While Students for Life of America (SFLA) President Kristan Hawkins has spent many years talking with college students and facing pro-abortion opposition for it, her speaking tour stop at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) was the first to erupt in violence — and she told Fox News Digital recently that people need to understand the significance of this. Click HERE to watch her interview or read a transcription of her experience with commentary below:  

(For more information on this incident, click HERE to read another SFLA blog entitled, “New Details: Arrests Made & EMTs Called In Night of Antifa and Transgender Violence at VCU.”) 

As perhaps her biggest point to Fox News Digital, Hawkins emphasized, “I think people need to understand this is a serious threat in our country where we have terrorists who walk onto public campuses, who aren’t even students there, who shut down civil discourse and dialogue. How can our constitutional republic [and] how can our nation survive if we allow this to happen?”  

She continued, “What you saw happen at VCU was a dehumanization of just pro-lifers in general. They weren’t even willing to have a discussion [or] have a conversation with me. They just wanted to call me a fascist and a Nazi.”  

Both ‘fascist’ and ‘Nazi’ are serious accusations to lobby at someone — particularly the latter as that evil political party oversaw the genocide of millions of the Jewish people. However, while the abortion lobby chose to silence conversation by screaming these horrible accusations, Hawkins pointed out later in her interview that there was one insult the protestors interestingly thought was too far.  

Hawkins told Fox News Digital that the only time the protesters silenced anyone among their ranks was when one of them yelled that she was “fat.” Since when is calling someone fat worse than calling them a Nazi? Hawkins said, “That’s a really interesting state of discourse in our country today.”  

She also noted that much of the pro-abortion screaming came from Antifa members (as evidenced by their Antifa flag and characteristic garb) as well as trans women — an irony which did not escape her as it is antithetical to feminism.  

She explained, “These trans women who will never get pregnant and can’t ever get pregnant somehow feel like they’re justified in shouting down biological women when they want to talk about abortion…You can’t let that behavior rule the day.”  

Hawkins additionally expressed real disappointment with how VCU handled the situation, saying, “It’s clearly the school’s willingness to continue to allow Antifa, trans radicals, other pro-abortion activists to rule the roost and dictate the terms. That to me was one of the most frustrating parts of the entire evening. It emphasizes that we have to continue to forge ahead…We have to continue to force conversations to happen even when people don’t want to have those conversations.”  

SFLA is considering aggressive legal action to correct this violation of pro-life free speech. SFLA Press Strategist and Staff Writer Caroline Wharton told the Daily Caller, “As VCU is a public university, this was deeply disappointing to see. We are currently in discussion with our legal counsel, and our desired outcomes thus far would be allowing the event to be done again (as it was silenced before being totally shut down); payment for the damaged and stolen audiovisual equipment; payment for personal injuries; a First Amendment training for all those who attended the event with a restated commitment to First Amendment principles; and payment of the costs for extra security needed due to this situation.” 

To read the rest of Hawkins’ conversation with Fox News Digital, click HERE.  

To learn how you can help facilitate conversations like these so that students on our college campuses are introduced to pro-life thought, click HERE.  

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