By Samantha Kamman, Abortion Columnist
In an effort to advocate for the dignity of the unborn, the Students for Life of America set up a Cemetery of the Innocents at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor as part of their #PlannedParenthoodTruth tour. The display featured 1,000 pink crosses to commemorate the unborn lives lost to abortion, and it was a peaceful demonstration professing the heartbreaking reality of abortion. Still, there were abortion advocates on campus that were far from happy about the memorial for unborn babies.
Throughout the day, pro-abortion activists pulled the pink crosses from the ground, gathered them into trash bags, or placed them on top of trash cans. Kaylene Wiederhold, Students for Life’s Michigan Regional Coordinator, attempted to ask them why they were stealing Students for Life property, and one of the students cited ‘disagreement’ with the display. When another student alerted campus police about the vandalism, the abortion advocates dropped the crosses and fled.
Speaking on the incident, Wiederhold said:
“Free-speech on college campuses continues to be an issue. The abortion activists on campus should be ashamed of themselves for trying to disrupt a peaceful memorial to not only babies harmed by abortion, but also women, men, and families harmed by abortion.”
Another incident occurred at the University of Texas-San Antonio, where supporters of Planned Parenthood danced around the pink crosses set up by the Students for Life. The protestors of the display engaged in chants in support of Planned Parenthood, and one student described abortion as her biggest “kink.” Pamphlets were stolen from a table set up by Students for Life and tossed in the gutter.
Melanie Salazar, president of the University of Texas chapter of Students for Life, said of the vandalism and mockery:
“We ARE the Pro-Life Generation and if our event got protested like this, then we must be doing something right and we must be on the side of truth.”
