By Rebecca Sweeney

Rebecca Haschke always believed in the principles of the pro-life stance on abortion, but never acted on her beliefs. She decided it was time for a change.

“I didn’t want to be that type of person, so I decided to volunteer with the Genocide Awareness Project after they visited my campus last semester,” she said.

Haschke, a business management, Spanish and secondary education major at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, handed out pro-life pamphlets to UK students yesterday as they walked by images of aborted fetuses. The Genocide Awareness Project was brought to campus by UK Students for Pro-Life, who host the project every year.

Making people think and become aware of the seriousness of abortion has changed the views of some students, Haschke said.

“One thing I’ve noticed is that your campus is not apathetic,” she said. “People seem interested that there is an issue, and they have an opinion to agree or disagree.”

Students on their way to class have either expressed support or disapproval, or disagreed with the images and their message but supported the expression of free speech, Haschke said.

Tom Dobson, a computer science and computer engineering senior, called the display “tactless” as he stared at the picture of an aborted fetus.

“It encourages no intelligent debate about an important issue,” Dobson said. “The fact that they’re willing to resort to this means they know their position is not well-received.”

The Genocide Awareness Project compares abortion to the Holocaust and slavery, Haschke said. Without using graphic images to show what’s happening, people would continue to turn their heads and ignore the issue.

“I think the pictures are horribly graphic,” Haschke said. “I don’t like looking at them. My words don’t have to show the horror, the pictures do.”

Josh McIntosh, a history junior, is not sure about his stance on abortion. He said the images were gross but thought they were necessary.

“The pictures are a physical thing you can see instead of trying to imagine something that’s unimaginable,” McIntosh said.

Despite the disgusting images, McIntosh said some situations make abortion a reasonable option.

“If a woman didn’t have the choice to have a kid, then she should have the choice not to have one,” he said.

The Genocide Awareness Project will be on campus until 4 p.m. today.