A group that opposes abortion is visiting local colleges this week.
Demonstrators are using some shocking images to get their point across, and that's caused one school to ban the group from campus.
Liberty University students were greeted with a powerful message as they entered campus Monday.
"The unborn child is a human being, not a blob of tissue, and abortion is an act of violence," said Fletcher Armstrong, Southeast Director for the Tennessee-based Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, which organized Monday's event.
Demonstrators lined University Boulevard Monday, handing out pamphlets.
Their large signs may have caught the most attention; and that's the point.
"America will never reject abortion until America sees abortion, said Armstrong. "That's why we go out and show people what abortion looks like."
The signs show photos of aborted fetuses, images News7 has chosen not to broadcast or publish.
LU students weren't the only audience. A convoy of trucks traveled around school, with graphic photos painted on the side of each vehicle.
"We get flipped off a lot, or we get a thumbs ups," said Jim Davis, an abortion opponent who drove one of the trucks that took part in Monday's demonstration. "One in five people flips us off."
Monday's demonstration stayed on public property, because LU didn't allow the group access to its campus.
School officials issued a statement, saying:
"Liberty did not allow these protesters to demonstrate on Liberty property, but they were operating on the public right-of-way with a city-issued demonstration permit. Liberty has always taken a strong pro-life position on the abortion issue, but it does not encourage the public display of the horrific images of the deaths of aborted babies in order to further the pro-life cause. Liberty’s main thoroughfare serves as a passageway for several thousand motorists daily, including many schoolchildren.”
News 7 spoke with students who disagreed with the protest, but many others said the graphic message was welcomed.
"In my opinion, abortion a form of murder," said Trey Ashworth, an LU Freshman from Martinsville. "If it takes these gruesome images to make people realize it, then I think it's worth it."
The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform is visiting schools around Virginia. They'll be at Radford University later this week.
