The reaction to a campus student organization’s fifth-annual anti-abortion demonstration Wednesday was subdued.

Even the Sloss Women’s Center, which usually sets up a table and presents another side of the argument, only had a sign in front of the center that read “no comment.”

Daniel Rajewski, president of Students for Life and graduate student in geological and atmospheric sciences, said people walking by the protest generally didn’t seem to pay much attention to the demonstrators, who were handing out Life Savers candy with information about the club attached.

He said that most people are apathetic about the issue.

“That’s been the way of the movement,” he said.

Rajewski said part of the problem was that the mainstream media have beaten the issue to death, making it less important to people.

He said he did receive one negative comment from a girl who walked by, however.

“She told me, ‘You don’t have a uterus, don’t tell me what to do with mine,'” Rajewski said.

Fewer people than in previous years turned out for the demonstration, which stretched about halfway to Beardshear Hall from Curtiss Hall. Regardless, 40 people braved weather that called for showers to show their support for the anti-abortion argument.

Rajewski said the demonstrators usually stretch nearly the entire way across Central Campus.

He said the demonstration was aimed at bringing to light the issue of our “culture of death,” a term coined by the late Pope John Paul II that refers to the killing of innocent people.

“It describes all the elements that destroy human life,” Rajewski said. “Abortion is part of that, contraception is part of that and euthanasia is part of that. Human genetic engineering is becoming part of that.”

Not all ISU students share that sentiment, however.

“People who are for abortion don’t put down other people who aren’t; it’s just a very personal thing. I don’t think personally it’s appropriate to be displaying such a personal issue on campus either way,” said Lizzy Walters, sophomore in liberal arts and sciences-open option.

Walters said she believed the group had the right to demonstrate on campus, however.

“They have the freedom of expression to do that, just like women have the freedom of choice,” she said.

Jeremiah Evans, freshman in aerospace engineering, said he was present at the demonstration because he wanted to help get the word out that abortion is wrong because it implies that a fetus is not alive.

“It shows an inherent lack of respect for life,” he said. “It’s so clearly human that I can’t understand why anyone would want to get rid of it. It’s such a beautiful thing.”

The anti-abortion viewpoint is usually thought of as a predominantly religious issue, but Rajewski said Students for Life is not affiliated with any specific religion or church.

Ed Hall, a resident of Boone, said he was not a member of the club but decided to hold a sign for the hour with two of his children because of his religious beliefs about the issue.

“When [God] sees a soul that has been aborted, it breaks his heart,” he said.

Hall, who has five adopted children, said adoption is a much better substitute for abortion.

“Death is not an alternative,” he said. “Why not give these children to families weeping for kids?”

Hall said there aren’t enough children for adoptive families because so many are being aborted.

He also said adopted children are seen as part of the family to which they are adopted.

“When I adopt a kid, I don’t look at them as my adopted kid,” Hall said. “I look at them as my kids. My point is this, adopted kids are just like other kids.”