Special Reports

Kristin, Florida

I am an eighteen-year-old college student. I am attending St. Petersburg College in St. Petersburg, Florida. I am currently in the process of completing my general requirements so I can then focus on my major area of study, physical therapy. One of my requirements was to take a college level Composition course. I’ve always been skilled the most in reading and writing throughout my grade school years, so I was able to take this course my first semester.

I was aware from the beginning that since this was a writing class, we would also be discussing various topics including sensitive issues. I, personally, was thrilled about this. I loved discussing and debating issues that were important to me. I knew the subject of abortion would be bound to come up. This made me excited, especially because I am a pro-life advocate. I knew that a huge amount of college age students would be pro-choice-to-kill, so I took this as an opportunity to make myself heard.

This was my Composition teacher’s first year of teaching. He was probably only in his late twenties or early thirties. Throughout the weeks to pass, we discussed racism, sexism, gay rights, and different types of illegal activity. He was great at arguing his own points of view across, and encouraged us not be afraid to say how we really felt about our topics of discussion.

Finally, after nearly 75% of the semester was done, abortion would be our next topic. First, the entire class was instructed to read an essay. The author of this essay is a female nurse who works at an abortion clinic. The author went into graphic detail describing how this horrific procedure is performed. She describes the contents of the plastic container used to hold the tissue that is suctioned out from a woman’s uterus. She tells us the fate of these stolen young lives, as they are put into storage until they are relocated to a different location, and burned into nothing.

I felt this essay would change the mind of any pro-abortion person who read this. The details were disgusting and upsetting, and not something people with weak stomachs could handle. After everyone completed the essay, our teacher brought up discussion. I wasn’t shocked that the majority of my class was pro-choice, but the fact that they still held on to that way of thinking surprised me. Not only that, but my teacher was also pro-choice. Besides myself, the only other pro-life person in the class was a religion major. When the two of us would get the chance to argue our stand, we were hounded and ridiculed by the teacher and the rest of the class. I was so upset that afterwards, I sat in my car for 20 minutes, listening to nothing but the sound of my own breathing.

Around a week later, my teacher gave us details on what was to be our final paper. It was to be a persuasive essay, written in the form of a policy, and it had to be at least seven pages long. The topic of abortion came back to me. I thought it would be a great idea of the type of paper he expected. I planned on either discussing why people should refrain from getting abortions, or that the government should ban them. I already had gigabytes of information on the subject, and it would be an easy seven pages for me to write.

I submitted my topic ideas to my teacher the next day. He pulled me aside after class and told me both of my ideas were unacceptable. I asked him why and he proceeded to tell me that abortion was not an issue that could be proved right nor wrong. He also told me that this was to be a persuasive essay, and that this essay would contain no persuasion whatsoever. When I asked what he meant by that, he told me that most people who are pro-life or pro-choice stay that way, and there would be no converting them. I asked him, “And what if I do write this essay?” He replied, "Then I will fail you.”

This is just one of those sad incidents we as pro-life advocates come across in our lives. We come across the pro-abortion crowd who will badger our beliefs and deny us our freedom of speech to speak our minds. They tell us we won’t win our fight. I don’t believe that to be true. I hope that one day, abortions will be banned. And, they will only be legally available to those who have been raped, victimized by incest, or whose lives are in danger as a result of the pregnancy. Don’t let the pro-abortion advocates tell you any different.