By Ethan Cohen
As rain steadily fell over campus, a small group of Long Beach State students gathered on Wednesday, Feb. 12, pushing back against rhetoric and graphic displays from anti-abortion activists who had appeared earlier this week, sparking debate and confrontation.
Responding to the outcry, the handful of students lined the pathway between the Bookstore and Psychology Building holding signs, offering support and handing out information about Planned Parenthood’s resources.
The “Survivors,” an anti-abortion group, stirred controversy on campus by exhibiting signs and pamphlets featuring images of aborted fetuses on Monday and Tuesday. Their presence sparked outrage among passing students, leading to heated debates, verbal confrontations and intervention by campus police.
One of the counter-protestors, Kiara Rivera, 22, was standing adorned with her umbrella and Planned Parenthood informational pamphlets in hand.
“We’re out here today to kind of change the vibe that [the anti-abortion activists] gave yesterday,” Rivera said. “Now we just have a sign for self-care, giving out hugs, high fives, fist bumps and also just fact-checking some of the claims they were giving out.”
Rivera, a child-development and family studies major, highlighted how it was first a Reddit post and then a Discord group that organized students to come out, despite the rain.
Another student, Alex—who chose to share only his first name due to possible social repercussions—stood amid the clash of students and anti-abortion activists on Tuesday, observing the debate unfold.
The 22-year-old English major said a member of the anti-abortion group likened the images of aborted fetuses to the open-casket funeral of Emmett Till during the Civil Rights Movement and drew comparisons between abortion and the Holocaust.
“I felt that was pretty abhorrent and I was opposed to that,” Alex said. “Someone set up a Discord to try and organize a counter-protest…but I think because of the rain and the [anti-abortion] group not showing up today, there aren’t as many people as we thought there would be.”
Long Beach State students have access to a range of reproductive health assistance options through Student Health Services, including free annual exams, birth control options and medication abortion services for pregnancies up to 10 weeks.
The clinic offers options such as the pill, implant, IUC and shot and provides confidential, low-cost medication abortion services with financial assistance available.
For more information or to make an appointment, students can contact wellness@csulb.edu or call (562) 985-4771.
