Top: Hundreds of anti-abortion marchers file past a handful
of abortion-rights demonstrators at the Nebraska Union
Saturday.
Middle: Kim Tubbs of Alabama debates abortion with Walk
For Life participant Mike Wooten, who brought a wooden
cross on the march, in front of the Nebraska Union Saturday.
Bottom: Kim Owen of Oxford marches in the Walk For Life
through downtown Lincoln Saturday.
Lobby %
Continued from Page 1
Coalition member Virginia Walsh
said strong support of LB790 was
needed to counterattack the Supreme
Court’s most recent abortion-related
decision — a ruling that said women
seeking abortions arc not entitled to
federal protection under a 19th cen
tury civil rights law enacted to protect
African Americans.
The decision, Walsh said, pul re
strictions on abortion clinics seeking
federal protection from protesters who
harass patients and block clinic en
trances.
LB790 balances the right to a law
ful protest and the right of women and
men to secure access to a medical
facility, Walsh said. She called upon
all Nebraskans to “reject terrorist tac
tics of the fringe elements of the anti
abortion movement” by enacting
LB790 promptly.
Walk
Continued from Page 1
“A lot of people arc pro-life, a lot are pro
choice, and there arc many who don’t know
what they are,” she said. “The majority of
people don’t have a specific stand, because
they don’t know that much about it.”
After the rally, Cara Catlett, president of
UNL Students For Life, said she felt the
majority of students on campus were op
posed to abortion except in the case of rape
and incest.
Catlett, a junior political science major,
spoke to anti-abortion demonstrators in the
Centennial Ballroom in the Nebraska Union.
Abortion-rights activists held a counter
demonstration as anti-abortion supporters
entered the Nebraska Union.
Julie Loslroh, walk organizer, called the
clash “pathetic.” She said the number of
people opposing abortion far outweighed
the number chanting for abortion rights, but
abortion-rights protesters tried to overcome
their smaller numbers by using graphic and
vivid signs.
The walk was held in 30-dcgrcc windy
conditions. Makimaa told supporters to not
to focus on the co\d.
“Your faces arc cold, your hands arc
freezing, and my feet arc aching,” she said.
“I want you to think about the ache of those
women’s hearts who have been broken by
abortion.
“1 used to hate that the anniversary (Roc
vs. Wade) was in the winter, but now I
realize that I can remember that and use it to
push me forward,” she said.
Michelle Pauknan/DN
• Activists clash at union steps.
I
J By Kathryn Borman
| Staff Reporter
I About 25 abortion-righLs protest
ers responded to Saturday’s 20th an
j nual Walk For Life with signs, chants
Band a last-minute protest on the front
steps of the Nebraska Union.
|j Anti-abortion marchers shouted
I back at the protesters as they passed.
I Tensions mounted, and several face
- to-facc confrontations occurred.
Protesters chanted, “Our bodies,
our lives, our right to decide,” and
“Hey, hey, ho, ho, Roc vs. Wade ain’t
gonna go,” as anti-abortion marchers
. worked their way up the union steps to
the ballroom.
Abortion-righLs protestors chanted,
“Women have the choice,” while anti
abortion marchers broke away from
the march and shouted back, “Babies
have the choice.”
An anti-abortion marcher ran up to
a group of abortion-rights protestors
and shouted, “You don’t have a
choice.”
Kristine Futa,a graduate student in
clinical psychology, held a sign that
read “Keep your laws off my body.”
Futa said the hostile reactions on
both sides were the result of adrena
line.
“People get so emotional,” Futa
said. “This is not what I was expect
ing.”
Futa said the protest reaffirmed her
belief that the abortion issue was a
matter of choice, because there was
DN
— 44
If this much time and energy on both sides was put
into finding a solution ... it would do a lot more
good.
— Schrick
UNL student
-99 -
no one right answer.
“I’m a little nervous, frankly,” she
said. “I don’t like being screamed at."
Kim Schrick, a part-time student
in the Division of Continuing Studies,
said she found the confrontations dis
comforting.
Schrick said the lime had come for
people on both sides of the issue to
work together to find a solution.
“If this much time and energy on
both sides waspyt into finding a solu
tion ... it would do a lot more good,"
she said.
Suzanne Rogcrs-Lipscy, president
of the Lincoln chapter of the National
Organization for Women, also was
surprised by the fierceness of the con
frontation.
“I didn’t expect the intense reac
tions on both sides,” she said.
Rogcrs-Lipscy said the protest was
designed to be a display of passive
opposition to the march.
“Our purpose wasn’t to seek con
flict, but just to make our presence
known,” she said. “We want to let
students know there is another choice
ready to lake them in.”
Rogcrs-Lipscy said the march was
effective despite the relatively small
number of abortion-rights protesters.
“With our energy, we were able to
do what we wanted to do,” she said.
Karen Hindhcdc, a graduate stu
dent in English, said she look part in
the protest because she was for the
freedom to choose regarding preg
nancy and reproductive options for
women.
‘‘And to me, pro-choice is not pro
abortion,” she said.
“People I’ve talked to who arc pro
life arc so black and white,” she s^id.
“They don’t allow for specific situa
tions.”
Bob Schafer, a 1992 UNL gradu
ate and NOW member, said he at
tended the protest because he also was
in favor of a woman’s right to have an
abortion.
“I think more men should be in
volved in feminist issues,” Schafer
said. “I think it’s a human issue.”