Justice For All Inc., the anti-abortion group sponsoring a week-long display on campus featuring large pictures of aborted fetuses, is no stranger to controversy.
The group formed in Wichita, Kansas, in 1993. It has set up its exhibit on 35 public college campuses during the past four years.
Armed with bloody, graphic pictures and following a creed that abortion is wrong and should be illegal, staff members say they've perfected the art of keeping debate calm.
"We've never thrown a punch," said Tammy Cook, administrative director for the group. "We go out of our way to be nonviolent. We don't respond to violence."
She added that the organization did not approve of the bombing of abortion clinics.
"No one can be part of the organization if they embrace that type of violence," Cook said.
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A University of Texas at Austin faculty member hurt in a scuffle with police last year over an unauthorized use of a bullhorn constituted the only violence at a Justice For All event, said Jacob Burow, a logistics coordinator for the group. The bullhorn rule was suspended during the group's recent return to the university, according to the campus newspaper, The Daily Texan.
Cook said the 501 C3 nonprofit group received funding from private donations and a few church organizations, adding that it receives no corporate donations.
Volunteers from campus chapters usually join Justice For All's permanent staff of 10 during the exhibits.
She says the group's main tenets are that people should abstain from sex and choose adoption over abortion, citing a 1995 survey by the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse that found 500,000 people waiting to adopt children.
Dean of Students Randy Boeglin refuted rumors that a team of lawyers approached the University on behalf of the group threatening to sue if it didn't get the space desired.
"They're assertive about their position, but we have good lawyers too," he said.
Student Activities Director Debbie Morris said the group was given a choice between several areas in which to set up their exhibit.
"They strongly wanted that area," she said of the walkway between Ortega Hall, Mitchell HAll and the Duck Pond. "We worked with them. We told them where the fire lanes were, and they said OK."
Other groups who applied for demonstration space were kept at a distance to avoid conflict and reduce the potential for traffic bottlenecks, she said.
