An anti-abortion demonstration led by the Southern California-based group Survivors was moved off the West Mall Thursday because the group lacked sponsorship from a registered student organization.

Dan McCullough, Survivors director, said the group has filed a lawsuit against the UT System over the arrest of one of its members during a similar demonstration at UT-El Paso last week.

"We are suing the UT System for our right to be on their campus," McCullough said. "They're denying us access to their campuses based on what we represent."

McCullough added that the group is not seeking financial restitution.

A spokesperson for the UT System general counsel said the office has no knowledge of the lawsuit.

Tanny Norwood, assistant dean of students, said Survivors couldn't demonstrate on campus according to UT policy because a registered student organization had not sponsored the group.

"That is considered solicitation by an off-campus entity, and that is not allowed," she said.

Similar to the Justice for All exhibit that has visited the University the past two years, the group uses graphic displays. Members of the group held up 5-by-3-foot pictures of an aborted fetus' severed head held by forceps.

About 15 anti-abortion supporters attended the demonstration.

A physical altercation occurred between a UT student and an anti-abortion activist when the student pushed away the literature the activist was holding.

"I saw the guy grabbing her arm and lunge toward her," said Brazos Price, a psychology senior. "I stepped in front of him and tried to restrain him."

Several students expressed their disapproval of the group's displays as they walked by.

Jake Gotcher, an American studies junior, said he believes in free speech under the First Amendment, but thought the display "was going too far."

"I think it's absolutely disgusting. It's publicly offensive," Gotcher said.

Gotcher added that the display was particularly offensive to women who have had abortions, as they have had trying experiences.

Keith Mason, Midwest director of Survivors, said the group received "mainly negative comments" from students passing by. Some students stopped to debate abortion with the group.

"We didn't expect the campus to be this closed or cold," Mason said.

Aaron Garza, president of Undergraduate Students Association, said he supports Survivors' right to free speech, regardless of the offensive content.

Garza, a communication studies junior, said the group could have stayed on campus "if they had found students to sponsor them, but they didn't even do that."

He added that the University has the right to control who visits the campus, and if Survivors sues the University, he doubts the group will win the case and doesn't expect off-campus groups to gain solicitation rights.

Chris Keys, who runs a pregnancy crisis center in Burnett, said that although he was not a member of Survivors, he came out to show his support along with his 11-year-old daughter. Keys said his daughter has been involved in protests like this since she was two.

"She begged me to come out today," he said. "She wanted to do something for herself."

Keys described himself as a "contraception abolitionist" and said he opposed all forms of birth control, arguing that rape, child molestation and abortion have all increased since the introduction of condoms.

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