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Anti-Abortion Group Demonstrates Graphically On University of Florida Campus

An anti-abortion group at the University of Florida campus in 2013. A new Florida bill (HB 19) would allow women who have abortions to sue doctors for physical or emotional injuries. (File/WUFT News)
An anti-abortion group at the University of Florida campus in 2013. A new Florida bill (HB 19) would allow women who have abortions to sue doctors for physical or emotional injuries. (File/WUFT News)

The anti-abortion group Created Equal made its presence felt on the University of Florida campus Tuesday.

They turned heads among students by displaying a set of graphic images outside Turlington Hall.

Warning signs held by demonstrators cautioned students of the explicit nature of the photographs ahead. Some images illustrated the different developmental stages of an embryo, while others featured the dismembered limbs of aborted fetuses.

Jami Beer, director of campus outreach for Created Equal, said the images were placed to “raise awareness that the pre-born are being slaughtered by abortion and that they are human.”

UF student Smitty Penman said the pictures are “not that easy to just take in – what something that’s very obviously a person that’s very cut up and bloody.”

Penman said the raw aspect “paints a powerful picture.”

Maryann Magid, another UF student, caught a glimpse of the images and said they were “pretty graphic for campus.”

During the demonstration, one passing student knocked over several placards to express his disapproval. Beer said such reactions are common, and “when people are hostile… we treat them with kindness and love.”

Standing 50 feet away from one of the placards was Meredith Kite, Vice-Chair for Gainesville's Chapter of National Women's Liberation, who said the anti-abortion group’s shock tactics should not distract women from the importance of having freedom of access.

“I really do think that if women don’t have control over their own bodies and over their own life choices — and if we don’t have access to abortion and birth control — then there’s so many other things that will be impossible to achieve,” she said.

The national feminist group is planning to organize a counter-protest advocating the access to safe birth control and abortion – both of which Kite considers a “cornerstone of freedom.”

Jessica is a reporter who can be contacted by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.