Winthrop College Republicans President on abortion to human rights comparison: “We said it, we believe it, we stand by it.”
Dozens of students showed up to the College Republicans tabling event in partnership with Students for Life of America inside of the Digiorgio Student (DIGS) last Thursday. The table displayed a sign bearing the words, “Abortion is not a right.”
Students for Life Action, “is a national organization that works with students to promote pro-life values on campus.” Winthrop’s College Republicans President, Wesley Thomas said. Thomas, a captain with Students for Life Action and Students For Life of America Southeast Regional Coordinator, Cori Woods were both in attendance.
Many students expressed that they were particularly disturbed by these comparisons. A poster titled, “Humans Deserve Human Rights” listed these points, “Slavery = Human beings are owned. Sex-trafficking = Human beings are treated as sexual objects. Women’s Inequality = Women are viewed as less than men. Jim Crow Laws & Segregation = African Americans were not equal based on their skin color. Abortion = Preborn human beings are discarded because they are more dependent and vulnerable.”
In the midst of loud cheers, human nutrition major Thamia Davis and two friends stood a few feet away from the crowd, as they frustratedly spoke amongst each other.
Davis told The Johnsonian, “I think that abortions are going to happen anyway, even if they’re legal or not, and they’re going to be unsafe, … why not have a safe way to do something that’s going to happen anyways? And also you can state your opinion –nothing wrong with stating your opinion on something, but do not compare it to slavery, Jim Crow, or anything that is, you know, against black people, or black oppression.”
The same poster mentioned also included a Martin Luther King Jr. quote that read, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
President of Winthrop’s NAACP Chapter, Samson Demissie said, “I was frustrated by the comparisons made and as a Black man studying social inequality, it was disrespectful to see such terrible delivery of information. You cannot compare such horrific acts that black people were dealt at the hands of white power and supremacy. They all have different social contexts and cause so much pain and suffering that affects the communities of colors today, systemically, institutionally, and regularly, still disproportionately being harmed.”
The sociology major went on to say, “And women? We need to be supporting the autonomy and liberty of women. We know America doesn’t treat women or more feminine presenting persons equally. Which means we must push for their autonomy more, not restricting that any further than it is. You know better than to compare things to the Holocaust. But not to slavery, Jim Crow, and sex trafficking. It’s frustrating, and shows me, (whoever) made these posters, just doesn’t understand the experience of racism and sexism. It’s quite ridiculous, but unsurprising.”
Thomas said, “Well, I’m not sure what else there is to say. We said it, we believe it, we stand by it. We think that abortion is a human rights issue. We think that it is an injustice that it is a discrimination against unborn persons, and much the same way that other discriminations and other injustices have been committed. So we believe that the comparison is warranted, and we stand by it.”
A mass communication student, Gabrielle Turner, was in attendance reporting for The Palmetto Report. Turner said, “The theater and the dance majors showed up in a big group and started singing and dancing them out and they basically got bullied out of DIGS two hours earlier before they were scheduled to leave, they started packing up and on their way out, they had a little parade that they made for them. They made a parade singing them out and followed them outside while they were packing up.”
While the event was originally scheduled for Dec. 21, it had to be rescheduled “last minute,” Thomas said.
“Yeah, it was just a bunch–like they told us they left their class to come here. And like I wouldn’t say harassed because they didn’t actually do anything but they were basically counter protesting them. So it was really wild and they stood outside waiting on them to pack up for like 30 minutes like there were people standing out there while they were packing their car up.” Turner said.
However, according to Thomas, Students For Life and Winthrop College Republicans left the table 20-30 minutes early.
“The notion that we were chased out is just not true. We were supposed to be there from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.. And we were there from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.”
Thomas’ said Winthrop College Republicans and Students For Life “felt like the productive discussions that we had managed to have throughout the day in spite of the protesters–that those productive discussions had ended. And so since the respectful debate had ended, we felt that there was no need to stay.”
“Our goal was to engage students on campus and to facilitate productive discussion and debate. And we did have productive discussions. We have someone who’s on the ground, we did change some minds, we did change some hearts. And we succeeded in engaging people in humanizing ourselves, making sure that they even if they didn’t, even if when they left, they didn’t agree with us, they at least understood us better, and understood that we weren’t out to get them in any way and that we weren’t these, you know, mustache twirling villains.” Thomas said.
