Campaign Against Abortion at North Carolina State University
What does Satan have in common with abortion?
Apparently there is a link because the unexpected response from one student who clearly did not want TFP Student Action volunteers to be promoting the right to life on his campus was "I worship Satan!" He uttered the phrase more than once in The Brickyard, a place on campus where students congregate for lunch and other activities.
But aside from a number of radical leftist activists, about 80% of the students accepted a copy of the TFP flier, 10 Reasons to Defend the Unborn.
No matter how polite and peaceful you are, someone will always lodge a complaint. And that's what happened on Oct. 25, 2017. An older pro-abortion woman who had raised her voice in the plaza insisted that a TFP volunteer was being too "forceful." She walked into the campus cafeteria and told others how offensive it was to be offered a flier that condemns abortion. In her mind, free speech did not extend to those who wish to protect the unborn. So two police officers were called in.
"We've been watching you on our security cameras, and you're doing just fine," the officers assured us. "You can stay as long as you want."
That was good news. At least for now.
Because a university administrator arrived, demanding to see our permit, which we didn't have. Although NCSU is a public campus, the permit requirement is a common tactic used to acquire greater control, an extra layer of red tape that can stall good efforts such as this one. Suspecting this might happen, a TFP volunteer asked a Protestant pro-family group that had a booth in the square to put the TFP campaign under their permit. They readily agreed.
Thank God, it worked. The baffled administrator who wanted to kick us off campus didn't know what to do and the TFP campaign continued into the afternoon.
About thirty students gathered in the area to debate or listen. One was a self-professed communist wearing a read t-shirt sporting the face of notorious terrorist, Ernesto Che Guevara.
In the midst of belittling remarks by pro-abortion advocates, one student said, "Don't let the haters beat you down. Keep it up."
A black lady approached as we prepared to leave, saying how she saw us from her classroom window and wished she had known we were outside sooner. She told us how she was adopted and has adopted two children of her own. When she heard the vulgar students saying babies should be aborted because the moms can't take care of them, she jumped in with her moving story, explaining how her mother didn't have enough money to raise her when she was young, but she managed.
Another student who called unborn babies "parasites," was persuaded after a 40-minute conversation to reevaluate his position. "I'm sorry how rude I was at the beginning. And thank you for being calm with me," he said.
A young Protestant man expressed his profound interest in converting to Catholicism. He remarked that it was encouraging to see a group that was calm, cool, and collected in their logical debates, as opposed to other groups that are inflammatory. "The Catholic Church is 800 times more coherent than any Protestant denomination," he said.
Please pray for us. Tomorrow we will go to UNC at Chapel Hill, a very liberal campus.
God bless you.