Kentucky University Students Who Vandalized Abortion Display Apologize

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Sep 4, 2006   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Kentucky University Students Who Vandalized Abortion Display Apologize Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 4
, 2006

Highland Heights, KY (LifeNews.com) — Three pro-abortion students who took part in vandalizing a pro-life display set up by a campus group to memorialize those babies who have died from abortions have apologized. The Northern Kentucky University students wrote letters to the editor in the student newspaper expressing their views.

Though they say they are sorry for vandalizing the display, at least two of the students wrote that they still believe the cross memorial was inappropriate.

"Regarding the events of this past spring, I am regretful and sorry for any discomforting emotions my actions may have aroused," NKU student Michelle Lynn Cruey wrote, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. "To the group who built the display, I do admire you for your convictions and apologize for taking down what you worked so hard to construct."

Yet Cruey disclaimed her apology with a warning to the campus pro-life group Northern Right to Life saying they shouldn’t use "religious views" to promote "turning our backs" on women.

Six students joined Sally Jacobsen, a British literature professor in destroying the display. They trashed the crosses and ripped up a sign that accompanied them and their actions were caught on film by a reporter from the student newspaper.

The pro-abortion students were sentenced to perform community service in exchange for dropping charges against them. They were required to pay a $100 fine and issue the letters of apology.

They are due back in court on September 29 to face a hearing on whether or not they sufficiently complied with the court’s requirements.

Jacobsen was charged with theft, criminal mischief and criminal solicitation but those charges were dropped after a court demanded that she apologize. Beforehand, she defended her actions.

The court required Jacobsen to complete a mediation and she agreed to pay Northern Right to Life for the costs of the display. Jacobsen also made a $1,000 donation to the Madonna House, a Northern Kentucky crisis pregnancy shelter.

Jacobsen encouraged the students, members of one of her classes, to destroy the display and eventually led them in doing so. She later encouraged the students involved to avoid talking to the police and obtaining attorneys.

Jacobsen was suspended by Northern Kentucky University for the remainder of the school year and her classes given to other professors to complete. She has since retired and moved to Portland, Oregon.

The pro-abortion students who destroyed the pro-life display included: Michelle Cruey, 21, of Walton, KY.; Katie Nelson, 21, and Heather Nelson, 27, both of Dayton, Ky.; Stephanie Horton, 23, of Alexandria, Ky.; Sara Keebler, 25, of Cincinnati, Ohio and Laura Caster, 23, of Highland Heights, Ky.

Related web sites:
Northern Right to Life – https://northernrighttolife.com