Pro-Life Students Arrested

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TRANSCRIPT

Pro-life students were arrested on Saturday in Washington, D.C. — for drawing with chalk.

The two pro-lifers were writing the phrase "Black Preborn Lives Matter" on the sidewalk outside a Planned Parenthood.

The D.C. police told the pro-lifers they were being arrested for defacing property.

Kristi Hamrick, spokesperson for Students for Life, says the arrest infringed on the students' constitutional rights.

Hamrick: "We had asked to paint that message on the street, and we had asked to gather together to pray and to share our views in front of the Planned Parenthood. And to be clear, people meet at that particular Planned Parenthood every Saturday."

The chalking was part of an event with Students for Life of America, alongside The Frederick Douglass Foundation — a conservative African American policy group.

The pro-lifers had applied for permits for a public gathering. But when they showed up Saturday morning, police were already waiting for them.

Hamrick: "When we arrived at that Planned Parenthood at five in the morning, there were six police cars waiting to stop us."

This comes after the mayor of D.C. signed off on a Black Lives Matter (BLM) mural on 16th Street leading to the White House.

Pro-lifers are calling out the hypocrisy of painting BLM murals on the streets while clamping down on pro-life sidewalk chalk.

Students for Life is looking into legal action, and believes the arrest violated the constitutional right to freedom of expression.

Hamrick: "It would be silly if it wasn't so sad — that our free speech rights are that fragile, that a chalk message offends authorities."

At college campuses around the country, pro-life student groups have faced vandalism and intimidation. But what's not common is for students to be arrested for sharing the pro-life message.

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