By Will Wright

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@KernelWright

Some students were startled at pictures of aborted fetuses and holocaust victims that were displayed outside White Hall Classroom Building on Wednesday.

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, a national anti-abortion group that holds many of its demonstrations on college campuses, set up signs and passed out pamphlets on UK’s campus at the request of the UK Students for Life.

“WARNING GENOCIDE PHOTOS AHEAD” signs were placed along the walkways leading up to the demonstration to warn students of the graphic signage ahead. The warning sign policy was required by the university so students could take an alternative route, UK spokeswoman Kathy Johnson said.

“For so many people abortion is just a word,” said Maggie Egger, project director for the Center for Bio-Ethical Research. “But the pictures force them to realize that the unborn are people just like you and I, and abortion is an act that decapitates and dismembers them.”

The images are, for some, too disturbing to be shown in the heart of a bustling college campus.

“The pictures are far too graphic,” engineering sophomore Femke Onneweer said. “I feel like if you’ve had an abortion and walk past this it could give you nightmares.”

Center for Bio-Ethical Research demonstrator Gary Johnson said the idea of disturbing people is not a legitimate reason to hold back.

“A lot of churches don’t talk about abortion because they think there are women in the crowd that have had abortions and it might upset them. I think they need to talk about it,” Johnson said. “If the Christian people don’t stand up and stop this I don’t know who will.”

College students were not the only ones to witness the demonstration. The presence of protestor Bryan McKinney’s one-year-old daughter made people realize the consequences of having an abortion, McKinney said.

“Ironically, about 100 percent of people that get upset that my one-year-old daughter is by the display are the ones who think that killing babies inside their mother is alright,” McKinney said. “It makes them uncomfortable because they have to see that life is beautiful. They have to argue for killing babies when there’s a baby running around.”

The images are not pleasant because the truth of abortion is unpleasant, said Stephen Gedney, faculty adviser for UK Students for Life.

“These pictures are horrible to look at because they represent a reality that is horrible,” Gedney said. “It’s not a blob of tissue — a fetus is a human being.”

UK Students for Life were able to reserve the location by White Hall Classroom Building because the images are not obscene according to U.S. law, Johnson said.

Registered student organizations are allowed to reserve that space if it is being used for recruiting or educational purposes.

Journalism freshman Cally Lombardi said she does not think the group should be allowed to display those images in the middle of campus.

“I think there should be a line drawn,” Lombardi said. “Students have other things to worry about.”

Computer science freshman August Basile said he thinks people have the right to raise their voice, even if some people find the message offensive.

“They have the right to showcase whatever they want, graphic or not,” Basile said. “People are allowed to protest whatever they want.”

The group will be back on campus with their wall of images Thursday.