A man stands in front of the main entrance at Biola advertising a YouTube video titled, "Watch shocking YouTube video titled, 'Biola University Threatens Pro-Life Student'." Other signs included graphic photos of aborted fetuses and Bible verses. | Olivia Blinn/THE CHIMES
Supporters of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, an anti-abortion activism group, lined the sidewalk of Biola Avenue on Wednesday to encourage Biola to be more aggressive in its pro-life stance. Protesters stood quietly outside the campus’ main entrance holding signs depicting aborted fetuses while planes flew aerial images overhead.
PROTEST TRIGGERED BY EVENTS FROM LAST MAY
The silent protest comes approximately three months after Biola graduate Diana Jimenez, then a senior nursing major, displayed graphic pictures of mutilated fetuses outside the Student Union Building. Jimenez was asked by Campus Safety officers to remove the photos from the public eye but refused. She then returned alone with a single sign displaying a similar photo, at which point officers asked her to leave campus.
CBR contacted her shortly after the incident and promised to display photos around the campus perimeter until they could convince the school to allow the photos to be shown uncensored. Gregg Cunningham, director of CBR, released a video of a second confrontation between Jimenez and Campus Safety shortly before the end of the spring semester.
CBR DEFENDS THE USE OF GRAPHIC IMAGES
Protesters appeared at the entrance to Biola on Aug. 23, freshman move-in day, and returned today for the first day of classes. They stressed the important role that images play in educating the public about the reality of abortion.
“When you talk about abortion, it’s just a word. When you show a sign, it’s like a window into what goes on, into the abortion clinics,” said Brian Eschen, a 1997 Biola alum who joined CBR’s efforts. “Unless there’s a visual picture that goes along with abortion, people won’t necessarily know the horrors of abortion.”
Eschen drove down from the San Francisco Bay area with his children to attend the sit-in. He first heard about the matter from a World Magazine article in July.
Stephen Beatty, a Biola graduate student, also joined CBR’s ranks outside the school. He expressed his disappointment that other students were not standing alongside him.
“The truth of the matter is, statistically speaking, a lot of people who have abortions are Christian. And statistically speaking, people on this campus will have one. And yet they won’t allow us to bring educational pictures and stuff to say, ‘This is what’s going on,’” he said. “So my personal main concern is, how can you be a school that’s against showing this?”
In response to the controversy surrounding Jimenez and CBR’s subsequent reaction, President Barry Corey released an open letter apologizing for Biola’s initial response to Jimenez and reaffirming the university’s pro-life stance.
