Anti-abortion organization to tour area

July 27, 2007|By CATHERINE SUDUE

HAGERSTOWN - Members of an anti-abortion Face the Truth tour that includes graphic posters of aborted fetuses will set up Monday on streets in Hagerstown, Frederick, Md., and Charles Town, W.Va.

The tour is held by members of the Defend Life group, who hold up graphic images of aborted fetuses at major intersections of the towns in which they stop.

The group will make 15 stops between Monday and Friday in Maryland, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

"Abortion is just one more holocaust," said Jack Ames, director and founder of the 20-year-old Defend Life organization, which is holding its seventh annual tour.

Ames said the "larger than life" photos that members of the group display are of aborted fetuses from all stages of pregnancy, but focus heavily on fetuses aborted during the second and third trimesters.

"People should be able to speak their mind," said Diane Silas, administrator of Hagerstown Health Reproductive Services, which, among other things, performs abortions. "But I believe that if we're facing the truth, the whole truth needs to be seen. Protesters do not know the situation of each woman who enters our clinic."

Silas said that more than 90 percent of abortions performed at the 160 W. Washington St. clinic are performed during the first trimester.

"Some portion of the remaining 10 percent of abortions are a product of complex situations, such as teenagers who couldn't tell their parents until they were 15 weeks pregnant, and women who wanted a baby, but due to unexpected health conditions felt they were unable to give birth to a child," she said.

Ames said the Face the Truth tour has convinced many women who were contemplating abortions to change their minds.

Silas suggested that those who oppose abortion work to help women who are in situations that lead them to have the procedure.

"They need real help," she said.

Face the Truth tour stops

The Face the Truth tour, hosted by the anti-abortion organization Defend Life, will make three stops on Monday in the Tri-State area.

· 6 to 8 a.m. - U.S. 340 in Charles Town, W.Va.

· 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. - corner of Walnut and West Washington streets in Hagerstown

· 4 to 5:30 p.m. - Fredericktowne Mall on U.S. 40 in Frederick, Md.

|

|

|