Tennessee college student charged with assault of pro-life activist
Students for Life of America brought pro-life advocacy and open debate to Middle Tennessee State University as abortion remains at the center of legal battles across the country.
A college student in Tennessee was arrested and charged with assault Sept. 16 after a confrontation with a pro-life activist on campus.
The student allegedly threw a plastic cup containing liquid at Rebekah Keith, a regional coordinator for Students for Life of America (SFLA), during a campus event outside Middle Tennessee State University’s Keathley University Center, according to a Sept. 19 report from MTSU Sidelines, the university’s student news outlet. SFLA said the event was part of its “Abortion Victims: Every Abortion Has a Human Cost” campus tour.
Campus police responded shortly before 2 p.m. and identified the student as Luca Sherrard. According to SFLA, Sherrard is female but identifies as male. A video recorded by a bystander shows Sherrard speaking with Keith before throwing the cup.
Police later found Sherrard on campus and made the arrest. Sherrard was then booked at the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office on an assault charge, according to Sidelines.
“The police found her immediately and acted swiftly,” Keith said, according to SFLA.
The incident follows an event on the same campus tour at the University of Colorado Denver, where SFLA activists were “mobbed and threatened” by a crowd, according to the organization.
SFLA continued its campus outreach the following day with a tabling event and a panel titled “The Unfiltered Truth.” Spokesperson Lydia Taylor Davis emphasized the importance of engaging students with different views.
“If we’re only going to hear the talking points from our side, we would be in an echo chamber,” Davis said. “Inviting people who disagree with you to come to the microphone – that is the best way to create a change.”
The confrontation comes amid continued legal battles over abortion across the U.S. Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin filed a lawsuit in September seeking to establish abortion as a right under the state constitution. As Zeale News previously reported, Massachusetts enacted a law in August allowing abortion up to the moment of birth.
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