Feminist Campus eZine
March-10-06

Arizona State Holds Counter-Protest

"Justice For All," a national anti-choice organization came to the Arizona State University campus displaying large signs (approximately 20 feet tall) depicting obviously fake "fetuses" which compared abortion to the holocaust and genocide. The ASU Women's Coalition and ASU Feminist Org (FMF affiliates) learned about this week-long display about 5 days before they got to campus, and organized a weeklong protest in opposition to the false information they would be giving students.

Each day they had new and interesting ways to protest, ranging from marching around the antis' signs, to a silent vigil, to raising awareness about birth control and emergency contraception. Because globally about 77,000-200,000 women die every year from unsafe, illegal abortions, the last day of the protest they planned a "die-in". Students laid down in front of the anti's signs as a means of expressing the dire situation women would be in (and the deaths of women that would result) if abortion was made illegal in the states. They promoted the die-in all week to women as a "farewell" event for the "Justice For All" gang. The day of the die-in they had over 50 women protesting, on the ground and surrounding the “bodies”. Two women used a bullhorn to debunk myths that the other organization was perpetuating (including the link between breast cancer and abortion). The die-in was a great success, and students at ASU have been talking about the consequences of outlawing abortion ever since!

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