Pro-life views erected in the middle of campus

The path to upper campus was covered yesterday with signs screaming “GENOCIDE;” and the gray sky was obstructed by a huge quadrilateral structure featuring vivid images of humanitarian crises and aborted fetuses.

Members from Cal State Long Beach’s Catholic Newman Club, along with the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform and the Genocide Awareness Project, were lined up at the base of the structure, handing out pro-life pamphlets to passersby.

On the structure’s signs and in the pamphlet, abortions were likened to genocide.

“If the pre-born are living human beings — science tells us they are both alive and human — then abortion kills 1.2 million humans every year in the U.S.,” the front of the pamphlet read. “If not genocide, what else would we call it?”

Deaths due to abortion in the United States were compared to deaths from the holocaust, and fetus’ lack of rights was likened to slavery in the U.S. during the 18th and 19th centuries.

John Oskam, a senior business marketing major and president of CSULB’s Catholic Newman Club said that the mission of the demonstration was to bring awareness of abortion to students.

“It’s such a disgusting thing to see,” Oskam said. “If it’s as disgusting in the images then it must be as disgusting in practice.”

He said he would like the demonstration to prevent future abortions among students.

“We hope that people see these images and develop a stance that’s pro-life,” he said. “We mean nothing but respect, we just want to spread the truth.”

Students were interested and many stopped to read the signs or grab a pamphlet, some even giving the petitioners’ their support.

“The campaign signs [caught my attention],” sophomore biology major Christopher Velez said. “Usually when people bring up abortion, I put it off.”

Velez thought that the comparisons were interesting, and said he was compelled by a statistic about babies being aborted if they’re expected to be born with defects.

“It’s wrong that people would abort it [for that reason],” Velez said.

Junior psychology major Brian Sherman, who paused to take a closer look at the images, said that he thought the demonstration was off-putting.

“It’s kind of strange,” he said. “It’s not their right to take away abortion.”

Senior marketing major Arvid Linder was smiling as he snapped photos of the display. Linder, who is from Sweden, said his friends would be appalled at the confrontational approach of the anti-abortionists.

“I would call this freak week,” Linder said, motioning over to several members from Campus Ministry USA’s confrontational evangelists.

Linder said that in Sweden, radical acts such as this would have been rejected immediately.

He said that the people in his country reserve the right to not only freedom of speech, but also the freedom to choose what can be pushed on them.