ARTICLES

You Don't Want to Feel Like a Freak

Survivors Protest at Catholic Campus

By Joe Marti

"My generation doesn't respect life. It's the murder of innocent lives, and they just want to screw around," explained Monica, a 16 year-old high school student. Monica said this while holding a sign that measured about five feet square. She was one of 30 demonstrators holding signs just outside the gates of the University of San Francisco on October 15 to an audience of students at the Jesuit campus. On the signs were the grisly images of aborted children, casualties of the thirty-year assault on the unborn. Some of the signs compared pictures of these children with images from the Nazi holocaust in World War II.

The organizer of this event was Jeff White, a pro-life leader for many years, who traveled from Southern California to spend five days in San Francisco. He was an early activist in Operation Rescue and has since organized a group called "Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust." As he explained when he spoke at last March's San Francisco United for Life dinner, "anyone born after 1973 is a survivor, because, since then, one third of all children conceived have been lost to abortion."

The students at the Survivors demonstration ranged in age from 13 to 23 and came from all points along the West Coast, from Salem to San Bernardino. Additionally, not all were Catholic or even Christian; in fact, two referred to themselves as atheists. On this, the last day of their San Francisco sojourn, many of the 30 had no idea they were giving witness at a school that identifies itself as Catholic. "Really?" said Eric, 23, a full time pro-life missionary for two years. "I'm Catholic. If we're doing this here, I probably don't want to hear much more about this school."

The group, who did not at any time step onto school property, nonetheless was well placed between the main campus and the Lone Mountain campus, a place of heavy foot traffic during the school year. Reactions to the group were diverse, ranging from the indifferent to the indignant to the outright hostile.

Danielle White, 19, is Jeff White's daughter and a junior at the Southern California University of Redlands. She explained that that morning, when they were unpacking their signs from their vans, a few students sitting on a nearby bench yelled at them to go away. Said White, "they told us, 'Get out of here! Don't you know that this is a pro-choice campus?'" After that, the students were heard calling their friends to organize an impromptu counter-protest to the pro-lifers.

Gina, a high school junior, explained that life as a pro-life missionary is sometimes an uncomfortable proposition. "You don't want to feel like a freak," she said, "But the fact is, someone is going to die unless you do something about it."

One man, in passing, suddenly became angry and shouted at Jeff White. He said, "what about my choice? Why should you be allowed to show those signs? I don't want my four-year-old daughter seeing these!" White explained that he felt the signs were an appropriate response to the abortion "holocaust," but the man persisted. "What, do you think people don't know how these are done?" he said. "Do you really think people are that thick-headed?" White responded, saying, "thirty years and 43 million dead children. You're darn right I think people are thick-headed."

About forty-five minutes into the demonstration, the counter-protest manifested itself by producing a man and women holding a hastily-made sign that read: "Keep Abortion Safe and Legal." Explaining the sign, the man (who refused to be identified) responded to a passerby's question as to whether or not a fetus is a human being. "I don't care," the man clarified. "Would it be okay to kill you?" the passerby asked. "No. I'm nicer than you," answered the man confidently.

Gina, one of the pro-lifers, asked the man, "what are your personal beliefs?" "I have no personal beliefs," replied the man. "Then would you mind holding one of our signs instead?" asked Gina. At this point, the man's partner, presumably an employee of USF, stepped in and advised him to stop talking and just hold the sign.

However, despite the two-to-five person protest, some headway was visibly made. One University of San Francisco communications sophomore from Marin, named Stephen, lingered for a long time at the chart showing a child's development from the moment of conception. Stephen explained that he had persuaded a former girlfriend to procure an abortion a few years back. "I was in Europe and was, like, 'I can't deal with this. I'm going to college soon.'" He hastily added, "I didn't want it to screw up her life either."

Nonetheless, he stayed and asked many questions, most often laughing nervously and kicking the ground upon hearing the Survivors' explanations. After hearing a student pass by and yell, "F-- you! You bunch of a--!" Stephen looked on and remarked, "this is why you don't go to USF with this kind of thing. You could have gone to [San Francisco] State or [San Francisco] City. We never have anything like this." As he finished his third cigarette, he walked away. As he left, he remarked, "these signs are a really strong argument."

TOP