Jennifer Meitl was overwhelmed when she took part in the Right to Life March in Washington, D.C., a major anti-abortion rally that attracted an estimated crowd of 100,000 people.

The night before the Jan. 22 march, Meitl was one of 45 Kansas University students from the St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center, 1631 Crescent Road, who attended a Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington. Thousands of people from around the country attended a special 8 p.m. Mass at the church to pray together and spiritually prepare for the next day’s march.

The Mass was led by hundreds of archbishops, bishops and priests from across the United States.

“Attending Mass at the basilica, there were more people in that church than I have ever seen in my entire life,” said Meitl, an 18-year-old Kansas University freshman from Rush Center in western Kansas.

“There were more priests there than there are people in my entire town. There were like 10,000 people. There were people sitting in the aisles.”

A total of 75 people participated in the trip to Washington, dubbed the St. Lawrence March for Life. Besides the 45 KU students, there were students representing Emporia State University, Fort Hays State University, Ottawa University, Wichita State University, Kansas State University and Oklahoma University. The Rev. Vince Krische, St. Lawrence’s director, and Sister Vicki Lichtenauer, a member of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth and St. Lawrence’s outreach minister, accompanied the KU students.

The march was timed to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion in the United States.

“They’ve been doing this march for 30 years, ever since Roe v. Wade. This is the fourth trip to Washington in a row that St. Lawrence has made, and my third time on the trip,” said Kristi Rausch, 22, a KU senior from Andale and an outreach minister at the Catholic center.

Members of St. Lawrence Catholic Center rally in Washington, D.C. Sister Vicki Lichtenauer, left, St. Lawrence's outreach minister, is joined by Kansas University students Mike Weber, left, Jennifer Schmitz, Jake Stolz, Mike Schmitz, Kim Indovina, Jennifer Meitl, Michelle Goetz, Grant Wallace, Tara Fritz, Eric Buschelman and Elizabeth Willy on Jan. 22.

Rausch coordinated the St. Lawrence March for Life, arranging the chartered buses for the 22-hour rides to and from Washington. She set up housing for the students at the International Youth Hostel in downtown Washington.

“The purpose of the march has always been just to show the government that we are against abortion and even though it’s legal, it’s not morally OK to kill the unborn,” Rausch said.

Almost all of the KU students on the trip are active at St. Lawrence.

“Everybody on the trip is so on fire about life and so ready to stand up for the pro-life cause,” Rausch said. “Another reason (for going to the march) is that this trip is a great way for people at St. Lawrence to get to know each other.”