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Today, on Oct. 18th, 2022, there were four protestors outside of the Schine Student Center protesting against abortion. These individuals were holding up signs that contained the message that abortion is lethal to our generation. Upon seeing this demonstration, I was outraged at what they were protesting for.

As a Women’s and Gender Studies major, we talk about issues surrounding reproductive justice and modes of protest that are effective in bringing forth justice and reparations for those that are oppressed by systems of power. These systems have been upheld by white supremacy and patriarchal values that were established in this country when the first white settlers arrived. I am aware that not many people know how these systems work, but it’s important to be aware of where you stand within them.

Many people have power in their privilege, not only in their environment and surroundings, but also within themselves. Failure to recognize this given power that a person automatically has by belonging to specific groups leads to people like the pro-life protestors that gathered in front of the Schine Student Center to “honor the Day of Silent Solidarity.”

The protestors presented their cause with 18 by 24-inch posters with information about what this date means for them: “the importance of remembering those that have been forever silenced by abortion.” These four individuals used their privilege and given power as white people in a Predominantly White Institution to “silently” protest about an issue that is not actually their business.

There is nothing “silent” about this. This is a violent demonstration of power. The implications and the rhetoric that they are trying to push while not valuing and establishing efforts into preventing more people from having complications or dying in this country because they cannot have access to abortion care is dangerous. These four individuals would have easier access to the same abortion care they are protesting if they were ever faced in a situation where they would need it.

The setting that they are enacting their power also adds to the violence of this demonstration. A PWI like SU has the foundations of white supremacy that doesn’t allow for students of color and other minorities to feel safe on campus. With the overturn of Roe v. Wade this summer, SU hasn’t done anything to assure its student body that they will provide resources for students that come from states that already banned abortion. This takes away students’ ability to feel reassured that if they access their right to abortion in New York, they may not have the support of the SU community with the sensitivity that the matter requires.

It is important to realize that these four individuals are only a small part of a bigger movement of pro-lifers across the country, enacting their power and terrorizing patients that are trying to access care in clinics in the states where abortion is still legal. As students, we need to be aware of these dangers to our wellbeing which are usually more psychological, and automatically assume them to be violent regardless of them being “silent.”

Ana S. Aponte González, Class of 2024

Published on October 18, 2022 at 10:46 pm