The UA chapter of Turning Point USA hosted Christine Yeargin for a guest lecture on abortion pills and their impact on women’s health at North Lawn Hall on Thursday.
Yeargin is an anti-abortion advocate and founder of Be Her Village, whose website describes it as an L3C nonprofit and for-profit hybrid organization aiming to “support and empower women so they can rebuild after crisis.”
“Since abortion has been manipulated into the feminist movement, it has made its way into being the biggest, and I would even argue the only, issue that feminists care about today,” Yeargin said.
She said that when she mentions the abortion pill, she is referring to the two-pill regimen consisting of mifepristone and misoprostol, a treatment that is illegal in the state of Alabama.
“It’s marketed as a safe, simple and private way to handle a tough situation at home. The abortion industry will tell you it’s like taking a Tylenol,” Yeargin said. “Some people compare it to clipping a hangnail, but the reality is, it isn’t always that clean-cut.”
According to the FDA, “The FDA approved Mifeprex more than 20 years ago based on a thorough and comprehensive review of the scientific evidence presented and determined that it was safe and effective for its indicated use.”
Earlier in the day, Yeargin hosted the “Prove Me Wrong: Abortion is Murder” event in which she discussed and debated her views on abortion with attendees at the Student Center lawn.
“I really enjoyed the tabling experience,” Yeargin said. “Hearing from different students, hearing their own concerns about the issue, hearing them advocate or ask me rather, ‘How should I address this?’”
Yeargin said that for the most part, even people who disagreed with her had fairly respectful conversations with her.
“They were all very respectful, with the exception of a couple of people,” she said. “Some got a little bit heated and stormed off and called me disgusting.”
Yeargin said that the most common issue that is brought up to her in opposition to anti-abortion viewpoints is the issue of pregnancies that result from rape.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has urged states to provide survivors of sexual violence with access to abortion as the cases of violence “negatively affect their reproductive health and frequently result in unwanted and high-risk pregnancies, illegal and unsafe abortions, and an increased risk of sexually transmitted diseases.”
“It is one of the most atrocious and violent crimes,” she said. “The rapists should be punished to the fullest extent of the law and rot in prison, as far as I’m concerned. But if we believe life begins at conception, then we also have a duty to protect the baby as an innocent party.”
Yeargin followed her lecture with a Q&A session in which she discussed her topic with attendees before concluding the event.
“I was really excited to have her come,” said Jenna Stewart, president of the UA TPUSA chapter. “I think that this is a great event for people to learn.”
