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The rain had stopped and the last hour of sunlight lit Wescoe Beach when about 30 members of KU Students for Life gathered in prayer before marching to Lawrence’s Planned Parenthood at 27th and Iowa streets Wednesday night.

At the end of the march the members held a prayer vigil. They were met at Planned Parenthood by members of the Commission on the Status of Women, who passed out literature to educate participants on the opposing viewpoint of a woman’s right to choose.

Emma Rothbrust, a member of KU Students for Life, said she felt that having opposition present at their events was helpful to their cause and the issue.

“By having a dialogue it not only strengthens us and what we believe, but it helps other people make an informed decision,” Rothbrust, Overland Park junior, said.

The walk is just one of the events that is part of “KU Stand Up for LIFE Week,” hosted by KU Students for Life. The group has been tabling on Wescoe Beach all week, and will be there today and Friday. Tonight, the group is hosting a discussion called “The Morality of Abortion.”

“The whole point is to raise awareness about a really big issue,” Rothbrust said. “Fundamentally it’s about dialogue.”

In response to the group’s events, the Commission on the Status of Women tabled on Wescoe Beach to offer an opposing viewpoint.

Elise Higgins, Topeka junior, said the purpose for CSW’s response was to inform students about the safety and legality of pregnancy terminations, as well as the range of services Planned Parenthood provided. The Lawrence chapter of Planned Parenthood doesn’t provide abortion services, but mostly exists to help with family planning and sexual health, said Holly Weatherford, spokesperson for Kansas’ Planned Parenthood organizations.

Jennifer Meitl, Outreach Coordinator for the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center said the students would take shifts praying all night outside of Planned Parenthood.

Sarah Bergkamp, Garden Plain freshman, said she was in charge of coordinating the anti-abortion group and to make sure prayers took place every hour from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.

Bergkamp said the vigil was a peaceful protest that was not meant to get attention or create confrontation. She said everyone was welcome to join the vigil.

“We’re not here to shove our views in others’ faces,” Bergkamp said. “We just want it to end peacefully.”

“KU Stand Up for LIFE Week” focused on the organization’s anti-abortion position, and began when KU Students for Life members drew 3,600 chalk hearts on Wescoe Beach to represent the number of abortions that occur each day in the U.S.

“America is supposed to be about freedom for everyone, but we’re taking away that right from the unborn,” Bergkamp said.

Pete Northcott, member of KU Students for Life, said the goal of “Stand Up for LIFE Week” was to help spread a message for those who could not speak for themselves. Northcott, Olathe junior, said that these issues weren’t brought up on campus as much as they should be.

“Abortion hurts women and children and we want to show people that there are other options,” Northcott said.

Though Higgins said she definitely supported alternatives to abortion, she said making abortion illegal wouldn’t take away the risk to women undergoing the procedure. In 2007, Congress reported that prior to the Roe v. Wade decision, an estimated 1,200,000 women each year resorted to illegal abortions. Weatherford said that number was the best evidence that women would continue the practice despite legality.

“The Morality of Abortion,” which begins at 7 p.m. in the Big 12 room in the Kansas Union, will discuss the moral precepts that guide the anti-abortion position. Rothbrust will be a moderator for the discussion. She said that students who were not anti-abortion could come to the discussion to understand the other side’s perspective. She said that this issue was morally based and that her participation was like being part of a civil rights movement.

“It’s really uplifting to say ‘Yeah, I stood up for that,’” Rothbrust said.

— — Edited by Melissa Johnson

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