“Life” was written on red duct tape and stretched across Christina O’Keefe’s mouth as she went about her day on campus Tuesday.
O’Keefe, an interdisciplinary studies freshman, was one of the thousands of pro-life supporters participating in the tenth annual Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity, a one-day event in conjunction with Ohio-based Stand True, an organization promoting anti-abortion education and advocacy.
“I have loved and shared my faith as far back as I can remember with the help of my mom and dad,” O’Keefe said. “The least I can do is create awareness by sharing this to others in order to save our generation from abortion.”
O’Keefe was introduced to the idea in high school and then decided to participate for the first time her senior year.
“It took a while for me to muster up the courage to participate, but I decided that it would be an awesome thing to do here at A&M with the support of the Catholic church,” O’Keefe said.
Spending the day in silence, O’Keefe pasted to her T-shirt and passed out fliers she obtained through silentday.org entitled, “Why I am silent,” which had information about the gestation period and urged readers to join the cause.
Bryan Kemper, president of Stand True, said the event began about a decade ago when he was speaking at a college campus in Louisiana and was contemplating how he could get campuses involved in outreach.
“I thought if we stood in solidarity with [the movement] and if anybody tries to talk to us, we hand them a flyer that explains it — it’s a great outreach,” Kemper said. We were hoping to get around 100 campuses the first year and we ended up having 300 campuses, and now well over a thousand campuses every year.”
However, it’s not just campuses that participate, Kemper said, but churches, other organizations and individuals.
O’Keefe said she encountered various reactions throughout the day.
“Most people appeared to be interested or confused,” O’Keefe said. “I also encountered a lot of support from students who understood the message I was trying to convey.”
O’Keefe, who volunteers at a local pregnancy center, said she was “acting as a voice for the unborn who never had a chance to speak on their own behalf.”
“I plan to do this throughout college for now, and hopefully others will be able to join me,” O’Keefe said.
Freshman Christina O’Keefe spent Tuesday in silence, with duct tape across her mouth, as a means of raising awareness for anti-abortion advocacy.
Photo by Tanner Garza.