Soccer Mom: Unplugged

Another liberal American university fails the Free Speech test.  Not surprising, I know, but shameful nonetheless.  All over Harvard, permitted and properly posted signs are being defaced and torn down.  The Harvard Right to Life group is has been hanging pro-life themed posters all over campus.  The signs have pictures of an embryo in various stages of development.  The fetus, named Elena, by the group, describes her development on the posters in a childlike crayon print and proclaims "A person's a person no matter how small."

I can see how offensive this must be to those who want to dehumanize babies in order to justify aborting them but a difference of opinions about abortion does not guarantee the right to deface and destroy the ads of anyone you happen to disagree with. 

According to the CNS report:

The student organization began posting the Elena ads in mid-February, according to HRL President Meghan Grizzle. The group posts a new ad in the series every week, and Grizzle said students have to replace them "a few times a day."

Students "find them to be very gruesome photos and believe they have the right to tear them down because it's their right to free speech," Grizzle said. But she thinks it's the message, not the photos that are prompting the negative reaction.

"I don't think it has anything to do with the picture," Grizzle said, "because a lot of these students -- they take science classes and they see the same exact pictures in their textbooks, and it doesn't gross them out."

Grizzle said the administration is "not necessarily on our side but they understand that we have the right to do this."

Interestingly, in a few years, many of the same folks who find these images "gruesome"  will be passing them around the office water cooler, shoving them in the faces of virtual strangers, and pasting them in baby books.  Perspectives change when mom decides she wants to keep the baby instead of killing it.  But whether you find the pictures adorable or horrific, the fact remains that destroying them is not free speech.  It is a violation of someone else's.  So, while it's not much, Harvard Right to Life, you have my virtual bulletin board today. So speak up, Elena!