An abortion protester was arrested on campus Thursday afternoon in the midst of recent weeks’ abortion ban debates on campus.
UNM Police Department arrested Rives Grogan, 48, in the south side of Zimmerman Library, according to the police report. The California man, who “was yelling something about abortions and religion,” was charged with disorderly conduct and public nuisance, according to the report.
On Tuesday, Albuquerque residents will be able to vote on the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance, which will be on the ballot for the city’s runoff elections. If passed, the ordinance would ban all abortions in the city after 20 weeks, with exceptions for physical conditions that endanger the life of the mother.
According to the report, police were dispatched to the scene due to six to eight telephone complaints from students about Grogan, who was “holding up a protest type sign and…screaming at students as they were walking to and from classes.”
UNMPD public information officer Tim Stump said Grogan was disturbing people at the site.
“Officers went up to him to get him to calm down saying, ‘You can say what you want to say, but you can’t go around disturbing the peace,’” Stump said. “He went down to the ground on his knees on his own and continued yelling. He continued to yell stuff about Jesus, about Nazis, about Hitler, about abortion.”
Students yelled back to Grogan to stop, and “one unknown female (yelled), ‘Shut the fuck up already,’” according to the report.
Stump said Grogan only calmed down after officers handcuffed him and put him into a police car. But Stump said Grogan verbally emphasized his freedom of speech to police and continued screaming until on the way to his holding cell. It was not until he was put in the cell that he totally calmed down, Stump said.
Grogan was booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center with a $750 bail bond, Stump said.
According to the Metropolitan Detention Center’s custody lookup website, Grogan is still in jail as of press time.
Stump said Grogan was not a student and was not related to UNM in any way.
This wasn’t the first time this week that UNMPD encountered commotions connected to abortion protests on campus, Stump said.
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Earlier on Thursday, anti-abortion protesters protested in front of a shuttle service station to early voting polls in front of the UNM Bookstore set up by pro-abortion choice activists. School officials and UNM Police Department officers told anti-abortion protesters that because they did not have a permit, they were not allowed to assemble at the site.
Authorities told the anti-abortion protesters that they should move to the sidewalk and that if they did not do so, they would be arrested. As a response, anti-abortion protesters moved to the sidewalk on both sides of the bookstore.
Kristina Garza is the campus outreach director of the Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, a California-based organization who held the anti-abortion protest at the bookstore Thursday. Garza said Grogan is not affiliated with the Survivors.
Stump said protesters from both sides of the debate do not impact the general safety of the campus. He said UNMPD informs people planning to assemble on campus about necessary procedures on how to get a protest permit from UNM’s Student Activities Center before letting them assemble.
“When they do get a permit and they do reserve a space, they usually are fine,” he said.
Although the UNMPD does not plan to mobilize more officers next week with the impending abortion ban vote, police would stay keen about possible commotions relating to the abortion debate, Stump said. He said he urges protesters to stay civil in expressing their opinions.
“Our only job is to protect the peace and the safety of the campus and to keep the peace between these groups,” he said. “That’s what we are trying to do… We play it by ear. As soon as we see it grow, we’re aware of it. The police are prepared to take whatever action necessary.”
