A new student group at Southern Methodist University in Texas launched a fundraiser recently for the abortion group Planned Parenthood.
Dallas News reports the student abortion advocacy group began as a response to the university pro-life club and its annual cemetery of the innocents display.
Student Claire Krizman, who began the fundraiser for the abortion group, said she has been disturbed by the pro-life display on campus for the past three years.
“There was no education component to it,” Krizman told the news outlet. “There wasn’t a ‘Here are your options’ or ‘This is why it’s wrong’ based on their stance. In my opinion, it was a demonstration to shame women.”
Camille McCarty, president of Mustangs for Life, told Dallas News that her pro-life club members strive to provide support and education to women on campus, not shame them.
“Women deserve better than abortion,” McCarty said. “If that’s the best we can give them, that’s a disappointment.”
The display is an annual project of Mustangs for Life. The pro-life club sets up almost 3,000 wooden crosses on the campus lawn every year to symbolize the babies’ lives lost to abortion every day in the United States. The group also posts signs explaining the display, and students from the club typically stand nearby to discuss the issue with students and provide more information.
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Last year, someone vandalized the pro-life display, and the club received several violent threats online, including one person who threatened to burn down the display, LifeNews reported.
Krizman said she decided to begin her own abortion advocacy group, Mustangs for Unity, this year after discussing the pro-life display with a friend. She also began the online fundraiser for Planned Parenthood in March, according to the report.
So far, she has raised close to $5,000 for Planned Parenthood. Krizman said her club also plans to hold a counter-display to the pro-life group’s. She said it will include 2,500 bamboo stick figures set up on the lawn with stories of women who had abortions.
Whether it will fairly represent the stories of all women who have had abortions, including those who regret them, Krizman did not say.
Here’s more:
Krizman said she got the idea for the fundraiser after texting her friend and fellow SMU student Gabby Davé, 20, who said she was also frustrated with the display of crosses. …
Davé, who is a member of Mustangs for Unity, said the group wants to have an open dialogue with others at their display. They also plan to distribute information with several resources and contact information about various Dallas-area women’s clinics.
The pro-life club members said they also hope to foster open discussions about abortion, and they also provide information and resources to students, including the help available at local counseling centers and pregnancy centers.
After the vandalism and threats last year, Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins praised the pro-life club for persevering. She said the students woke up at 6 a.m. the day after the vandalism and worked for hours to set up the display again.
“This is the pro-life generation in action,” Hawkins said at the time. “This is the kind of perseverance that give us hope that abortion will come to an end. We are so proud of the Mustangs for Life and the courage they have shown in the face of opposition.”
