Organizers of counter-demonstrations to a 30-foot tall, 40-foot long anti-abortion exhibit near Ortega Hall say they want to offer alternative viewpoints to the graphic display they call propaganda.
Several groups chanted, handed out information and talked with passers-by about the issues raised by the by the Justice For All Inc. exhibit, which will be on Cornell Mall today and Thursday.
North of the display, the College Democrats, the New Mexico branch of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, and Students Educating Peers About Sex set up a table with information about abortion laws, and T-shirts that people could decorate. Several SEPAS members held a "silent" protest near the Justice For All exhibit.
"A lot of people think people who are pro-choice are pro-abortion - it's about opportunities for decisions, that's what we're here for," said group member Melanie Giron-Carpenter, who wore a homemade shirt that read, "I believe in God and I believe in rights."
She said demonstrators didn't object to Justice For All's right to put up its exhibit, but that they wanted to represent the other side of the story.
"Any activism is good activism," she said. "We're giving the other side of the story."
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SEPAS Director Jeremy Jaramillo said the group was trying to keep the protests orderly and non-confrontational.
"I consider this war won already, but I'll fight it again," he said.
Kimberly Lavender, a history major who was circulating a petition to the dean of students denouncing the exhibit on behalf of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, said she had collected about 600 signatures as of Tuesday. The petition criticizes the tactics of the photo exhibit.
"I know that group targets campuses across the country," Lavender said. "I just think it's insulting to women's freedom to make decisions."
Other students protesting the exhibit agreed.
"This exhibit is for shock value and to instill fear," said Alma Rosa Silva-Ba§uelos, a UNM student and member of the Progressive Student Alliance. "It's an easy tactic, especially if corporate funding or other big money is behind it."
The alliance, with the help of student group the Radical Cheerleaders, set up what they called a "Your Momma Had A Choice Carnival" in front of the Student Union Building tent Monday and Tuesday.
Members attracted considerable attention as they cheered loudly for abortion-rights issues and encouraged passers-by to play colorful games aimed at raising awareness to various laws and issues surrounding abortion.
The group also handed out "safe sex packages" including dental dams, men's and women's condoms and safety tips.
In one game, "Back Alley Bowling," participants rolled a ball toward bowling pins painted with passed or pending abortion legislation, such as a federal bill passed in 2000 outlawing partial birth abortions and another that died at the end of this year's New Mexico state Legislature that would have required parents to be notified if a minor sought an abortion.
"It's a reminder to keep abortion legal and to keep our choice legal," Silva-Ba§uelos said of the bowling game. "It's to remind us that we've already been through this struggle."
She said people appreciated the carnival's approach after passing by the Justice For All exhibit, which features large pictures of bloody, dismembered fetuses and headlines such as "What is genocide?"
"People are very thankful that there is an alternative voice and comforted that people are out here," she said. "We're putting out serious issues in a creative way so people can digest them."
Tracie Lissner, a UNM freshman and member of the Radical Cheerleaders student group, said the Justice For All exhibit was too divisive.
"Anti-choice and anti-abortion are two different issues," she said. "There are a lot of people who feel that because they wouldn't get an abortion, they have to make a decision one way or the other. It should be up to women to choose themselves. After walking by that, you're a little winded - we're offering positive reinforcement."
Kate Schneier, a nondegree student and member of the Radical Cheerleaders, said the group specializes in "guerrilla performance art." On Tuesday morning, about 12 members made several trips from the carnival site to the Justice For All exhibit chanting about abortion-rights.
"We're reinforcing the idea that women have agency in their sexuality," she said.
Other campus organizations said they were prepared to help anyone who needed to talk about their response to the Justice For All Exhibit.
"We're offering crisis intervention and an art space with lots of art materials for men and women to come over and do whatever they need," said Sandrea Gonzales, director of the UNM Women's Resource Center in Mesa Vista Hall. She said the center had already received considerable response to the display, which will remain on campus until Thursday.
"It's the element of surprise with such a graphic exhibit," she said. "Some people are in a state of shock when they see it. To have something enter your psyche or spirit like that can bring up a lot of memories and feelings."
She said the center was not taking a stand on the issues raised in the exhibit and would offer help to anyone, regardless of what feelings they had about abortion.
Stephanie Torgerson, internal operations director for Agora Crisis Center, said the hotline's trained attendants would be on hand to take any calls from people who wanted to talk about the exhibit.
"We're an unbiased listening source," she said. "If the pictures are bothering them and they want to talk about it and come to terms with their feelings, that's what we're here for."
