 "Photo: Alyssa Benedetto")
The Green outside of Gore Hall was transformed into a political war zone Wednesday when the anti-abortion group Center for Bio-Ethical Reform brought its Genocide Awareness Project to the university.
The California-based advocacy group travels around the country displaying its GAP posters on college campuses. It was invited to the university by the registered student organization Pro-Life Vanguard.
Signs on The Green featured pictures of bloody, aborted fetuses as well as pictures of Holocaust victims and a lynched black man. Kurt Linnemann, director of CBR Maryland, said the display is meant to make the point that abortion is comparable to historical genocide.
Many students were visibly angered by the display and voiced their points of view either out loud by the display or by writing them on free speech board.
"Our purpose is to provoke thought and conversation on abortion," Linnemann said.
The posters compare abortion to events like the Holocaust in order to make an impact of witnesses, Linnemann said.
"[The display] causes them to ponder if they really want to go through [an abortion]," he said.
Frank Diorio, a protester from CBR, said images are the best option because there are no words to describe abortion.
"I'm here to speak on the behalf of those that don't get to walk the campus," Diorio said.
He compared the abortion photos to photos of body bags used to protest the Vietnam War and to photos of violence against demonstrators that were used to expose injustices during the civil rights movement.
"When enough hearts and minds have changed the law will be changed," Diorio said.
Junior Randi Bass said the display went going too far. She said the images are imposing on students' rights because the GAP is forcing its opinion on them.
"It's disturbing," Bass said.
Bass was also angry at the use of Holocaust photos to compare abortion to genocide. She said genocide and abortion are unrelated topics. They are both bad but not the same thing, Bass said.
"It becomes racially insensitive," she said.
Senior Christina Rizzo said she did not like the pictures of Holocaust victims and a hanging man being held up as a comparison to abortion.
"I'm just shell shocked," Rizzo said.
She thought the display was insensitive to women who have had abortions.
"What if you were a woman who had an abortion because you had no choice," Rizzo said. "How would you feel having to look at that?"
Junior Derek Sherman said he does not see any harm in the display because the protesters were simply voicing an opinion.
"Everyone has freedom of speech," Sherman said. "I don't know how necessary it is to have the pictures so big, but I guess it gets the point across."
The CBR protesters will return to The Green Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. According to a Facebook group organized Wednesday night, they will be met by a group of students holding a counter-protest.
is a member of the 
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i know its freedom of speech, but still.