Created Equal is an anti-abortion group that is known for depicting the graphic details of abortion on college campuses.
Mark Harrington, President of Created Equal, explained his reasoning for touring college campuses in a recent news release.
“College students deserve to see the victims of this injustice and to know the science and reasoning behind defending the preborn,” Harrington stated. “This is critical, as this age group is committing more abortions than any other age.”
The Created Equal group is touring campuses within three states, North Carolina, Michigan and Wisconsin. Within Michigan, they will be visiting Grand Valley State University, Western Michigan University, Grand Rapids Community College, Eastern Michigan University and Michigan State University.
Their stated goal is to help educate as many students as possible about what abortion does to unborn children. According to the news release, the group planned to play abortion videos on a JumboTron today at Western Michigan University and stated that photos would be displayed Wednesday at GRCC.
But why the Jumbo screen? On Created Equal’s website they mention the effect that anti-abortion videos have when people watch them, so they found “the bigger the screen, the better.”
Created Equal has been met with resistance and some of their demonstrations according to the news release that stated that their signs have been tampered with and a staff member was punched.
Dave Murray, GRCC’s Director of Communications, explained GRCC’s stance on organizations like Created Equal.
“The administration believes the free expression of ideas and academic freedom are at the very core of our mission as a public institution of higher education.” Murray said. “GRCC is fully committed to promoting an inclusive learning environment preserving and respecting these values. Situations such as this one also provide an opportunity for us to model civility at a time when so much of our public discourse is polarized and coarse.”
Trista Dearth, Vice President of GRCC’s Women’s Issues Now student organization explained her stance on the subject.
“Most people on campus are pretty understanding that people who get abortions don’t just get them for fun,” Dearth said. “It’s not a good experience for the people involved and it’s something that kinda already makes their heart pretty heavy and things like (the Created Equal demonstration) kind of just shame people that kind of already feel or may feel ashamed of something they did already… I mean I know when they show up that campus just feels more hostile and I just don’t really think, for me personally, interacting with them is going to bring any more positive energy to campus.”
Created Equal will be in public areas of GRCC’s Campus Wed., April 17 with anti-abortion signs and photos.
