Thirty years ago, the Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade changed the nation. Thursday night, the Ball State chapter of Students for Life held a rose ceremony in recognition of that historic decision.
"We wanted it to be a neutral and calming environment," said Monica Moak, publicity director of Students for Life. "We especially wanted women who have had abortions to come, so they could begin the coping process."
Thirty students lined the hallway outside of a small classroom in the Robert Bell Building, each holding white roses. Inside the classroom, Moak read from a slide show presentation.
Each slide covered a year of abortion history since 1973, the year the practice was legalized. As each slide was read, a student walked quietly into the classroom and carefully placed a rose in one of two glass vases.
"Both men and women go through the grieving process of abortion," Moak read from one of the slides. This process includes, in many cases, depression, thoughts of suicide or drug and alcohol abuse, the slide read.
"Abortion affects everyone," Moak said. "Especially our generation because one-third of it has died."
In 1999, one of the slides read, 248 abortions were performed in Delaware County and 11,676 statewide.
Moak said she hopes that Students for Life will educate students and the community about the realities of abortion.
"We just want to educate people," she said. "A lot of people don't even know what an abortion is or how it's done or what impact it has on society."
Alison Burns, who has been a member of the organization for four years and has held every office position, joined the group for her own education.
"It was always more of a religious issue for me," Burns said. "Now I no longer have just a religious opinion, but I can support my views with medical evidence. I see how many people are affected by abortion."
Burns said she hopes the rose ceremony brought a sense of peace to those who attended.
"Men and women as well as children are hurting," she said. "We wanted something that could bring closure."
Even though the number of women outweighed the number of men at the ceremony, there were men who came to show their support.
Senior Greg Bleyer was one of them.
"I have never felt that it's right for people to decide somebody's fate, especially somebody who can't fight back," Bleyer said about abortion.
Bleyer said he believes men have a role to play in preventing abortion.
"It's a woman's body, but a baby is half the male," he said. "If you're going to be a responsible man, you better take responsibility of your actions."
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