Anti-abortion activists defend use of graphic protest images

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Local anti-abortion activists defended their use of graphic images of aborted fetuses on Baltimore’s busiest streets Thursday afternoon, saying the pictures provide a face to a glamorized practice.

“The images cut through the rhetoric,” said Chrissy Walsh. “Those that support abortion hide behind the term ‘pro-choice.’ They don’t want the country to ask itself what they are choosing.”

Walsh coordinated the rally, part of the Baltimore-based group Defend Life’s sixth annual Face the Truth Tour. The block surrounding the Legg Mason building on Light, Pratt and Lombard streets in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor was one of 15 stops on the weeklong tour through Washington, Maryland and Virginia, and was chosen for its traffic density, Walsh said.

But many motorists and passers-by averted their eyes and refused to talk to tour members, calling the display gruesome and nauseating. One man accused the group of “ruining his lunch.” Pedestrian Jeff Fleckenstein loudly debated with protesters, pointing to a small child peering at the photos through the window of a cab stopped in traffic.

“I think it’s offensive and I don’t think it helps — and I’m against abortion,” said one woman, who asked not to be named. “Women have abortions for reasons. Address the reasons and you address abortion.”

A call to NARAL-Pro Choice Maryland for comment about the rally was not returned by press time.

Walsh said for every negative comment, the group receives four or five encouraging ones, waves, smiles and thumbs-up. Defend Life argues controversial social reform movements throughout history have used graphic images to illustrate injustice, citing child labor, smoking, drunken driving and the Holocaust.

Their approach is no different, group members said.

“We’ve had people stop and tell us they’ve had abortions, and didn’t realize what they were doing,” said Peter Shinn. “But the issue is so divisive. Those on the other side feel just as strongly.”

Other tour spots

» Wednesday: Bowie/Crofton, Hanover, Westminster

» Thursday: Towson, Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, North Baltimore (York Road)

» Today: Randallstown, White Marsh, Bel Air

jmalarkey@baltimoreexaminer.com

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