The student pro-life advocacy group First Right hosted two activists last night, marking the highlights of their annual pro-life awareness week.
Kristen Day, executive director from Democrats for Life and Day Gardner, director from Black Americans for Life, spoke to members of the University community about their standpoints on abortion.
First Right spokesperson Greg Chudy said the group chose these speakers in order to receive and present a different perspective on the issue of abortion and show that the pro-life movement encompasses diverse groups and transcends divisions of race and political party.
First Right kicked off pro-life week by displaying over 4,000 silk roses that spelled out "Thanks Mom," in the Amphitheatre Monday.
The roses commemorated the 43 million lives lost since the passage of Roe v. Wade in 1973, according to a First Right press release.
The events organized for this week are dedicated to promoting the awareness of pro-life issues on Grounds, according to Chudy.
"We choose 'Thanks Mom' for the display to remind students that their parents chose life," First Right President Sam Kepler said.
The theme of this year's festivities is "I'm Glad You Were Born," which First Right officials said they hoped would be a more compassionate message, since they are dealing with such a sensitive issue.
"We wanted to take a non-confrontational approach to this week -- it's hard to argue with 'I'm Glad You Were Born,'" Chudy said.
Voices for Planned Parenthood President Lindsey Prevette could not be reached for comment yesterday.
First Right has been distributing literature and paraphernalia on the Lawn all week.
This marks the third year in a row that First Right has held the events during the week following Spring Break.
"I'm really impressed with the members and how they have stepped up and shown that they care about the issue," Kepler said.
First Right officials said the main goal of the week's events was to promote dialogue.
"We want to provide a forum for discussion of all the issues regarding the pro-life cause," Kepler added.
The week's events will close with a Christian prayer vigil Friday night.
Chudy said the only negative feedback they have received so far has been having their promotional flyers torn downhours after they were put up Sunday night.
"It's inevitable with such a sensitive issue, but it's still unfortunate and rude -- we don't do that to them," he said.
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