CNA Staff, Sep 21, 2023 / 14:53 pm (CNA).
A group of pro-life students who participated in a demonstration at a North Carolina college last week during a visit to campus by Vice President Kamala Harris say they were escorted off campus by police for their own safety after being harassed by a large crowd.
Harris’ speech at North Carolina A&T University on Sept. 15 was part of her “Fight for Our Freedoms College Tour,” an effort to mobilize college students to vote and support the Democratic agenda on a variety of issues, including the expansion of abortion.
Before the event, a number of students holding signs with pro-life messages such as “abortion hurts women” and “fight for our freedoms” gathered on the Greensboro, North Carolina, campus.
According to members of the group, they engaged in positive dialogue with students on campus. When the vice president’s speech was over, however, things got ugly.
A video shared on X shows a crowd of young people stealing signs from the pro-life activists who were brought together by the group Students for Life of America.
One young man can be seen taking the Students for Life group’s marker and sign and writing “BLM,” otherwise known as Black Lives Matter, on it. The crowd cheered as he raised the sign and danced around.
Two others can be seen on video holding up signs that say “F*** dem kids,” while the crowd is heard chanting the same.
Other profanities could be heard being shouted at the pro-life group. Photos from the protest show the pro-life group being taunted with obscene hand gestures. The group also claims they were “twerked on” (a type of suggestive dancing), which several photos confirm.
One of the Students for Life of America student leaders, Lydia Taylor, told CNA Wednesday that as the “mob” closed in on her and was waving signs in her face, the police intervened.
“They immediately came in and said, ‘We have to go now’ and pulled us out of the mob. We were forced to leave a lot of our stuff behind,” the 20-year old said.
While @ncatsuaggies students yelled “F*ck ‘Dem Kids” and “Black Lives Matter,” SFLA Student Leaders Lydia Taylor, Jessica Newell & Pro-Life Force tried their best to protect their belongings & correct the abortion lobby’s false narrative — because Black Preborn Lives Matter, too. pic.twitter.com/B6j5tk025V
— Students for Life Action (@SFLAction) September 16, 2023
The group ended up retrieving a bull horn, microphone, and some speakers but lost some of their signs and materials that are used at other pro-life demonstrations.
“It was so chaotic,” she said.
Taylor, who organized the group of about 10 pro-life students from across the state, is a student at Campbell University in Buies Creek, North Carolina, about an hour and 20-minute drive away from where the protest took place.
When she heard about the vice president’s plan to talk about expanding abortion access at college campuses in states across the country, including her own, she felt called to spring into action.
“We need to go and stand up against her pro-abortion extremism, especially since she supports abortion with no restrictions up until the moment of birth,” she said.
During her speech at the university, Harris called for greater access to abortion in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“One does not have to abandon their faith, or deeply held beliefs, to agree that the government should not be telling [a woman] what to do with her body,” Harris said, taking issue with what she called “extremist so-called leaders” passing state pro-life laws.
The vice president criticized those laws, especially those being passed without rape and incest exceptions, calling them “immoral.”
“What the [Supreme] Court took away, Congress can put back in place. Congress can pass a law that puts back in place the protections of a case called Roe v. Wade, which gives you the right to make decisions for yourself,” she told the crowd, urging them to vote for lawmakers who will do so.
Taylor told CNA that before the crowd of students harassed them, her group had many positive conversations with students attending the vice president’s event on campus.
“We changed at least 10 minds and have connected with students there that are interested in starting a pro-life group, which was incredible,” she said.
Other university students approached Taylor expressing support for the pro-life cause, she said.
It was after the talk that things went south.
“I think it’s interesting that it went peacefully before the Kamala Harris event, but after hearing her speak, immediately, the first thing they did was come and harass us and vandalize our signs,” she said.
After someone wrote “Black Lives Matter” on the pro-life group’s sign, Taylor said: “Hey, we actually agree that Black lives do matter, and the abortion industry is targeting Black lives, and we’d love to have a peaceful conversation with you.”
But the crowd, which she said numbered in the hundreds, just became more aggressive.
CNA reached out to the university for a comment but did not receive a response.
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