{"id":1521,"date":"2012-11-09T16:41:17","date_gmt":"2012-11-09T16:41:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/?p=1521"},"modified":"2012-11-09T16:41:17","modified_gmt":"2012-11-09T16:41:17","slug":"jsu-students-angered-by-pro-life-activists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/2012\/11\/09\/jsu-students-angered-by-pro-life-activists\/","title":{"rendered":"JSU students angered by Pro-Life Activists"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
JSU student receives pamphlet from Pro-Life activist.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Taylor Bembery <\/strong>
\nBlue & White Flash \/ Staff Writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Students were greeted by graphic images of aborted babies, the lynching of a black man, and also the genocide of the Holocaust this morning near the cross path of McAllister\/Whiteside and Transitional Hall residence centers for women at Jackson State University.<\/p>\n

Pro-Life activists posted the images from Operation Save America under the campaign of \u2018States of Refuge\u2019 and Life Link. Even though the organization was there to spread awareness about abortion, students were angered because they felt the activists were promoting everything but Pro-Life.<\/p>\n

One female student who would like to remain anonymous was very angry about the views of the activist. She explained that she thought she would find comfort from one of the pastors associated with the organization because she had an abortion when she was 15-years-old; but she was shocked by his response.<\/p>\n

The female student told the pastor her situation and got this response, \u201cEven though you go to church and talk to your pastor about your abortion, you\u2019re still going to hell!\u201d said Pastor Flip Benham, one of the Pro-Life activists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very liberal about things and I feel like people should be aware about what happens during an abortion but to put up signs and to compare abortion to the lynching of African-Americans, to the genocide of the Holocaust, and the KKK is beyond ridiculous. Every woman has a choice, they shouldn\u2019t be out here making women feel bad about the decisions they decided to make to their body,\u201d said the female student.<\/p>\n

Benham explained that women, specifically students feel as if they don\u2019t have a choice when deciding what they are going to do about their pregnancy and how this Pro-Life organization can comfort and help them. \u201cThere are several options for the mother, we can arrange plans for adoption; we\u2019ll host a baby shower and make sure that they have a doctor to see the baby to term.\u201d said Benham.<\/p>\n

The graphic display was later moved to the JSU campus entrance at the roundabout of the Gibbs-Green Pedestrian Walkway. Tom Raddell, director of Life Link,<\/p>\n

explained why the organization was there to talk to students about abortion awareness.<\/p>\n

\u201cUniversities are our place of education so we are here to educate students. Abortion is touching kids in this age group and this is our first time here in Jackson so we decided to come to Jackson State University.\u201d said Radell.<\/p>\n

Even though the activists said they were at JSU to educate students, many JSU students said they felt offended by their views<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
JSU students shocked by anti-abortion display outside of McAlister Hall.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tayo Miller, a senior psychology major from Bloomfield, Miss., was outraged because he felt the protester were going against President Obama and that it is ironic that they came to JSU two days after the election<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that if they are really here to talk about abortion, that\u2019s what they should talk about! All of these signs that they have up\u2026they are really trying to talk about religion and President Obama. They are trying to push their political views through another medium because abortion is a hot button issue; they are using it in a way to try to manipulate the people here to go against President Obama and the separation of church and state.\u201d said Miller<\/p>\n

Miller also explained how the organization should not be out preaching to students about abortion because the majority of the group was all males<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see all these old men out here and one old woman with this organization. She has the right to say if abortion is right or wrong. I\u2019m not going to say if abortion is right or wrong because I am a male. I don\u2019t think that any male should be trying to make that decision or judge a woman because of their choice of abortion,\u201d said Miller<\/p>\n

Jazmyne Mack, a freshman biology pre-med student from New Orleans, La., is a student who is pro-choice and was also offended by the activists.\u00a0 \u201cI am for abortion; it depends on your choice. I feel abortion should be recognized but all of these pictures are unnecessary.<\/p>\n

Mack also added that she felt that racial prejudice was a big reason why the group was here.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was shocked to see this on campus, especially two days after the presidential election being that President Obama is black and he is pro-choice and for gay\/lesbian marriage. The organization here is all white people. I feel as if them coming to a predominantly black university is very offensive but they said they will be back tomorrow,\u201d said Mack.<\/p>\n

Members of the organization were asked why they choose to come to JSU instead of other universities in the Jackson area. They said because it was the closest school to the Jackson Women’s Health Organization abortion clinic on\u00a02903 North State Street, Jackson, Miss.<\/span>\u00a0 In actuality the closest college campus to the abortion clinic in Jackson is Millsaps College.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taylor Bembery Blue & White Flash \/ Staff Writer Students were greeted by graphic images of aborted babies, the lynching of a black man, and also the genocide of the Holocaust this morning near the cross path of McAllister\/Whiteside and Transitional Hall residence centers for women at Jackson State University. Pro-Life activists posted the images […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1521","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-campus-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/theflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}