An anti-abortion group on campus yesterday drew attention to itself for more than just the gruesome photos in its literature.

Around noon Thursday, an anti-abortion group came on campus to pass out two versions of a flier, which contained a religious appeal to end abortion as well as images of aborted fetuses.

One version of the flier had a cover panel which read, “Which American organization receives millions of tax dollars and murders people?” Another version featured a quote attributed to Planned Parenthood founder Margaret Sanger saying, “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population.”

Ashley Earle, senior in political science, was among students who received the flier. Earle, an African-American, said she was more offended by her observation that the flier with the Sanger quote was being distributed to minorities than the actual abortion material itself.

“They were pulling off the top of the pile for white people and off the bottom for anyone who looked like a minority,” Earle said.

Earle was handed the flier while walking by Carver Hall with her roommate, Ames resident Mary Veloz. After contacting the dean of students office, Earle and Veloz, who was also given a flier, contacted the ISU Police Department.

ISU Police Cmdr. Gene Deisinger said an officer was sent to Carver, but the activists had left by the time he arrived.

He said there are a narrow set of circumstances under which law enforcement can remove activists from campus.

“Based on what had been reported so far, they were giving out racially offensive material,” Deisinger said. “If there had been physical contact or if they had been disruptive, that would have been a different situation.”

Earlier in the day, group members near Parks Library identified themselves to Assistant Dean of Students Bethany Schuttinga as coming from Keokuk. Some members said they were part of a Milwaukee-based group known as Missionaries to the Preborn.

A spokesperson for Missionaries to the Preborn said the organization sells several versions of the flier, including the ones distributed, however, the individuals on campus were not a part of their organization.

Veloz, who is of Latin descent, was given the flier without the racist quote. She said her main concern following the incident was that the activists were outside of the designated free speech zone in front of Parks Library and may have had a discouraging impact on new students.

“I had an incident that almost sent me packing my freshman year,” Veloz said. “How many freshmen got this and said, ‘I am not coming back here after December?'”

When approached by aggressive or offensive activist groups on campus, Schuttinga said the Dean of Students Office directs students to contact law enforcement or the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.