and had conversations with students about life issues for about an hour and a half before chaos ensued.
"It wasn't as pleasant as I would have liked," Hollmann shares. "We did have some good conversations, which was great. But eventually, there were too many people there protesting to be able to actually have good … longer term discussions back and forth, so it did lead to a more hostile environment."
According to an SFLA blog post, a large crowd of pro-abortion students formed to protest the SFLA display and the nearby preacher who was speaking on abortion being murder. Mizzou police eventually showed up, though their presence "did not stop the hostility and destruction." Twice, the abortion supporters toppled SFLA's displays, and materials were also stolen and tossed into the garbage. One abortion supporter was arrested.
"Probably the hardest thing for the students was we had several people walk by and tell us to go kill ourselves or that they wish we had been aborted -- comments of that nature which hit the students pretty hard," Hollmann reports.
The pastor who was preaching nearby was spit upon, and students began throwing things at him.
Live Action News points out that vandalism and abuse against pro-life advocates are not uncommon on college campuses. In fact, just last month, students at a pro-life display table were attacked at a University of Iowa student engagement fair, while an abortion activist threw urine at pro-life students at the College of William & Mary in Virginia.
"As pro-lifers continue to advocate for the protection of life at all stages, abortion supporters are routinely showing their true colors, even going so far as to desire death for those who don’t agree with them," Live Action notes.
Even so, Hollmann asserts that Students for Life will continue its constitutional and science-based work on college campuses.
