By Rowan Behm
The Scene staff
The upcoming election is bringing more and more political groups to the Forest Park campus, including an anti-abortion group trying to persuade students to vote against an amendment that would overturn Missouri’s abortion ban.
The presence of the group, called Students for Life of America, caused a bit of a stir on Sept. 17 among students with differing opinions and others who just didn’t want to be bothered at school.
The group had set up a table in the Forest Park quad to promote voting in the Nov. 5 election against Amendment 3, which would amend the Missouri Constitution.
“Amendment 3 is dangerous,” said Lucy Gonzalez, programs coordinator for the group. “… We know that abortion is detrimental to women, and it also ends the life of the preborn child inside her.”
The table was lined with large signs reading, “Oppose abortion extremism in Missouri” and “Late-term abortion is on the ballot.” Figurines of fetuses showed the different stages of pregnancy. Fliers encouraged people to “Vote No” on the amendment.
If the amendment passes in November, women in Missouri will have the right to make decisions on their own reproductive health care. That includes birth control and prenatal, postpartum, abortion and miscarriage care.
Abortion has been illegal in Missouri since 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark case that protected a woman’s constitutional right to choose.
After the ruling, a Missouri law was triggered to outlaw abortion in all cases, except in medical emergencies.
Abortion-rights activists believe women should have the right to choose. Anti-abortion-rights activists see abortion as murder.
“While we don’t have a (chapter) here at St. Louis Community College Forest Park, we are here today to talk about abortion,” said Gonzalez, speaking of Students for Life of America. “We’ve had a mostly peaceful day, but we’ve had a few hostile individuals.”
Gonzalez and two other group members had calm discussions with some students, she said, but others were heckling her, and one tore up a flier.
The latter was Andy Katz, 25, a business major.
“They stopped me to hand (a flier) to me, and I didn’t care for it,” he said. “I do not care. It’s just annoying.”
Melanie Sanders-Webb, 19, a baking and pastry major, listened to what Gonzalez had to say and even took a few fliers and pamphlets with her.
“Honestly, with me, I don’t believe in (abortion) for myself, but for other people, it’s their body and should be their choice,” Sanders-Webb said.