Everyone is indeed entitled to his or her own opinions and everyone has the right to publicly voice those opinions.

However, you can have and publicize those beliefs without offending those with differing beliefs.

This beautiful Monday morning was ruined for me when I approached the huge billboards depicting gruesome images of real abortions — images of little hands and little masses of flesh.

As I was walking by I heard women gasping in shock, and some were even crying tears of despair. One mother was worried about her daughter seeing the images, because her daughter had to make the difficult choice of getting an abortion.

Appalled is an understatement of how I feel.

I cannot believe the University of South Florida would allow for this campaign to be held on campus.

There are countless women who have suffered rape and impregnated as a result. There are women whose own lives are threatened by their pregnancy, so they have to choose between their own life and the life that’s growing within them. The choice to abort is anything but easy.

These same women who have had to make a choice harder than many of the
choices we will ever make are forced to see gruesome reminders of their choice on their way to class, as if they don’t have enough painful memories.

These images can with no doubt cause depression, anxiety and self-hate in women who have been through an abortion.

Are those women not precious humans too? Do their lives not matter?

Imagine one of these women seeing the bloody, real abortion images and thinking to themselves that they are not worthy of living their life because they did what they had to do. Is that the message that was meant to be communicated? If you got an abortion, for whatever reason, do you not have the right to peacefully go to class? Do you not have the right to be happy? Do you not deserve to live the rest of your life?

That’s the message that I received as I saw these images and listened to the speaker underneath them.

Aisha Colindres is a sophomore majoring in
engineering.