The “Make Gen Z Anti-Abortion” tour came to the University of Kentucky to debate and discuss abortion policy with the community.
Lydia Taylor Davis, Students for Life’s spokesperson and anti-abortion social media influencer, came to UK’s campus on Wednesday, Oct. 1, allowing a space for debate hosted by the Students for Life chapter, Pro-Life Wildcats.
UK is the second university the tour has visited, along with four other universities in October and early November, according to the organization’s webpage.
Davis said she started the tour because her generation is her primary demographic, and she wants to encourage them to “stand proudly for life.”
“I myself was once pro-choice because I was lied to,” Davis said. “I became pro-life because the truth is, science is pro-life.”
A debate tabling event was held at Alumni Commons, earlier that day, where Davis talked to students walking by about being pro-life and what that meant to her.
According to Davis, in high school, she was told by pro-choicers that foster children like her sister were “better off aborted.”
She then decided to do her own research, became pro-life and started a Students for Life chapter at her former college, Campbell University in North Carolina.
“I think something for me is that I realized very quickly, while researching abortion, that abortion is the leading cause of death in the history of the world,” Davis said. “I realized that I was driving by the local abortion facility like it was nothing, and babies were being killed in there.”
Even with the backlash Davis has faced, she said she continues “standing up for what’s right” and “fighting for women and children,” specifically through conversations about abortion.
“One of the things I try to do is find common ground,” Davis said. “There’s this stereotype that pro-lifers just don’t care about women, that we want to control them, … and that’s just a fundamental lie.”
Davis said she knows she can’t change some people’s minds, but she wants to continue offering help and resources for women.
“Obviously there are people that shouted at me today and that is what it is. I’m just glad we’re having the conversation,” Davis said.
Students, like Brooke Hartman, a sophomore majoring in digital media design, attended the event after Davis’s debate held at Alumni Commons earlier that day, to hear her Q&A and speech.
“I quickly started to hear things that I did not, unfortunately, agree with,” Hartman said. “I’m not going to lie, I was kinda heckling at her, but freedom of speech, right, and I ended up getting in line to ask a couple of questions.”
Hartman said she disagreed with Davis’s beliefs and thought UK should have a better process when considering speakers.
“I think by taking away abortion rights you’re taking away a part of a woman, and a part of a person, and you’re turning them into something that you can control and that’s what this is all about, it’s about controlling women,” Hartman said. “Instead of learning, I sat there and I listened to this woman lie for like two hours.”
Hartman said while asking questions, they found it essential to speak with Davis and try to have a conversation about the topic, even knowing she wouldn’t change her mind.
“I don’t understand how we can be saying the same things and end up with a different perspective or different points,” Hartman said. “As I said in my original speech (at Alumni Commons), at the end of it, I told everybody, sex is fun, do what you want, there’s free condoms in the student center, … ask for help if you need it.”
Charles Cochran, vice president of Pro-Life Wildcats, said having these conversations are important, especially for our generation.
“That’s a really important thing for our country to and for us on campus to model and to exhibit is the openness to peaceful dialogue and debate and discussion,” Cochran said. “If we are open to opposing viewpoints and to friendly discussions, then we can learn together and we can help each other grow.”
According to Cochran, he has been pro-life his entire life and has found the issue impactful to the U.S. and its culture.
“As a pro-lifer, I’m pro-choice until your choice takes away other people’s choice, right? I think one person’s freedom extends to the limit of another person’s freedom,” Cochran said.
Cochran hopes this event provides a platform for more open spaces for conversations and change when it comes to creating a culture that values life.
“Gen Z is the future, we are the people in my generation,” Cochran said. “It needs to matter to us because who could it matter more to?”
