Those that have followed me awhile know I try not to get too political or preachy here on the blog, although you're probably aware that abortion is heated topic for me. It might surprise some, me being a woman at all, however I am completely against abortion in most cases - the exceptions being instances of rape or the life of the mother is at risk as I can't blame a rape victim for wanting to carry a constant daily reminder of the rape for an additional 40 weeks (more power to them if they can do it, but I wouldn't blame them for not being strong enough emotionally to do it) and I think if it came down to life and death the mother should obviously be able to make that choice.
Anyways...
That being said, I was alerted early yesterday morning on Twitter by our city's newspaper that this "Face the Truth" protest would be happening at several major intersections in town today - one of which is literally a block from our house.
If you've never heard of Face the Truth, they're an organization of Pro-Lifers that really have no tact when it comes to the distasteful signs they use at their protests - big signs that graphically show dead, aborted babies in all their bloody glory.
I get the point of it, but these signs are just so gross and disgusting and are just really inappropriate - there's a much more tactful way to show you're against abortion.
As someone commented on a friend's Facebook status - they're more concerned about the children in the womb than the ones outside, as people driving through these major intersections (2 of which are the top busiest intersections in town) have no notice if they didn't catch word of it on their social networks before leaving home and those with small children... how do you explain the images to them?
You can't tell them to close their eyes because that's only going to make them look more and what you can do while driving?? I'm just glad Jay's not old enough to ride his bike or anything yet as I'm sure if we were outside he'd be curious about the noise at the end of the street and want to go check it out!
Granted, this isn't the 1st time this group has been in Rockford, nor will it be the last, I'm sure but still... it's just sad - another person on Facebook said it would be nice of them to have someone with a sign a few blocks prior to the intersection saying "graphic abortion images ahead, may not be appropriate for small children" giving people a chance to turn onto a side-street and go around the major intersections...
When my husband managed a Wendy's in a town 30 miles west of here while he was in college they would do this protest every so often at the major intersection where his store was located. Along with the Wendy's, there were 3 other restaurants on the other corners of the intersection... they would have poor business those days as who wants to come in and eat a hamburger with those giant signs outside the windows?! It was scaring away business... he's anti-abortion too (mainly because when his mother was pregnant with him she was in a situation like many girls are and abortion would have been taking the easy road, especially when her mother told her to "take care of it or don't come home" - fortunately for him, she decided to have him anyway and we're all grateful for the choice she made), however this particular group pisses him of a bit at too because of these past encounters with them.
Anyways, no real point to this post, just wanted to rant as I unfortunately had to drive through one of the intersections these people were at today to get to my job.
That's annoying, and you make a good point about it not being appropriate for kids to see. They don't need to know about it yet, or be disturbed by the images.
ReplyDeleteI wonder even how effective the campaign is. I guess they'd know better than I, but I don't know how many people would change their minds based on how gross something looks. I feel like the issue is deeper and more complicated than appearances. But maybe that's just me.
More importantly, I was just thinking: how inappropriate would it be for people to protest, say, the war by holding up posters with graphic pictures of mangled, bloody dead soldiers and civilians--body parts, gun-shot faces, etc.? That would be horrible, and an outrage! I don't think it would ever be allowed (correct me if I'm missing something). Why then would it be acceptable to show dead aborted fetuses...unless, somehow, their deaths are less disturbing than those of people (ones who were already born...not sure how to put it). Basically, by being willing to show the dead fetuses, I think Face the Truth kind of undermines the message they're trying to send.