What started as a right-to-choose tabling event Monday in Zimmerman Plaza turned into an impromptu petition to keep a graphic Justice for All display opposing abortion off campus next semester.
Justice for All put up large images of aborted fetuses last Monday and Tuesday, something Women Studies director Gail Houston said may cross the line of free speech. Women Studies, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU and various UNM faculty members sponsored the table to give the UNM community a chance to show their opposition to the display.
"I think a lot of people felt - and we had a lot of discussion - that we do believe in free speech, and they have a right to free speech," Houston said. "But there is a difference between free speech and hate speech."
Houston said more than 140 people signed the petition that has been forwarded to Dean of Students Randy Boeglin. A memo was also sent to Boeglin stating the display may constitute inflammatory or malicious speech against women.
"We didn't start out with a petition, but there were so many people who were upset that we just spontaneously started taking names," Houston said.
Alexandra von Ausdall, president of the UNM chapter of Justice for All, said if the group is barred from future displays, it would be a direct violation of freedom of speech.
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"I find that this is very interesting coming from faculty," von Ausdall said. "I find it rather contradictory that their academic freedom is protected, but ours is not."
She said her group has been misrepresented, and that its primary concern is for bio-ethical concerns across the board - not just abortion.
"I think we have achieved our objective in that people are talking about it on campus," von Ausdall said. "If what we say is not true, why is there such an outcry to stop us? Our objective is not to change the laws. Our objective is to say there are other choices."
Boeglin said he hadn't received the petition, but was aware of it, and he received many e-mails concerning the display.
"We will take this petition to heart," Boeglin said. "We will definitely process it with the seriousness it warrants. The University has a commitment to free speech, but it becomes a difficult area when a free-speech event moves from the cerebral to the visceral."
Boeglin said he didn't know if Justice for All plans on coming back. He said groups usually contact his office about a month in advance to reserve space in Zimmerman Plaza.
Houston said her main problem with the display was that it was directed in a derogatory way toward women.
"It's very misogynistic," she said. "Women have enough to deal with when they're pregnant and they don't want to be pregnant. They shouldn't have to deal with huge inflammatory pictures and people screaming at them."
But von Ausdall said the displays are not directed toward just women, and her group does not use any type of intimidation tactics.
"We are not condemning women," she said. "My concern is that we cannot just arbitrarily decide whose life is valuable and whose is not. It's a very precarious line."
"I don't think anyone wants to have an abortion," Houston said. "There are many different things a woman has to think about. To be called a murderer and a terrorist, I think, is hate speech and is incredibly demeaning to women."
She also said the decision whether to have an abortion belongs solely to women.
"The men in the anti-choice movement need to back off," Houston said. "Honestly, I really don't need to hear from men. As long as women are the ones having, raising and nurturing the babies, then I think women are smart enough to make the decision and deal with the repercussions."
