A pro-life group at Yale University held an outdoor demonstration on campus Oct. 21 using pink flags to represent lives lost to abortion and messages written in chalk, which led to several students either defacing the messages or attempting to steal flags.
Volunteers with Choose Life at Yale (CLAY) set up a table on the university’s campus each month to “bring an alternative viewpoint to an already overwhelmingly pro-abortion community,” according to the group’s website. For October’s table, the group decided to stage a demonstration of pink flags. They also put up a sign explaining that each flag represents “one life lost to Planned Parenthood Everyday,” according to Yale Daily News.
Oscar Miñoso-Rendón, CLAY’s treasurer and a junior at the university, said students are becoming more open to pro-life arguments and that there seems to be a growing pro-life presence at Yale.
“I think people are becoming more sympathetic to the pro-life position in the aftermath of the removal of Roe v. Wade, and there’s a lot of positive changes that are taking place on campus and around the nation,” he told the Yale Daily News.
Last month, pro-life advocate Lila Rose and abortion activist Frances Kissling held a debate at the Yale Political Union. At the end of the debate, students voted 60 to 31 in favor of Rose’s pro-life position, as CatholicVote previously reported.
Still, CLAY faced pushback during its Oct. 21 demonstration.
Three people tried to steal flags from the display. CLAY members stopped two of them, but one senior, Christine Dong, took a flag.
“I took this because I don’t believe in their messaging, and that’s my silent protest,” Dong told Yale Daily News. “The color pink is associated with breast cancer awareness, and I don’t like that they’re using it.”
The demonstration also included several chalked messages, and on two occasions people poured water over where the group had written “DEFUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD.” Members of CLAY re-wrote the phrase on each occasion. After the demonstration ended, someone rubbed away “DE” so that the message read “FUND PLANNED PARENTHOOD.”
Although the group holds a table each month, members did not obtain permission to add a display this month, according to Yale Daily News. Administrators informed them that advanced approval is required for such a display. The main organizer from CLAY apologized for what he called an oversight and immediately completed the process to request permission, the article stated.
The demonstration continued for another hour afterward.
In addition to their monthly table, CLAY organizes numerous other events, such as volunteer work at a crisis pregnancy center, food and clothing drives for mothers, and an annual pro-life conference with students from other universities, according to the group’s website.
One student shared about her interest in CLAY’s presence.
“I’ve honestly never encountered any pro-life advocacy on campus, and I wouldn’t expect it to be the place to find these things,” said Lani Gonzalez, a sophomore student who passed by CLAY’s display, according to Yale Daily News. “I feel like it’s really symbolic that it’s near the Women’s Table. I think that the duality of opinions here on campus is very interesting.”
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