A group of anti-abortion activists staged a protest at The Arch on Wednesday, holding large posters with graphic images that left some students feeling unsettled.
Around 10 protesters from Missionaries to the Preborn, a Milwaukee-based religious organization aiming to abolish abortion, passed out pamphlets condemning abortion and emergency contraceptives like the Plan B pill.
In response to the protesters, some people passed out Planned Parenthood informational pamphlets, Plan B, condoms and lube to students walking past The Arch.
Amplified with a microphone and speaker, Rickey Caster, a member of the group, delivered a speech to people walking past Scott Hall. He spoke against abortion, sex education, sex before marriage, lustful thoughts, pornography and adultery.
Caster invited people to speak with him while filming the interactions on multiple cameras.
“I find it really uncomfortable that they’re near campus,” Weinberg senior Isabella Grau said. “They’re not really trying to spark any sort of conversation by the violence of the photos or brutality, that’s very clear.”
Grau noted that similar protests happen a couple of times a year on campus, but said she wished the University could prevent them from being right in front of The Arch.
Early in the day, the activists were spotted by Deering Library and The Rock before migrating to The Arch.
Matthew Trewhella, a member of the Missionaries to the Preborn, helped organize the protest as part of a four-day trip to different college campuses in the Midwest, with the group’s next stop set for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He said the group has no connection to NU and instead came because it was “close.”
“We’re here to show people this is what abortion looks like, and there is forgiveness of Christ and proclaim the gospel to people and just have conversation,” Trewhella said.
Trewhella emphasized that the group was here to engage in dialogue, arguing that it was not a “got-you program.”
Medill freshman Luca Pachetti engaged in conversation with one of the protesters, but ended the discussion because he found it to be unproductive. He said the protester was “steadfast in their own ideology.”
“I find it quite vile to be posting such images without credible sources and be demeaning and telling other people what they should be doing with their own bodies,” Pachetti said.
While Pachetti said he did not agree with the group’s ideology, he acknowledged that the protesters have the First Amendment right to engage in civil discussion.
However, Pachetti pointed out that because the protestors were wearing cameras and yelling at passersby, it seemed to him that the group was out for heated debates.
“I hope that they actually do more research and are more considerate of others and that more people speak up and challenge these beliefs, because otherwise we’re going down a dark place,” Pachetti said.
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