A light rain fell on Copley Lawn Wednesday morning, forming puddles around thousands of pink and blue flags protruding from the sodden ground.
GU Right to Life put up the 3,598 flags to symbolize the number of abortions performed each day in the United States, citing the Alan Guttmacher Institute as the source for its figures. Hyas for Choice counter-protested the same day by asking students to carry around coat hangers to symbolize the dangers of illegal abortion.
According to Right to Life Christian Jenner (CAS ‘03), the point of the flag display is to raise awareness about the sheer number of abortions that occur each day in the U.S.
“With the flags, it’s not just a number on paper. The display allows people to grasp the sheer volume,” Jenner said.
The Hyas for Choice counter protest consisted of wire hangers displayed across campus, including several strung on a clothesline across Red Square.
Genesee Herzberg (SFS ‘05), a board member of Hyas for Choice, said that the clothes hanger protest, which has been held annually on campus, served to illustrate the consequences of making abortion illegal.
Herzberg said that although she received feedback about the Hyas for Choice demonstration, most of the students she talked to seemed confused about the Right to Life flag display.
“Many students seemed confused about the protest and what Right to Life was trying to achieve. A lot of people asked me what the flags were,” she said.
The flag display has been disrupted in the past. Two years ago, students began playing frisbee in the midst of the flags, trampling 200 of them in the process. Last year, the Department of Public Safety provided two officers to guard the display, although there was no vandalism.
Jenner said that the display was not disrupted this year despite the lack of security. “There were some acts of aggression-a few people spit on the flags. Other than that there were no problems.”
Jenner said that he felt the counter-protest had inaccurate facts about the number of unsafe abortion deaths that occur in the United States. Jenner said that he thinks H*yas for Choice’s source for the numbers is “debatable,” and would like to see the numbers properly cited.
