Last week, South students were surprised by graphic photographs displayed in front of the soccer fields. Several large posters displayed pictures of fetuses that had been aborted. The posters were part of a protest over abortion laws.

Several men and women were standing beside these posters passing out brochures with the header of “#ABORTION IS AGEISM.” On these handouts, pictures of fetuses being aborted after 20, 15, 10 and seven weeks, had been displayed in a grotesque manner. The back of the pamphlet displayed the phrase “we are all equal despite our differences” along with the photos of men, women, a baby and an unborn fetus. Underneath the photos were racist and sexist quotes. One of these quotes was “In the eye of the law…the slave is not a person,” from the Bailey v. Poindexter Supreme Court case from 1858. Beneath these quotes was a quote claiming that abortion is ageist.

These protests on school property led many people to wonder if such a protest is, in fact, legal. The answer lies within the First Amendment of the Constitution. The protest took place on sidewalks, which are technically considered public property. This protest, since the protesters were peaceful, was legal.

The protesters in question belong to a company called “Created Equal,” which travels to different universities and high schools around the country to “counsel” men and women entering abortion clinics. On their website they say that “abortion is injustice fueled by ageism – discrimination on the youngest of humans.”  

Underneath the FAQ section of the website, it reveals that 3 percent of abortions happen after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and that “we must protect these children”. Contradicting this fact, the Center for Disease Control claims that only 1.3 percent of abortion happened after 20 weeks, and they were all due to the fact that the fetus would not have survive outside of the womb, or that delivering the fetus would kill the mother.