Rain and sleet did nothing to stifle the spirits of senior modern dance major Melinda Castro as she joined thousands of anti-abortion protesters in Washington, D.C., to rally on the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Less than a month after the March for Life, Castro created Students for Life, a student organization that seeks to raise awareness about abortion.

“We really want to inform students about abortion because it’s a topic that’s shoved under the rug,” Castro said. “It’s so easy to just stand in the middle on abortion. But when you find out that women are hurting because of it, it’s hard to sit back quietly.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 839,226 legal abortions in the United States in 2004, the most recent CDC statistics available. Texas accounted for 74,801 legal abortions, the largest number of legal abortions following New York with 91,673 and Florida with 91,710, according to the CDC report released last year.

Castro said Christian teachings are the basis for the organization, which is open to “anyone who wishes to protect the sanctity and dignity of human life.”

The group earned official recognition as a student organization Feb. 15 and has about 10 members, Castro said.

Heather Kryst, a senior music education major, said group members will practice sidewalk counseling and prayer vigils outside local Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics.

Holly Morgan, director of communications for Planned Parenthood of North Texas Inc., said students have a right to demonstrate. She said activists protest at the facility every day.

“The facility is very used to that kind of activity,” Morgan said. “Everyone knows what the boundaries are.”

Castro described sidewalk counseling as standing on the side of the street outside an abortion clinic to offer information and moral support to women and couples on their way to the clinic.

“Your job is not to judge the woman or the couple,” Castro said. “It’s just to let them know that you have information that will help them if they want to hear it.”

Morgan said Planned Parenthood’s mission is to provide quality reproductive health care to women and men.

“We believe in parenthood by choice and that everyone should have access to reproductive health care and sexuality education,” Morgan said.

Kryst said group members who are interested in sidewalk counseling will receive training March 1 and 2 at the University of Dallas. No training is required to participate in prayer vigils, she said.

Many women choose to get an abortion because they face pressure by their parents or boyfriend or because they don’t have the resources to carry their pregnancy to term and support their child, Castro said. The goal of sidewalk counseling is to educate women on abortion and offer them alternatives to the procedure, she said.

“It’s not a choice if you’re not fully informed,” she said.

Castro said Students for Life supports Fort Worth Pregnancy Center and Catholics Respect Life, two local Christian organizations that provide resources and counseling for pregnant women. She said the group is not directly affiliated with either organization.

Kryst said among the organization’s plans for this semester is to bring at least three speakers to campus to talk about issues related to the right to life. She said the organization has not yet established a meeting place and time on campus, but members meet to pray at 9 a.m. Saturdays in the Christ the Teacher Chapel at the College of Saint Thomas More on Lubbock Avenue.

TCU Students for Life is not part of Students for Life of America, a network of 450 student anti-abortion groups nationwide, but the organization wants to work toward affiliation, Castro said.

Two speakers from both sides of the debate and a mediation expert will visit the university in March to discuss abortion, said Natasha Chapman, associate director of the Leadership Center.

“We’re really focusing on just the dialogue and being able to provide an environment where you can talk about these issues,” Chapman said.

Public policy mediator Susan Podziba will speak March 17 about her experience mediating between anti-abortion and abortion rights advocates, following a faculty panel on the issue earlier that day, Chapman said. Representatives from Texas Right to Life and NARAL Pro-Choice Texas will participate in a dialogue and answer questions from students March 18, she said.