They left her scratched and bruised…

The interactions we have with students during our educational outreach events at college and high schools are generally friendly. But not always.

We met with violence last week at Cal Poly Pomona that left a team member scratched and bruised.

To be clear, violence is not the norm. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised at how little obnoxious pushback we received during our two-week internship last month. A minor vandalism of a sign here, an attempted theft there - unacceptable, childish behavior, but not much when taken in context of how many tens of thousands of students encountered us and our displays.

Most students responded to us positively. Multiple students admitted that they have never spoken to a pro-life advocate before. In addition to convincing students that abortion is wrong, our job is to be ambassadors for the pro-life movement at large. We are gracious, as well as honest, and almost every student we talked to thanked us for the conversation. Many told us that they had changed their minds on abortion.

Of course, sharing the truth with love is threatening to the pro-abortion crowd.

After we had packed up for the day at Cal Poly Pomona, on our way off campus, we took turns using a restroom since none of us had taken a break since we arrived. While just two girls were watching the signs and other equipment, two large men in masks approached and asked if they were with the pro-life group. They then wrestled the signs away from our two volunteers who were holding them. One of the girls was knocked to the ground and dragged.

The other was able to get video of the men running away as she chased them to recover the signs. (If you don’t have Facebook, just close the pop up window to see the video.)

Fortunately, several students witnessed the brazen attack, so police were able to locate and arrest one assailant and have photos of the other.

Why were the bullies so upset? Look at these photos of just some of the many interactions we had at Cal Poly throughout the day before they attacked. We changed hearts and minds with friendly conversations, with kindness and truth, one person at a time.

Apparently, they were afraid of the persuasive power of the truth communicated in a winsome way.

Despite the shock of the attack, our interns were unflinching in their purpose. The following day, we went to both a college campus and high school dismissal and had more life-changing conversations with students.

Please consider supporting our interns as we prepare to continue our internship next spring!