2 arrested after protesting anti-abortion displays on University of Florida campus

Two people were arrested inside the University of Florida's Turlington Plaza Friday afternoon during an anti-abortion display protest that turned violent.

Bryn Taylor, president of the UF Graduates Assistant United union, and student Ian Dinkla were taken into custody by campus police and charged with multiple felonies, court records show.

Taylor, 26, and Dinkla, 21, were protesting the large graphic images of aborted fetuses on display by the traveling organization Created Equal.

Police say that Dinkla stole one of the signs valued at $120. When an officer attempted to arrest Dinkla, he pushed the officer and pulled away, the report said. Taylor then struck an officer in the back of the head with a bullhorn for trying to arrest Dinkla. An arrest report states that Taylor also punched an officer wearing plain clothes in the face.

A video of the incident shows the two wrestling with police after law enforcement were called to the scene for Dinkla taking the sign.

Dinkla is charged with robbery and resisting an officer with violence, both felonies, while Taylor faces felony charges of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, resisting an officer with violence and a misdemeanor charge of resisting arrest without violence.

No bond has been set as of Friday evening.

Anti-abortion displays

The signs being displayed at UF, while controversial, aren't new.

The group Created Equal spends time regularly touring Florida campuses to share its message. The anti-abortion group was at UF earlier in the week, as well as the University of Central Florida and the University of South Florida. The self-described "justice ride" tour, which first dates back to 2011, is inspired by civil rights-era freedom rides and argues unborn fetuses are protected by the 14th amendment — comparing abortion to historical tragedies, such as the Holocaust.

Two counter-protest groups posted up in the plaza to deflect from the images, seemingly outnumbering Created Equal.

Planned Parenthood Generation Action drew its own crowd of students and gave out pink ‘bans off our bodies’ signs. Other students held up signs demanding free abortion access for all and were among the nearly two dozen holding their own rally for bodily autonomy.

Olivia Packham, a member of Generation Action group, said the controversial displays are more dangerous for women than ever considering the overturning of Roe V. Wade and other anti-abortion laws being passed, including the recently proposed six-week abortion ban in Florida.

“Florida was kind of a safe haven,” the 19-year-old health science major said. “Now (protections) are being erased so that in pretty much the entire south there is not a safe place for abortions.

“We’ve had experiences where students have had panic attacks in response to these photos just because of how distressing they are. But in the end, we’ve been receiving much more support and response from the student body than they are.”

Seth Drayer, the vice president of Created Equal, said the graphic images represent the realities of abortion.

“You can’t make abortion look pretty,” he said. “The reason it’s graphic is because abortion is graphic.”

Students on the university’s unofficial sub-Reddit channel, r/ufl, warned sensitive students to avoid the area on Wednesday and Friday.

“Trigger warning for anyone walking through Turlington over the next hour or so,” one user wrote in a post with over 150 upvotes. “You shouldn’t force anyone to see those images real or fake, especially people who are just trying to get to class.”

Another popular post celebrated a student dubbed “our hero” who ran off with one of the displays on Wednesday. On Friday some students knocked over the displays as they walked through the plaza.

Delaney Doum, a 19-year-old UF nursing sophomore, sat in the plaza near the display promoting the group Gator Christian Life. Though unaffiliated with Created Equal, she said she supports the group's work.

“It’s controversial, but it’s an effective way of doing it,” Doum said. “It might be emotional to see some of the pictures that are shown, but I think it’s important that people know what is happening when an abortion occurs.”

Maria Peralta, a 20-year-old UF finance junior who grabbed a Planned Parenthood sign in the plaza, said she believes the display is a largely ineffective way to achieve the group’s goals.

“Those pictures are so unnecessary, people are just trying to go to class,” Peralta said. “I don’t even think it looks real.”

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Created Equal met by Planned Parenthood over graphic images at UF