Members of H*yas for Choice, a pro-abortion rights student group, are petitioning for full recognition as a campus group following what they called a violation of their right to demonstrate on campus by the university on Monday.

The group hung a string of black flags in Red Square Monday morning and tied the strings to neighboring trees, but the flags were cut down later that morning after maintenance workers informed HFC that it was in violation of the university’s speech and expression policy, which prohibits banners and flyers in or hanging from trees.

The flags represented women who die each year due to inadequate medical attention when seeking abortions in countries where the practice is illegal. The display was in response to GU Right to Life’s Flag Day activities, which included planting more than 3,500 blue and pink flags on Copley Lawn to represent the number of abortions performed in the United States each day.

An HFC statement, posted on the group’s Web site and sent to members, said that that group was informed that a Right to Life banner hung on a tree on Copley Lawn would also be removed, but that it was not.

According to university administrators and Right to Life members, the Right to Life banner was removed during the afternoon, several hours after HFC banners were removed.

Molly Tafoya (COL ’07), an HFC board member, said that the board was working to correct its letter and acknowledge that the Right to Life banner was removed in the afternoon, though she said it happened later than some administrators claimed.

“We’ve decided as a board to distance ourselves from squabbling over what time the banner was taken down,” she said.

Katherine Robinson (COL ’06), HFC’s off-campus and volunteering chair, said that she understands the university policy but that thought it was unfair that Right to Life set up its demonstration throughout Copley Lawn.

“While Right to Life is able to have such a powerful demonstration on Copley Lawn, HFC is limited to having such demonstrations in Red Square, the free speech area,” Robinson said. “If we are then further restricted even within this area, HFC cannot successfully have an equally visible and effective display.”

The university denies HFC access to funding and the right to demonstrate on campus outside of Red Square, as well as certain other benefits that it provides other student organizations. The Catholic Church opposes abortion.

Tafoya said that although Right to Life members were asked to remove their contentious banner, the HFC flags were removed by university personnel down without consultation.

“We believe if we were a legitimately recognized student organization . the situation would have been different,” Tafoya said.

Martha Swanson, director of student organizations, said that a misunderstanding with Georgetown’s facilities crew, not a university double standard, was to blame.

“Facilities was correct in removing the H*yas for Choice banner,” she said. “However, they were incorrect in not removing the GU Right to Life banner sooner.”

Bridget Bowes (COL ’07), president emeritus of Right to Life, said that the group did not receive special treatment from maintenance and complied with workers when asked to take down its banner that afternoon, after it was also found to be in violation of the speech and expression policy.

“This is not a matter of free speech, but simply a matter of complying with the university’s policy regarding flyering and advertising,” she said.

Steven Picciano (COL ’09), president of Right to Life, said that although its flyers were removed, HFC’s demonstration was not ended by the university. He said that HFC continued to have a presence in Red Square, including a posting of the word `choice’ on the exterior of the ICC.

Vice President for Student Affairs Todd Olson commended the maintenance staff for removing illegally placed banners. Olson said that maintenance asked both groups to remove their banners from trees.

“We’re following up on the specific nature of the response,” he said.

A spokesperson for Georgetown Facilities could not be reached for comment.

HFC members say that the removal of the flags has prompted the group to press for a reduction in what they said are restrictions on their group’s ability to communicate and express itself on campus. Tafoya said that the group is in the process of drafting a petition to seek equal treatment for all student groups under the university’s speech policy.

“We would like the university to comply with its own Speech and Expression Policy, which guarantees all students the right to free speech, including H*yas for Choice,” she said.

The group is also asking for full recognition of HFC as a student organization. The university does not provide the group with access to funding and other benefits that it provides other student organizations, citing the Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion.

“We respect [Right to Life’s] right to have an expression of their side of the debate. However, we ask the university to give us the same right,” Robinson said.