The Ventura College campus was invaded last week by a group of poster wielding activists, dead set on informing people of their cause.

I was instantly shocked at the enlarged photo of an unborn child’s severed head. My reaction was probably the most common, although I did hear a laugh or two. Hesitantly, I went to take a closer look.

The splintery wooden boards were adorned with pictures of fetuses, post abortion. There were also diagrams on how an abortion is done in chronological order. There are a few types of abortion, but the dilation and evacuation seemed to be the favorite of the activists, being the most brutal. There were comic style drawings of a fetus being progressively torn apart and suctioned out of a uterus.

The organization in charge calls themselves the “Survivors.” They are a group of pro-life devout Christians that had survived abortions themselves. According to their website, the “Survivors” are “dedicated to defending the right to life of future generations . . . engaged in a battle to end America’s genocide.” They believe that they are put on the earth to defend the “pre-born.”

The display was to sway voters to vote yes on proposition 85 — the proposition to change the constitution so parents must be notified 48 hours in advance of their child’s abortion. Of course the “Survivors” are hoping the law will either make girls abstain from sex until marriage or not have an abortion at all. Showing college students graphic images of mutilated fetuses seems like a reasonable enough way to do that, right? Well, probably not.

Along with the assault on my eyes, I was handed a paper with articles pertaining to the subject. I thumbed through and came across such journalistic gems as “The Overpopulation Myth” and “Abortion and Breast Cancer,” an article in which they stress the two are in fact linked.

Besides grabbing the attention of passerby, the posters did little else than make people uncomfortable.

I proceeded to giggle at the fact that these people thought this was a good idea. Then I became irritated. There are a lot of mothers that bring their children to campus; those pictures are not something they should have to explain. They were forcing their beliefs on everyone around them and while it is always good to be informed, that is not a good way to provoke a desire for information.

Upon talking to Alisa Moore, Ventura College’s Public Information Officer, I found that the “Survivors” were not even supposed to be on the campus. It is required to fill out a release form and have it affirmed two weeks in advance for any demonstration of that nature and they did not fill one out. When they were informed of this, they moved to the sidewalk facing Day Rd. and displayed their signs to high school students leaving Foothill Technology High school at 3 ‘o clock.

I can respect a person’s opinion, but when their arguments are laughable and their presentations are crude and tasteless, it just doesn’t feel right. The “Survivors” are a very prominent organization that practices these demonstrations regularly in public places. The grotesque images they use are defiantly unsuitable for the innocent children they are “fighting to save.”