GUEST POST: Much of my activism is speaking up for the preborn —sometimes, however, it’s being quiet when enough has been said. This is what my activism looked like recently when a group of students and I arrived at the Texas Capitol rotunda where abortion supporters with Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights were participating in a sit-in to demand that Texas legalize abortion.  

When we first arrived, the abortion supporters seemed surprised that we had showed up. Almost immediately, one woman, who was wearing pants that were painted to look as though they were stained with blood, said to us, “We would love to actually have a conversation if you would be willing to take off the tape.”  

The red tape she was referring to covered our mouths and read “TX is Pro-Life.” Throughout the duration of our counter protest, she repeated this request multiple times — but she was missing the point. There were no other words that needed to be said; Texas is pro-life. Requesting otherwise on International Women’s Day is a slap in the face to women, both born and preborn. 

As I have travelled across Texas through working with more than 100 Students for Life of America (SFLA) groups in the region, I have seen students graduate and have successful jobs while also raising children. These pro-abortion women clearly had not because when I showed up with pro-life women and their infants, their faces registered shock. Their belief that mothers with children are restricted to their homes and unable to have normal lives seemed to topple or at least teeter. Bringing our little girls, who were in the womb not so long ago, to stand there with us for women on International Women’s Day was a powerful witness that abortion supporters could never make.  

Frankly, the fact that this group chose to do a sit-in — a tactic widely known in the U.S. that was used to peacefully fight segregation during the civil rights movement — suggests that the inability to end innocent lives through abortion is equal to that of the struggles that the Black community faced. Another slap in the face. 

Of course, however, their sit-in quickly turned into a “stand-in” as they banished their plan to peacefully rally together and instead made every effort to stand in front of our signs so that our silent counter-protest could not be seen. 

One woman even stood on our banner and refused to move until we picked it back up. While they worked to block our signs from being seen, they also sang songs with lyrics that included things like “We pray for them, we pray for us,” and “Sending up to the heavens.” Given that they were there to demand the ability to end the lives of the most vulnerable Texans, the songs they sang were both ironic and inappropriate. 

Nevertheless, we were seen. Several capitol building visitors and tourists walking around the Capital stopped to encourage us, telling us that they were pro-life too and glad that we were there. I was thankful to be there to take a stand against the true injustice against women: abortion.  

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