Members of the anti-abortion rights group Abolish Human Abortion carried signs, handed out pamphlets and preached to University of Memphis students in the Alumni Mall on Thursday, stirring up many heated debates over abortion rights.
A number of anti-abortion activists came to Memphis from around the nation and Canada for a four-day conference held by a human rights group called Abolish Human Abortion. Many of them carried graphic signs with statements such as “no mommy ever has to murder her baby” and “murder is legal.” Many signs depicted images of bloody, dead and decapitated fetuses.
The organization came to the University in light of the upcoming Nov. 4 mid-term election and the much-debated Amendment 1, which would allow state legislators to add restrictions on abortion, even in the case of rape, incest or the pregnancy being hazardous for the woman’s life.
Tory Keeter, a 27-year-old anti-abortion activist from Norman, Okla., was one of the demonstrators at the event. She explained the rationale behind the group.
“We are Christians who think abortion is sin.” Keeter said. “The body inside my body is not my body.”
Keeter said that although the Abolitionists do not support abortion rights, she, and many others, would still vote no on Amendment 1.
“We are not pro life,” Keeter said. “We want to put an end to the pro life movement. Amendment 1 would do relatively nothing to reduce the number of abortions.”
Keeter said the group goes to campuses, abortion clinics, high schools and churches to demonstrate against abortion.
“We think that we live in a culture of death,” Keeter said.
John Brindley, the director of the Abolitionist Society of Memphis-Mid South, said the U of M was an obvious place to come to because it is a place of higher education with a free speech zone.
“This is a place where sex outside of marriage happens and a place where a guy will date rape a girl,” Brindley said.
Like Keeter, Brindley would also vote no on Amendment 1. According to him, people have been lied to about “the pro life [movement].” Brindley believes that while the passing of Amendment 1 would most likely lessen the amount of abortions, it wouldn’t do away with them entirely. According to Brindley, abortion should not be regulated, but done away with altogether. Even in the case of rape, incest or a threat to a woman’s health, abortion should never be an option.
“Abortion is the product of fornication and we want to reason with the kids here on campus,” Brindley said. “Sex is a good thing but only through a marital relationship. We want them to repent and be saved and not go to hell for their sins.”
Alan Maricle, a 36-year-old demonstrator, also from Norman, Okla., wanted to make it clear that their group rejects violence.
“We speak with love and root our truth from the Bible,” Maricle said.
According to Jessica Rye, a 19-year-old sophomore accounting student, Maricle approached her while she was making her way to the University Center to eat lunch with a friend. Not long after, Rye left the conversation in tears. She explained what made her so distraught.
“Maricle is destroying my faith and condemned my friend for being pro-choice,” Rye said.
Rye said she was passing through the crowd when she noticed the signs, and told her friend that she believed the pictures were disturbing and not the right way to spread a message. According to her, Maricle overheard the comment and approached them.
“I cannot believe I let him get to me where it made me cry,” Rye said. “He wouldn’t shut up or hear anything I had to say.”
Maricle later claimed that Rye cried because she did not like what he had to say, and said that she is not Christian despite considering herself one.
Madison Virgilio, a freshman gender studies major, claimed that she faced a similar situation. Virgilio was also walking to the UC for lunch when two male protestors approached her with pamphlets.
Virgilio said she tried to be polite by handing the pamphlets back and walking away when one of the men grabbed her backpack and started pulling her back toward him, demanding to know if she had ever had an abortion.
“I get they are really passionate about this topic, but yet I was still really shocked when he grabbed my backpack,” Virgilio said. “If they want their message to be well received then they should refrain from putting their hands on people.”
Virgilio said that she plans on filing a report with Police Services.
Lenard Harden, a sophomore sport and leisure management major and linebacker for the U of M Tigers’ football team, stood on the steps of the UC and watched AHA speak to students. Harden is “neutral” about abortion.
“I’m really against abortion, but I also understand why someone that was raped might want to have an abortion,” Harden said.
The University of Memphis is a public institution and organizations are free to express their viewpoints in a peaceful, respectful manner in an officially designated area of the campus, according to a University official who asked to remain unnamed.
Around 9:30 a.m., NO MORE, a new, feminist registered student organization that advocates against issues that disproportionately affect women, set up a table in the Alumni Mall to inform students about the ramifications of Amendment 1. According to Paula Peyton, sophomore English major and president of the organization, she was unaware that AHA was going to be there.
“A guy came up with literature and a GoPro strapped to his chest and tried to angrily engage with the people managing our table,” Peyton said. “I told our people to not engage with him.”
When the man wouldn’t leave, Geoff Fenlong, the manager of UC Facilities and Programming, notified Police Services.
“This group [NO MORE] requested not to be bothered,” Fenlong said. “He came up and I asked him to stop. He refused to leave, so I called the cops.”
Peyton said that as more abolitionists began to arrive, Fenlong, Monique Savage, the director of Conference and Event Services at the U of M, and Danny Armitage, the associate vice president for student affairs, allowed NO MORE to move their table to the top of the University Center’s steps.
Peyton believes that the group may have caught wind of their table through social media.
“We were given the option to move our table by the dean of students to move to another spot because they were destroying every opportunity for us to reach anyone,” Peyton said. “We have no proof, but we posted on social media, and we think they may have got a hold of that.”
Savage said the demonstrators “were in fact ‘near’ our established [free speech zone] location, but did not go through University Policy for requesting space or approval to distribute literature.“
Section G of the University’s policy for access to and use of campus property and facilities deals with the rules of distribution of leaflets, literature, pamphlets and solicitation. Under these rules, organizations must give 14 days advance notice before carrying out distribution of printed material. Savage claimed that AHA did not comply with this policy.
“I can’t confirm if it is the same group, but a group asked if they could come [to the University],” Savage said. “We provided the group with our policies [earlier last week] after they asked if they could come to our campus, but after providing them with our policies we never heard back from them until they showed up at 10 a.m. today.”
Savage said Police Services were notified and campus police deployed around the demonstration in order to facilitate crowd control.
Attempts to reach Director of Police Operations Derek Myers were unsuccessful.
