A letter to the anti-abortion protestors on campus

Shame on you.

I have been working with children for a long time now.

I was a camp counselor for the past three summers, and living alongside children for seven weeks at a time has taught me two very important things: children are very observant and curious about the world around them, and they are also extremely easily influenced by the culture of the adults around them.

This being so, imagine my surprise when I was handed a pamphlet in front of the Herman B Wells Library by an approximately 7-year-old child full of graphic, horrific anti-abortion propaganda.

Imagine my surprise, and now fury, when I saw another young girl handing out pamphlets on the corner of 10th Street and Jordan Avenue.

I don’t know what this anti-abortion organization is exactly, or who a majority of their members are, but all of the adults who are a part of it should be ashamed of themselves.

I have no problem with adults trying to hand me an anti-abortion pamphlet, or even standing in front of Woodburn Hall with signs that say “Abortion is Murder.”

The First Amendment exists for a reason, and they have every right to promote their beliefs on campus.

However, I definitely have a problem with the blatant manipulation of children propagated by this group, children who probably have no idea what getting an abortion actually is or even how a child is conceived.

Before you send your children out to try and coerce college students into taking your pamphlets, how about you give them enough unbiased information about conception, abortion and the fact that a woman could also possibly have the right to choose whether or not she gets an abortion?

Honestly, I applaud your efforts for attempting to involve your children in activism at a young age, but I’m sure we can agree that this was not an appropriate way of doing so.

­— moowestb@indiana.edu