April 19, 2001

Brigham American Women's Services site focal point for Sunday demonstration

Area residents will gather at 1611 Peach Street, the site of Erie's planned abortion facility, this Sunday, April 22, 2001. They will be there to show concern for unborn children threatened by abortion and to reach out to women--those considering abortion, certainly, but also those who, once deceived by the rhetoric of "choice" and "reproductive rights," now grieve for children lost to abortion.

At least one hundred people are expected.

The natural focus of attention will be the third floor of the 1611 Peach Street Professional Building, where women could be subjected to abortion right here in Erie, in the midst of our own community. The building will be picketed on both Peach Street and State Street for the entire three hours of the gathering, from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM.

People for Life will provide the picket signs.

People for Life will also have helium filled pro-life balloons for the kids who are helping with the demonstration and for local children (if accompanied by an adult) who happen to be passing by the Professional Building. We will also display fetal models and, if it arrives in time, a five foot high color photograph of an 8 week old unborn baby.

The demonstration was originally scheduled for 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM. It was extended to 4:00 PM because of the growing interest in the event within the pro-life community.

People for Life has sponsored over 150 demonstrations at the Professional Building since October 1999, but none of them have been on a Sunday, and none have been scheduled for more than a single hour.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION . . . . . Why this Sunday?

On March 1, 2001 the pro-abortion National Organization for Women (NOW) announced that changes in the political climate currently pose a threat to unlimited abortion-on-demand. NOW declared a "state of emergency," placing themselves on a "high state of alert and calling on activists to disrupt their lives and set aside businessasusual." Standing with them, NOW was "proud" to say, were the Feminist Majority, Planned Parenthood Federation of America (the nation's biggest chain of abortion facilities), the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, and various other abortion promoting organizations. The first order of business would be an "Emergency Action for Women's Lives" consisting of a march on Washington on April 22, 2001.

According to the website of the Feminist Majority (3/2/01), a rally would follow the pro-abortion march. It would be held on the "Washington Monument Grounds," beginning a 1:00 PM. (It has since been moved to smaller quarters.)

Around the same time, it was brought to our attention that the local chapter of NOW, such as it is, was promoting this "emergency action" on its website. Sure enough, the website declared that the pro-abortion powers-that-be were calling for "an emergency action in the form of a massive march and rally in Washington, D.C. on April 22nd of this year." A bus had been reserved to take local abortion proponents to DC. "We must act now," advised the website http://www.edinboro.com/nwpanow/ , "to demonstrate our strength in numbers; to prove to legislators that their votes will be counted by the legions of pro-choice Americans."

(People for Life sent 15 buses to Washington, DC, on short notice, for an April pro-life rally in 1990. That rally did take place at the Washington Monument. It was sponsored by our parent organization, the National Right to Life Committee.)

By mid-March, as NOW was predicting that "thousands of activists will gather at the nation's capitol to demand that the Senate reject another right-wing Supreme Court appointment," People for Life decided that we should also do something special on April 22, to express concern for the lives of unborn babies and to promote loving alternatives to abortion.

Just yesterday, NOW was still assuring us that "women and men from across the country are gearing up to rally in Washington, D.C. in support of abortion rights at the Emergency Action for Women's Lives." This will, says NOW, "show Congress and the president that supporters of abortion... are the overwhelming majority."

( We don't think so... )

One of NOW's featured speakers this Sunday will be an abortionist who was convicted by a federal jury, on February 1, 2001, of conspiracy to extort public officials in Marion County, Florida. He is facing up to 30 years in federal prison.

People for Life, Inc. is an all-volunteer, non-profit, citizen's organization committed to affirming the intrinsic value of human life. People for Life is dedicated to advancing true justice by working for the protection of all innocent human lives, whatever the age, race, sex, physical condition, economic status, or place of residence (including the womb). People for Life encourages local involvement through education, political awareness, and the promotion of loving alternatives to the primitive and violent "solutions" of abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. Together, we can create a society in which all human lives are held sacred.