A large and highly visible anti-abortion demonstration set up on the University of Arizona Mall depicting graphic images sparked protests and outrage towards the school’s administration last week.

Students eating at the Student Union Memorial Center or walking to class on Wednesday, April 12, to Thursday, April 13, were confronted with a sign reading “Warning: Abortion Photos Ahead.” The display itself had large-scale photos of what it claimed to be aborted fetuses along with Holocaust imagery and other cases of mass genocide in order to equate these cases to abortion care in the U.S.

Along with the imagery on display, there were written statements involving statistics about sexual assault, moral condemnations on abortion and quotes from various religious leaders or well-known public figures.

The demonstration — put on by the Center for Bio Ethical Reform in conjunction with the UA’s student-run College Republicans United club — specifically featured graphic images of the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and the Cambodian killing fields, Nazi imagery including swastikas, photos of victims of lynching and images of fetuses.

These images, and the demonstration as a whole, triggered multiple students and members of the UA’s cultural resource centers and the greater Tucson community.

The UA chapter of J Street U made an Instagram post condemning the protest on the Mall. The post states, “As members of J Street […]. We must express our profound disappointment and disapproval of the tactics employed by the group responsible for these images.”

The group further condemned the ad hominem comparison of abortions to the atrocities of the Holocaust.

The University of Arizona Hillel Foundation made a similar post admonishing the group for its use of the Holocaust and the tragedies faced by the Jewish community as a supporting argument for the anti-abortion display.

The Hillel Foundation then held a letter writing campaign open to all students to send to UA administration on April 13 in protest of the demonstration.

The UA’s Women and Gender Resource Center also faced an influx of activity with students reaching out to see what could be done about the demonstration on the Mall.

Daijon Christie, a student at the UA and employee at the WGRC, emailed the Daily Wildcat to share the effect the display had on students, or experiences those students said they faced from the volunteers manning the anti-abortion demonstration.

“Over 50 students in crisis (mainly women and people of color) came to the Women and Gender Resource Center to unpack their emotions and experiences surrounding this anti-abortion group,” Christie wrote in the email. “The University of Arizona has had no official response, did not warn anyone this was happening, and is claiming it is for free speech when it has escalated to violent hate speech.”

The UA’s Feminists Organized to Resist, Create, and Empower shared an Instagram post about how members of the WGRC put sandwich boards on the Mall offering free counseling for impacted students and were verbally accosted by members of College Republicans United, including their president, Alton Zhang.

Multiple students also came forward via social media saying the group was yelling various slurs at students in the area of the demonstration.

“The n-word, f-slur, and r-slur have all been shouted by these people to our students,” Christie said via email. “Addressing our students with slurs is against campus policy. Our students of color and other minority groups are in distress. Causing mental and emotional distress is unacceptable.”

Some students took to throwing eggs at the demonstration to show their dissent for the harmful imagery but eventually were stopped by UAPD officers in the area due to the high tensions surrounding the demonstration.

College Republicans United is an ASUA-recognized organization, so they have the right to table and take up space on the Mall, just like every other ASUA-recognized organization gets the chance to.

By partnering with College Republicans United, the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform was given an opportunity to display these images.

According to the general conditions of use regarding free speech policies on campus, only four restrictions apply:

• Activities may not be conducted in a manner that violates any federal, state, or local law, including but not limited to the crimes listed in Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 13, Chapter 29, “Offenses Against Public Order.”
• Activities may not be conducted in a manner or at a time or place that is either incompatible or unreasonably interferes with the educational, research, service, or other legitimate functions of the University.
• Activities may not be conducted in a manner that violates the rules, regulations, or policies of ABOR or the University, including but not limited to regulations set forth in this policy or other regulations that may be developed by the Dean of Students in accordance with this policy.
• Activities may not be conducted in a manner that violates applicable fire or safety regulations.

Free speech laws at the university give the organization the right to be on campus despite the group verbally accosting students and displaying vulgar images that are potentially triggering to many student groups.

The Associated Students at the University of Arizona released a statement via Instagram on April 13 regarding the display sponsored by College Republicans United on the UA Mall.

The statement condemns the graphic nature of the display and the alleged use of hate speech on campus grounds. ASUA also clarified it does not grant approval or assist in vetting what administration allows on the UA Mall in response to rumors that they were active participants in overseeing this demonstration.

“No student on this campus should have to worry about the risk of being traumatized with graphic imagery and hate speech as they pursue their education on our campus,” the statement reads.

ASUA President Patrick Robles spoke at the counter-protest put on by RIOT Collective Tucson on April 13. The group partnered with the WGRC and FORCE to petition the removal of the display and prevent similar demonstrations from being allowed in the future.

“Your student government doesn’t endorse this, your student government is going to fight this […]. Abortion rights are human rights,” Robles said in his speech.

Some protestors gave speeches with a large megaphone amidst the crowd, some held signs or showed their disapproval through creating a spectacle.

Student protestor Dylan Cook brought a piccolo and a bag of “Dollar Store kazoos,” as well as several friends with instruments, including a trombone, to disrupt the anti-abortion demonstration.

“I think that the greatest weapon against hatred and bigotry is music, or noise, or otherwise expression of the self and our passion. So that’s what we’re here to do, try to drown out the hateful shit with the beautiful things that we can create,” Cook said.

Pride Alliance, a student group at the UA also partnered with Riot Collective to organize the protest. Co-director of Pride Alliance, Annie V, who requested their full name not be used, said it was easy to assemble the protest because the organization has served the student community prior to these events and is always there for students to join and utilize its resources.

“Dean of Students [Office] is at fault, Dean of Students needs to be held accountable. Dean of Students is the big problem here, from trying to defund us, from trying to make the resource centers a hellhole for everyone, from trying to fire everyone, and for allowing this to happen. This goes on to Kendal Washington [White] and on to Dr. Treya Allen,” V said.

The UA’s communications department did not respond to the Daily Wildcat’s request for comment about the display at this time, nor has the administration made any public comment about the situation.

“This is just an absurd violation of, I think, everyone’s right to a comfortable and education-focused institution, and we’re sickened by it,” Cook said.

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