Pro-life sign ripped off frame at UCLA
The president of the group told Campus Reform that "even before the sign itself got stolen, random people kept tilting it."
A pro-life group at UCLA had a sign promoting an event ripped off its frame.
A sign promoting a pro-life event hosted at the University of California-Los Angeles by chapters of Live Action and Young Americans for Freedom was stolen from its frame, according to a police report filed by a leader of one of the groups.
According to the report, a copy of which Campus Reform obtained, the stolen sign advertised pro-life speaker and Live Action President Lila Rose, who will be giving a talk called “Abortion: Exploitation or Empowerment?” on Monday. The report says the sign was removed from its frame, costing the club a substantial portion of its advertising budget, according to the club’s president, Nina Rose, who is Lila Rose’s sister.
Live Action “knew that there were some hostile people on campus, but didn’t really anticipate the lengths they’d go to in order to silence our voice,” Nina Rose told Campus Reform. “However, even before the sign itself got stolen, random people kept tilting it [so] that it would face towards the bushes instead of the walkway, so I knew some people were unhappy enough about the talk to act.”
[RELATED: Vandals dismantle pro-life display at Clemson]
Nina Rose went on to say that this sign was the first one Live Action UCLA had displayed during her leadership that contained the word “abortion” and stated that the sign had only been up for a few days before being stolen, leaving a sign featuring a “Pregnant on Campus Initiative,” which the Live Action sign had covered, in its place.
“We probably won’t keep pouring money into buying new sidewalk signs since they seem to only last a couple days, but we’re gonna keep getting the word out by every other means and not let a very loud minority silence us,” the chapter president told Campus Reform. According to Rose, the UCLA Police Department indicated she wouldn’t hear back from authorities regarding the theft for several weeks, long after the event itself.
This opposition is nothing new for Live Action UCLA.
Ahead of a 2018 event featuring Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, the left-leaning activist group Refuse Fascism decried the event, calling Hawkins a “fanatical anti-women Christian-Fascist,” urged people to “drive the fascists off campus.”
[RELATED: UNL prof who allegedly vandalized GOP lawmaker sign: ‘F**k Campus Reform’]
“Live Action UCLA is a student club,” a statement posted on Live Action UCLA’s Facebook page reads. “We operate on limited funds. We paid $41.99 for this sign from Staples. Not much in numbers, but a lot in investment from our club. We did this because we believe dialogue matters, and that everyone at UCLA should have the opportunity to be educated on an issue as important as abortion.”
“UCLA: We have to do better than this,” the club continued. “Prove you’re part of the solution to a world suffering from viciousness and the suppression of ideas. Let’s participate in real and productive dialogue.”
Despite the opposition, Live Action gave no indication that it will cancel the event.
UCLA did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.
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