By: Joseline Cano
Stars for Life, in collaboration with Students for Life in America, hosted an anti-Planned Parenthood tabling session which resulted in the take down of a 911 pink crosses display.
On March 27, Stars for Life, a pro- life organization run by Claire Groppe, junior, and Students for Life in America, an organization that “exists to recruit, train and mobilize the pro- life generation to abolish abortion,” hosted an information table meant to educate students on the negative sides of Planned Parenthood.
Hosted in the Lewis Alcove, one of the most tra cked areas on campus, Groppe along with the rest of Stars for Life, hoped to make a statement.
“The tone of the event is a bit more controversial, because I think there are a lot more people on the left side in this school. We kind of thought that something was going to happen. I thought something more argumentative like someone might come up, upset with us, and we’ll talk to them and have a conversation. That’s how I thought the day would go,” said Groppe.
The event, which was set to start at 10 am, was constructed of Five big poster signs with different information. One of the five posters required students to vote on how much they trusted Planned Parenthood. The table hosted various pamphlets of information, with additional sources as to where students can seek help and advice if they’re faced with difficult pregnancies or the possibility of an abortion. In addition, the display included 911 small, pink crosses meant to represent the 911 abortions that Planned Parenthood carries out on a daily basis.
“I went to class around 10:30, and by the time I had returned, approximately 45 minutes later, all the crosses were down,” said Groppe.
According to Groppe, Vice President of Student Success and Engagement Barrington Price had asked Stars for Life to take down the display of crosses because it could potentially be emotionally detrimental to people.
“I was kind of confused as to why this event was emotionally triggering when we had one like a year ago that displayed the actual abortion process. We had a similar display with a bunch of signs with clean, medical, graphic images as to what happened during an abortion. For that tabling display we had a pile of pink, baby socks, which was in larger numbers than the crosses, but represented the same thing,” Groppe said.
Price claims that his reasoning for asking them to take-down the crosses is not because it was an inappropriate display, but that the display may evoke a strong emotional response by students that the school may not be prepared to help.
Price said, “Across the nation there are increasing, significantly increasing numbers of students that are presenting with diagnosable mental health disorders namely in the face of anxiety and depression. Probably, I would say that on average we’re sending several students to the hospital every month because of something related to mental health. I’m not talking about the fragility of just the nation around these issues, I’m talking about our own students.”
In the past year, four students from Northwestern University have committed suicide. According to Price, in the last institution he was in, North Park University, three students committed suicide.
“When I say that I care very deeply about the emotional state and fragility in which many students in higher education are facing, and our society as a whole, I care deeply about that,” said Price. “So when we have conversations that are centered around morality, typically, they can be emotionally charged conversations.”
Price says that the only difference between the most current tabling against Planned Parenthood and the one displaying the process of abortion is that the Wellness Center and University Ministry had been advised of it ahead of time and were prepared to respond to aid any student who needed it.
“My assessment was, I didn’t feel like the group had been adequately sta ed to address the emotional residual, reaction, by the community. Nothing was wrong with the conversation,” Price said. “The conversation should be had. Morality from many di erent standpoints needs to be assessed. That’s the whole point of a liberal college.”
Groppe claims that to her, and the rest of Stars for Life, it sounds like administration will be monitoring them at every event.
“I don’t know if they do that with any other club, which is concerning to me,” said Groppe.
She said that part of the issue might come from the fact that Dominican hasn’t found a balance between their catholic identity and the liberal student body.
“We had those crosses there to show that an abortion is the end of a child life. The crosses is one of the core symbols of the Catholic faith. It’s not just a symbol of death. It’s a symbol of hope, faith, and life. The crosses are there to show you that while there is death and suffering, they’re there to bring you a new life and healing,” she said. “We feel like our rights were impeded on. This is a Catholic school and we were promoting a Catholic message.”
According to Price, “Liberal arts colleges are where people come to talk and share thought and sharpen their perspective. That’s what needs to happen, that’s what’s important. But when you couple that with a state of a airs of a student body that has an increasing number of presenting cases of anxiety, feeling depressed you must have those conversations also coupled with support from the wellness center, university ministry, faculty and staff . All must be part of this conversation and it must be done cohesively.”
“That’s what the beautiful thing about coming to a liberal arts college is, that it is a protective microcosm for students to practice, and shape a developed perspective,” said Price.
Price has offered to fund Stars for Life’s next event.
canojose@my.dom.edu
