Pro-life displays at Ohio’s Miami University won’t have to sport “trigger warning” signs after an anti-abortion student group won a free speech battle with the school Friday.
“This is a victory for the free speech rights of students, who should not be told that their support of mothers and their preborn children is some kind of shameful act that should be apologized for or vilified as harmful,” Students for Life (SFL) President Kristan Hawkins said in a March 16 press release, celebrating the university’s decision to rescind its “trigger warning” mandate.
The decision comes after the university’s SFL group filed a suit — “Students for Life at Miami University of Ohio at Hamilton v. Trustees of Miami University of Ohio” — in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio in response to a university mandate that SFL post “trigger warning” signs in front of their displays on campus in October. (RELATED: Another Pro-Life Display Was Destroyed. This Time At A Catholic School)
The displays were simple crosses planted in the ground to represent the number of unborn babies Planned Parenthood has aborted. The abortion organization has murdered 7,132,130 babies since its 1916 founding. Planned Parenthood doctors aborted more than 328,348 unborn babies in 2016 alone. The organization killed 6,803,782 unborn babies between 1978 and 2016, according to CNS News. (RELATED: Planned Parenthood At 101 Years: 7 Million Abortions And Counting).
School officials at the time of the suit indicated they would allow a peaceful display of crosses only if warning signs were placed around the campus. The university did not impose the same requirement on any other student group.
Miami University of Ohio agreed to a settlement following a legal battle and disavowed its warning sign requirement. The school also revised a second policy to guarantee other groups will not face similar mistreatment. The college crafted a third policy stating officials cannot stifle speech simply because it could “cause alarm, annoyance, or nuisance.”
The university will pay the cost of SFL’s damages and attorney fees.
“Our courageous student leaders show everyday that they care more about pre-born infants and women than with an easy college experience by continuing to speak up for life, no matter what,” SFL President Hawkins told The Daily Caller News Foundation Friday. “A tragic national trend in violations of student free speech rights is developing nationwide,” Hawkins also noted. SFL and other groups dedicated to protecting life and free speech must continue to fight the powers that seek to destroy those rights, Hawkins said.
The university did not respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment.
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