By Samantha Smith
Created Equal, a Columbus-based organization, visited Youngstown State University on Oct. 12 to show what the organization is and stands for.
Lisbeth McCulfor, executive assistant for Created Equal, said the organization was at YSU to talk to the students about abortion.
“We go on a rotation of various universities that we visit throughout each fall and spring semester,” McCulfor said. “We’re here just to talk to students about abortion, as we do on every campus that we go to. We bring the abortion photos so that we can see what abortion is doing to preborn humans and have that frame of reference for why we’re even talking about abortion.”
The organization displayed photos and videos on a JumboTron for those walking by. McCulfor said it receives all footage from an abortionist and photographer and has affidavits and certification that the imagery is real and allowed to be used.
Jasper Sharpless, a senior anthropology major, explained what some students were feeling when seeing the imagery Created Equal displayed.
“Fear is a tool used by [Created Equal] because they don’t actually care. If they actually cared about the honor and dignity of these babies that they’re swearing to protect, they wouldn’t put those photos up,” Sharpless said. “Ultrasounds of living babies before they’re aborted would be more effective than this. I’ve watched multiple people straight-up have panic attacks because the imagery is so visceral.”
McCulfor said Created Equal visits one to two campuses a week in the fall and spring, as well as outreaches to high schools and sidewalk counseling outside of abortion clinics.
Evangeline Abaffy, program coordinator for Created Equal and planner of the event, said the organization wants to have back-and-forth conversations with students about the topic at hand.
“We want to engage in civil conversations about a very important issue that we both — on both sides — feel very passionately about, we just have different conclusions,” Abaffy said. “We want to ask [students] how they feel about this and ask good follow-up questions like how they came to that conclusion, what brought them to feel this way about this specific subject and challenge them on why they believe that.”
Rose McClurkin, a junior political science major, said why she attended Created Equal’s demonstration.
“As a concerned member of YSU, and a passionate pro-abortion advocate myself, I decided that I needed to organize a couple of people to come on out and spread the word that we support people on YSU that are pro-choice and we support people who have had abortions and people who are recieving that care and everything in between,” McClurkin said.
For more information on Created Equal, visit its website.
