Turning quickly into a parking spot, she rushes out of her car. Adrenaline takes over as she approaches three people holding signs showing graphic images of a dismembered fetus.
On Monday, April 15, senior Stephanie Jabri began a conversation with Todd Bullis, a member of the Abolish Human Abortion group, while he and other supporters stood outside the turn-in to the parking lot next to A building.
“It was really an impulsive decision on my part,” Jabri said. “I went up to the guy and I didn’t really have anything in mind to say to him. I was caught off-guard with all his responses. He knows people are going to argue with him, so he has everything prepared. I didn’t know what I was going to say. Usually I’m kind of reserved. I was out of my element.”
For three other days during the week, Bullis stood outside different parking lots. Bullis also protests at churches and government buildings, but plans to stand outside local high schools to reach teenagers. Because Plano Senior is close to his residence, he began here. Though he will be moving to other campuses, Bullis said he may come back to this campus occasionally.
“Babies are created in the image of God and have value,” Bullis said. “If you do actually have an abortion, that will stay with you the rest of your life – forever that will be on your conscience. My motivation is to help educate these kids to see what abortion actually looks like. I’ve heard students are reacting in all sorts of ways. I’ve even had someone say they were going to kill me if I come out here again, but I’ve also been thanked by students and say they’ve never thought about this issue before.”
Bullis videotaped his encounters with students. Several videos of his conversations with students are posted on the No Planned Parenthood YouTube channel.
“Videos take a small tiny event and spread it out over a bigger area,” Bullis said. “Many more people can actually see the interactions. I’ve talked to maybe eight people, but over a thousand people have seen the videos. That’s why I post online.”
A video of Jabri was put up, and she said in the video she became flustered. The next day when she saw a friend interacting with Bullis, she came back with a prepared argument, but the second conversation was not posted online.
“He uses his videos to paint a one-sided story with the footage, only posting or editing the parts of the video that are unfavorable to the opposing party,” Jabri said. “He continually brought up religious arguments, which are irrelevant to any type of abolitionist cause. If the government was to review laws regarding abortion, it would not do so from a Christian perspective.”
A few of the featured students are taking steps to get the videos taken down such as contacting Judge John Payton, and urging students to flag and vote down the videos.
“It doesn’t really bother me too much that there is a video of me standing up for what I believe in,” Jabri said. “I think the thing that does bother me is that he’s using me to promote his views. He used a video of me without my consent.”
After seeing the sign Bullis was holding, senior Chavis Hamilton approached the situation in a different way than Jabri. Hamilton decided to hold up a sign with his own message written across the front. Suggestions from his friends inspired the final message of “I want attention too”.
Sign in hand, Hamilton stood next to Bullis. Hamilton said the protestor was polite and appreciated the company. The two also posed for a picture that spread on social media.
“I didn’t think I’d get such a big reaction from this,” Hamilton said. “I just thought I was doing something worth doing, and it really was a nice surprise to get such a big reaction from everybody at school. I heard there was a bit of political backlash on Twitter, but none of it has actually caught up to me. I think it’s silly of anybody to be upset with me. As far as counter-protesting goes, all I did was hold up a sign that made me laugh. I just thought what the guy was doing was wrong and tried to make light of it.”
Like Jabri, Hamilton disagreed with tactics used to promote ending abortion.
“Despite how anybody feels about the argument, forcibly subjecting people to images like that, and telling them that it’s their apathy murdering babies is just behavior with no constructive end,” Hamilton said. “He argues it as a wake-up call for people but it’s just a juvenile oversimplification.”
Jabri believes Bullis uses inaccurate facts to support his stance, and that there are more constructive approaches an anti-abortion supporter could take.
“I find that a lot of times, the most self-righteous people are the ones who do the most harm or have the most to hide,” Jabri said. “Anyone who wants to help decrease the number of aborted fetuses can help an organization that gives comprehensive sex education or raise money for an organization that distributes birth control. Todd is a person who believes that repeating his sensationalized propaganda to young minds will bring about change. He can barely cite hard facts, but instead relies on loaded rhetoric. For example, he claimed women attend ‘abortion mills’ where they line up to get abortion.”
Although Bullis’ actions are legal, Jabri feels that his actions were inappropriate.
“I’m not upset with his pro-life stance,” Jabri said. “I am angry with how he goes about trying to create change. We go to school to learn in a safe environment and he was disrupting the peace of mind of the student body.”
