About 25 members of the Feminist Front burped, danced, chanted, sang, laughed and booed during the Ecumenical Memorial Service Sunday night sponsored by area pro-life organizations.

About 125 people attended the service, sponsored by Students United for Life, Intervarsity and the Newman Center, in the Holmes Student Center Regency Room.

Protesters from the Feminist Front picketed at the back of the room carrying signs including those that read, “Abort the Bible,” “The Newman Center Is Anti-Choice, Anti-Freedom” and “Shove The Bible Up Your Patriarchial A–.”

Although frequently interrupted by protesters, Steven Zielinski, a physician who has done research on fetal pain, continued his pro-life presentation.

Before the service, HSC Director Judd Baker warned Feminist Front protesters they would be asked to leave if they became unruly. However, protesters were allowed to remain because making them leave would have caused more disruption, Baker said.

Zielinski said the purpose of the service was “to speak for those who have no voice.” Julie Synovic, event organizer, said the service was a chance to pray, not a protest.

Feminist Front member Jim Fabris said he thought the purpose of the meeting was not religious, but political. Following the service, Fabris went to the podium and tried to conduct a discussion.

During his lecture, Zielinski said, “We talk a lot about a woman’s right to control her own body,” however the fetus is a separate life. He also discussed Post Abortion Syndrome, adverse psychological effects caused by abortion.

Protesters responded with obscenities to Zielinski’s claim that two-thirds of women who had abortions are forced into it.

Protesters also yelled that one woman every three minutes dies in the Third World from “botched abortions.” Protesters tapped their signs following Zielinski’s statement that 26 million women have been aborted.

Zielinski said America is having a “revolution of values” and those who oppose abortion should speak out.

Both groups thought the service was a success to their cause. However, Feminist Front leader Julie Stege said she disagreed with the format of the service, which she said consisted of “a few people telling the rest of the people what to think.”

However, Zielinski said he thought “the turnout shows that the pro-life movement is not dead.”