Editor’s Note: This article contains mention of abortion. App State Wellness and Prevention Services provides free mental health resources for students and can be reached at (828) 262-3148. Women’s Health of UNC Health Appalachian provides services and support and can be reached at (828) 268-8970.
Displays were set up on Sanford Mall Monday by volunteers from the Endowment for Maternal-Fetal Health, a nonprofit visiting colleges, universities and other public spaces with their signage and videos about maternal and fetal health.
“People need to know that one of the issues we have in our society is a crisis — the CDC says we have a crisis in maternal health. We’re among the worst in the developed world,” said Charles Armstrong, a representative for the endowment.
One of the examples Armstrong highlighted is the disparity in the number of birth complications between white and minority women.
Armstrong said they usually visit colleges or universities because young people are the ones typically getting or thinking of becoming pregnant, so they need the most education.
The displays showed the development of a fetus up to 10 weeks, leading many passing students to assume it was a anti-abortion demonstration.
Armstrong said despite the assumptions, the endowment has had good responses to their presentation in the past.
“Most people agree that we should have better maternal-fetal health outcomes, so part of that is everybody who agrees with us should become more educated about this issue,” he said.
Freshman psychology major Miles Ferguson said he agrees with the organization’s message about the importance of prenatal health but not their delivery.
“The first impression to me and a lot of other people is that it’s an anti-abortion thing based on all of the pictures that I’ve seen,” Ferguson said. “It’s not readily available as to what the cause is actually about.”
A group of students from App State’s Catholic Campus Ministry also thought the display was about abortion. Sophomore history education major William Lentz said CCM recites a rosary prayer every morning on Sanford near the Centennial Sculpture, but on Monday, they chose to move and pray over the demonstration.
“The Catholic Church has a very strong pro-life stance, so when we walked out here, we were stoked to see this. We were very happy,” Lentz said. “We thought we would come up here and do our rosary for the overall success of what they’re doing here today.”
One of the displays was vandalized with permanent marker shortly after it was put up. An App State Police officer later washed the message off. Someone also placed clothes hangers around the display with sticky notes that read, “abortion bans don’t stop abortions they stop safe abortions.”
Freshman environmental science major June Luchsinger said she thought demonstrations like these shouldn’t be on campus.
“You’re allowed to have your opinion; you’re allowed to have your belief system,” she said. “Stop coming to college campuses and trying to push that on students who have to be here and have to walk by you.”
The App State Board of Trustees adopted a resolution June 23, 2023, to affirm the university’s commitment to upholding free speech. There are two free speech officers at App State tasked with ensuring free speech laws and policies are upheld, as well as answering questions and concerns from the campus community.
Interim Vice Provost of Student Affairs Jeff Cathey is one of these free speech officers and was present at the beginning of the demonstration.
Cathey said App State has historically allowed non-student organizations to be on Sanford, and if the university picked and chose what organizations could be there, that would compromise its institutional neutrality and free speech commitments.
“Free speech is a long-standing commitment for the entire UNC system and trying to maintain that the campuses are open to all perspectives,” Cathey said. “It can be an ongoing balance of trying to support that but do it in a way that’s very much neutral as well.”
