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On September 19th, the Yotes for Life (YFL) group at the University of South Dakota did some pro-life sidewalk chalking on campus… only to find it smudged and chalked over the next day. Unfortunately, this type of vandalization has become common as pro-choice students (and faculty) actively work to silence anyone who disagrees with them. Sidewalk chalk, a great activism method for college campuses, is especially prone to free speech attacks as cowardly vandals can do the deed overnight & successfully avoid any productive confrontation.
The Students for Reproductive Rights group at the school denied erasing the YFL chalking, but admitted that they had written the new pro-abortion messages that had also appeared overnight. Perhaps the vandals and the abortion group crossed paths on their way to and from harassing YFL’s project.
The student paper wrote an article on the events that is unsurprisingly slanted toward the pro-choice group and only shows photos provided by Students for Reproductive Rights. Who, by the way, suspiciously had “before and after” pictures of their own. The photos directly below are what Jaedon Foreman, the president of Yotes for Life, sent to Students for Life.
To make things even more interesting, Students for Life Regional Coordinator Stephanie Lugo helped Yotes for Life with a human rights voting display this week, and the president of the pro-choice group had a respectful conversation with them. She read through the pro-life info and commented that she was “glad to see it was medically accurate.” Yotes for Life shared the pro-life movement’s desire to help lift women out of situations that typically lead them to choose abortion, and she took some of the display topic cards.
As a final twist, it looks like an onlooker had enough of the bickering between these two groups, because a portion of everyone’s messages were washed away a bit later.
Buckle your seatbelts, Pro-Life Generation. Abortion is the hottest topic in politics right now, Roe v. Wade is FINALLY headed for America’s trash can, and abortion supporters are bold & angry (well, more so than usual). We must continue meeting them with the same boldness, but also with love and educated dialogue. The last stretch is the hardest part of a race; stay strong and together, we’ll get this thing to the finish line.
If your Students for Life group faces vandalization, we can help. Contact Matt Lamb with the details and he’ll help you with next steps.
