Even though the semester has drawn to a close, one student group on campus still has big plans to fulfill before spring semester; a trip to the nation’s capitol.

This January, Students for Human Life, an anti-abortion student group on campus, is hosting a trip to Washington, D.C. to participate in the annual “march for life”, which is held annually to raise awareness about abortion.

The group of students – 30 from St. Thomas and six from St. Catherine’s University – will take a coach bus to the Capitol Jan. 19, where they will spend the next several days marching, attending conferences and touring.

The event has taken place in Washington for more than 40 years to commemorate the anniversary of U.S. Supreme Court Case Roe V. Wade in the early 1970s. According to an article on cnn.com (www.cnn.com/2013/11/04/us/roe-v-wade-fast-facts), the case eventually led to the U.S. Supreme Court legalizing abortion on Jan. 22, 1973.

Senior Liz Robeck, president of Students for Human Life, said national participation has increased significantly since her sophomore year, when the first St. Thomas group participated.

“There’s a group out there every year, and it’s gotten significantly bigger every year. Last year, estimates say there were about a half a million people,” Robeck said. “When we were sophomores, we helped plan a trip out there and it was much smaller; we had two vehicles of people; this year, we have a coach bus.”

Robeck said there is still room for ten to 15 students to sign up, and each student pays $100 for the trip.

Senior Emma Voelker, who has participated in the march since high school, said the march slowly proceeds down Constitution Ave. from the National Mall to the Supreme Court building.

“It’s a powerful experience,” Voelker said. “It’s really great when you go out there and you can see 200,000 other people march for life.”

Robeck said the Student Human Resources’ mission of is to “protect the dignity of all human life”, and this will be an learning experience for everyone.

“We just want to learn how to be better pro-life students on campus, to better run our club and to see why we’re pro-life,” she said.

Sophomore Stephanie Smith said she doesn’t think abortion should be used as a form of birth control, but said that women have the power to make logical and responsible choices when it comes to pregnancy.

“I don’t think abortion is something that people who go around having sex irresponsibly should have the liberty to use, but part of pro-choice is that it’s hard to limit people. It’s either everyone or no one,” she said.

Some students, such as sophomore Colleen Vaughn, have never been on the trip before, but hope to find a new way to raise discussion about abortion.

“I really think this trip is about raising awareness and shedding light on the issue of abortion,” Vaughn said. “It’s still an issue that we care about.”

Nick Cocchiarella can be reached at cocc7813@stthomas.edu.