The Nicholls Students for Life club held their second annual Cemetery of the Innocents in the field next to the library two weeks ago.

There were 3,788 pink and blue flags set up in the grass, each one representing an abortion that happens each day in the United States.

Olivia Naquin, the president of Nicholls Students for Life, said that many students were shocked to learn that this many abortions happen in one day.

“A lot of students would come up and ask if this was per year,” Naquin said. “We would say, ‘No, this is per day. That’s 3,788 abortions that happen each day in the U.S.,’” Naquin said.

For graduate student Katie LeBouef, seeing the visual severity of abortion statistics is the most remarkable part of the event.

“What strikes me the most is how soon Nicholls would be gone if abortion statistics were applied to the university’s population,” LeBouef said.

Nicholls has a student population of 6,298. At the cemetery, there were signs that read, “Nicholls would be gone in almost two days.”

Naquin said that the student response to the cemetery was mostly positive.

“We had a couple of people that were upset with us for being on campus, but they didn’t attack us,” Naquin said. “I’ve been told there was some social media negativity about Nicholls Students for Life and the cemetery, but we had very few people confront us.”

The Nicholls Students for Life club is a part of the Louisiana Students for Life, a nonprofit corporation that seeks to network, educate and activate pro-life students on all colleges and universities in Louisiana and the Southeast.

“We got the flags from Louisiana Students for Life, which is the statewide organization that helps us out with a lot,” Naquin said.

Naquin said 110 students signed in at the event, saying that they would be interested in learning more about the Nicholls Students for Life club.

“We can change our society, one conversation at a time,” Naquin said.

Psychology sophomore Chelsea Thibodeaux first got involved with the pro-life movement in high school when she attended the March for Life in Washington D.C. This was her second year participating in the Cemetery of the Innocents.

“It’s really great that we are able to have the Cemetery of the Innocents here at Nicholls,” Thibodeaux said. “It gives us the opportunity to present the truth about abortion.”

She said that her favorite part of the event is having the opportunity to present the truth and have conversations with students.

“Through conversation, we are changing hearts and saving lives,” Thibodeaux said.