UC Santa Barbara Prof Claims 'Moral Right' To Steal Pro-Life Sign – Says She Set 'Good Example'

The official report  released by the UC Santa Barbara Police Department on the confrontation between Professor Mireille Miller-Young and a group of anti-abortion activists, provides new details to the story I wrote about, last week.

As you may remember, the feminist studies/queer theory professor, who is pregnant, had stolen one of the activists’ signs, and allegedly clawed at and injured the sixteen year old girl who trying to get it back.

Asked by police if there was a struggle for the sign, Miller-Young,  answered frankly, “I’m stronger, so I was able to take the poster.”

She told police that she was “triggered” by the graphic images of aborted fetuses on the posters, explaining that she felt the pro-lifers didn’t have a right to be on the university’s campus, (even in the free speech zone) because she felt the messages were upsetting to her and other students. She said her students “were wanting her to take” the sign away and argued that she had set “a good example” for them. 

She admitted to destroying the sign in her office, which she called a “safe place,”  but argued that it was “the right thing to do.”  She told the police she’d be willing to pay for the cost of the sign but would “hate it.” 

Miller-Young likened her actions to that of a “conscientious objector” and stated that she had the “moral” right to act as she did, suggesting that the group had violated her rights.

When asked what right the group had violated, Miller-Young responded, “My personal right to go to work and not be in harm.”

When asked what crimes she felt the pro-life group had violated, Miller-Young replied that their coming to campus and showing “graphic imagery” was insensitive to the community. 

The police report goes on to say, “I explained to Miller-Young that vandalism, battery and robbery had occurred. I also told Miller-Young that individuals involved in this case desired prosecution.”

I later booked the torn sign into evidence at UCPD. I also uploaded the audio files of my interviews into digital evidence.

I request that a copy of my report, along with all related supplemental reports, be forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office for review.

So far, the District Attorney’s Office has not filed any charges.