FREDERICKSBURG, Virginia (LifeSiteNews) – A leader in the Students for Life campus chapter at the University of Mary Washington recently spoke out about the abuse pro-life students receive from pro-abortion zealots for voicing their views, with anecdotes all too familiar to many across America.
Writing in The College Fix, Spencer Lombardo details recent experiences surrounding a campus visit by Students for Life of America spokesperson Lydia Taylor Davis. Conventional flyers posted around campus to advertise the event were repeatedly stolen, so the group attempted a more permanent solution: painting a message on the Spirit Rock, a boulder on campus that student clubs are permitted to decorate.
Unable to accept an opposing viewpoint being promoted on campus, pro-abortion students painted over the message at least twice, once using non-latex paint in violation of school rules.
“I’m not planning on being civil with people who want to take away what I perceive as a human right,” rationalized one vandal caught on video. Another declared, “If someone I care about wants to get an abortion, I will stick a coat hanger up them if they want me to.”
Lombardo also relayed several messages posted on anonymous social media platform Yik Yak, ranging from crude to dangerous. One threatened to “pee on the floor” during Davis’s speech (which ultimately did not happen), and another asked for others to “dox” the pro-life chapter, referring to publicizing the personal information of members, such as home addresses.
“Regardless of the hostility we experienced, UMW Students for Life will continue taking the high road until we reach our destination: A Fredericksburg where every person’s right to life is protected, born or unborn,” Lombardo declared.
American institutions of higher education, even many that are private and/or nominally religious, have long been recognized as breeding grounds for intolerance of conservative views, a problem taking on special alarm amid what conservatives call a rising trend of left-wing support for political violence.
That conversation has intensified since Charlie Kirk, the head of campus outreach group Turning Point USA (TPUSA), was fatally shot on September 10 while speaking at an outdoor event at Utah Valley University. Two days later, authorities apprehended and accused 22-year-old Tyler Robinson of the shooting and detailed how he was motivated by his view of Kirk’s conservative views as “hateful.” An alarming number of academics were among the left-wing extremists who publicly celebrated Kirk’s death.
At the same time, a recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found a generational divide in public worry about free speech and political violence, with just a quarter of adults below age 30 concerned about speech and 3 in 10 adults concerned about violence.
