Three different-sized fake fetuses sat on a table in front of Showalter Fountain. Anti-abortion activist and speaker Kristan Hawkins stood in front of the display as a microphone was affixed to the inside of her brown peacoat.
Hawkins is the president of Students for Life of America, an organization with the goal of abolishing abortion and the largest anti-abortion youth organization in the world. She tabled at the Showalter Fountain midday Wednesday, talking to students. Hawkins later gave a speech in the Indiana Memorial Union Solarium Wednesday at 5 p.m. as a part of her fall 2024 speaking tour, “Make Abortion Illegal Again.” She was invited by Students for Life at IU, an organization that works with the Women’s Care Center and frequently tables on campus.
Known for her large social media presence, Hawkins’ video content revolves around sharing her beliefs and videos of her debating pro-abortion rights students. Her speech at Virginia Commonwealth University last year was shut down after protesters for abortion rights disrupted the event, warranting police involvement and resulting in two arrests.
“The school had to invite me back and provide ample security,” Hawkins said Wednesday while tabling at IU. “I think that’s one of the best ways to ensure that freedom of speech remains on campuses, is when there is a violation to ensure that it’s rectified, and the school does the right thing.”
She said receiving protesters at her speaking events only motivated her to continue the speeches.
“There is no pro-life movement without freedom of speech,” Hawkins said. “The pro-life movement endured the 49 years of Roe tyranny because we had the rights to assemble, because we had the rights to speak out.”
Students for Life at IU Treasurer Daniella Lombardi said that while the organization had worried about a similar negative reception of Hawkins at first, the process of having her come to campus was smooth.
“IU has been pretty good about understanding everyone’s free speech rights,” Lombardi said. “They’ve been very helpful in this process, so we have not had any pushback from the university.”
Lombardi said while IU was supportive in facilitating open discussion, not all students were. She said the organization had put up over 100 posters for the speaker event on campus, but most were torn down by the next day.
“We have experience, like a lot of people not being happy about our presence here on campus, but you know, we make do,” Lombardi said.
Maria Thomas, the co-president of Students for Life, also said she often received pushback for voicing her opinions. She said she knew other anti-abortion students who were afraid to share their positions.
“It is not unheard for us to get (shut) down or to get cussed at again and again,” Thomas said. “It’s something that I think is worth it, but it certainly, it definitely feels like we’re swimming upstream.”
Thomas said the club brought in Kristan Hawkins with the goal to continue the conversation on abortion and bring it to a wider audience. She said Hawkins was able to eloquently explain the anti-abortion position while allowing time for a Q-&-A for people who disagreed with her stance.
Before the speech started, Thomas informed the audience that while silent protest was allowed during the event, disruptions could warrant removal from the room.
About 70 people gathered in the room to hear Kristan’s speech, which lasted around 15 minutes. She spoke about getting to announce to a crowd of anti-abortion students that Roe v. Wade was overturned and about the recent abortion ballot referendums before she opened the floor to questions from students for abortion rights.
A camera filming for her online content was trained on the microphone in the audience as a few of those students spoke briefly in civil conversations with Kristan, discussing maternal mortality rates and women’s health resources. Afterward, she invited anti-abortion students to step up and ask questions.
“We welcome people of all backgrounds, all opinions, whether you’re like super pro-life or super pro-choice, or somewhere in between,” Thomas said. “To be able to have an event that reaches out to all of these groups of people is really, really fun.”
