Dear Editors,
As students passed Green Lawn between April 3-10, they likely noticed a display titled, “The Memorial for the Unborn.” This memorial featured hundreds of pink and blue flags, with each flag representing the 10 abortions that occur every month in New Jersey. Unfortunately, this display was vandalized on three separate occasions during the week. When it was vandalized for the third time, all of the flags were stolen. As an executive board member of the club, I would personally like to clarify the meaning behind this display and the values of TCNJ Students for Life.
“The Memorial for the Unborn” is a display that is meant to raise awareness of women and abortion. The number of abortions in New Jersey alone is a startling number. According to The Guttmacher Institute, 46 percent of abortions are performed on women younger than 25 years old. This display is not meant to shame or guilt-trip women in any regard. Our club and its members are passionate about helping women, and people in general, that are in need. As a society and a college campus, we strongly believe that we can find solutions that are better than abortion. This is why we provided resources for those in need of material aid, adoption referrals, housing assistance, etc. We also provided information on Rachel’s Vineyard, an organization that offers counseling for women who may be healing after an abortion. TCNJ Students for Life has no intent to shame these women, but instead offers an extended hand to help women.
One of the common misconceptions about the pro-life movement is that prolifers only care about babies, or more specifically, babies in the womb. This is simply not true — we care about all human beings and believe that all life is valuable. Our club has done a lot to help women and children in the community who are in need. For instance, we have collected donations to Good Counsel Homes, an organization in Riverside, New Jersey that supports homeless pregnant women and their children, raised funds and volunteered at a local pregnancy center and created a resource guide for pregnant and parenting students, which is available on the College’s website. We also held a tabling event in the Brower Student Center this semester, where we asked students to write words of encouragement for women healing from abortion. These messages were donated to Rachel’s Vineyard, which was also the organization that was featured in the GreenLawn display.
Our club genuinely believes in helping people and being consistent in all our beliefs. We believe in diversity of thought and free speech. However, diversity cannot be established on any campus if free speech is taken away. We understand that not everyone will agree with our message
or beliefs, but we do request that everyone is respectful to our approved events and right to free speech. If you are interested in learning more about our club or have questions about this display, please feel free to reach out to us at prolife@tcnj.edu.
Sincerely,
Victoria Kiernan
Vice President of TCNJ Students for Life
Students share opinions around campus
“Do students recognize differing political opinions?”
studies major.
“Yes, students should be more open to other sides because it is respectful.”
studies major.
“Yes, there are too many people who are close minded because they think their opinion is right.”
