On a campus overwhelmingly pro-choice, the thirty-fourth anniversary of Roe v. Wade passed yesterday with surprisingly little celebration but plenty of protest. Pro-life students turned out in stronger force than their pro-choice peers, organizing more visible and better-attended events.

For 10 hours, 464 white crosses dotted the field outside the Bookstore in White Plaza. The event, called “Remembering the Victims of Roe,” was organized by Stanford Students for Life (SSFL) for the third straight year. SSFL members also staffed a table at White Plaza during the event.

Stanford Students for Choice (SSFC) did organize some events, including a lunchtime table in White Plaza and a panel discussion in the evening. But while the SSFL event lasted most of the day, the SSFC table was staffed for only 45 minutes.

SSFL members estimated that about 200 people approached their table during the day, and countless more noticed the crosses as they biked or walked by. They added that nearly all their flyers were taken by passersby.

In contrast, the SSFC evening panel attracted only 40 people.

“In the past, it [SSFC activity] has appeared as a reaction to our event,” said senior Dan Cervantes, co-president of Stanford Students for Life, though he acknowledged that the panel discussion this year was planned in advance.

SSFC members did admit that their events on the anniversary are often in response to pro-life protests.

“I think in a lot of ways it is a reaction,” said junior Mishan Araujao, co-president of SSFC. “We don’t feel the need to be in White Plaza all day. We were just there for people upset by the SSFL event.”

But while SSFC might do less on Jan. 22, its members say that their campaign to commemorate Roe v. Wade continues through the year, while SSFL activism is concentrated on one day.

Other pro-choice activity at White Plaza was notably muted and seemed spontaneous and poorly organized. According to multiple sources, a group of students not known to be affiliated with any student group brought a stick into White Plaza with a baby doll impaled on top. Most observers agreed that it was a mockery of pro-life activism, and SSFL members threw the object away after its creators left it there.

And while the SSFL demonstration attracted students well into the afternoon, the only pro-choice advocates to be found were three students standing alone a few yards away. The posters they held were hastily made just moments earlier in the Bookstore.

“We think the cemetery over there is very morbid, and we just wanted to do a counter-protest,” said freshman Jon Canel. The other two students, both international, said they were unclear on what Roe v. Wade meant.

However, not all students were as offended by the crosses as those three.

“It’s a very respectful way to make your point,” remarked junior Aaron Polhamus. “It reminds me of a war memorial.”

Others criticized the SSFL event for the effect it had on young women who may be contemplating abortion.

“Using murder as a premise makes women who are already vulnerable more vulnerable,” said Araujao, echoing a sentiment other students repeated.

Many passerby also criticized the use of crosses as an overtly Christian symbol for a group allegedly independent from religion.

“We definitely recognize that it’s a precarious symbol to use a cross,” Cervantes said. “But what better universally recognizable symbol of death is there than a cross in the ground?”

Each cross, sized 8 by 12 inches, each represented 100,000 abortions, though SSFL members were quick to point out that the crosses were also meant to echo the men and women affected by abortion, whom they see as victims of Roe v. Wade.

“The main purpose is to memorialize what we see as a very bad thing in our society and to start some dialogue in our community,” Cervantes said.