Anti-abortion group’s images draw looks
By Valerie Nienberg
© 2004 News Herald

PANAMA CITY BEACH - An anti-abortion group made its way through Panama City Beach Tuesday, hoping that giant pictures of aborted fetuses would be worth a thousand words.

The images rolled down Front Beach Road on the sides of large box trucks, past businesses and sauntering spring breakers.

Mark Harrington, of the Ohio-based Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, said the group shows the graphic images to get attention.

The center wants to show people the harsh realities of abortion, he said, and thereby convince those who are not prolife to re-evaluate their decision.

People who saw the trucks had mixed reactions, from an utterance of "Cool," to crinkled noses and stares of disbelief, to an obscene gesture aimed at the drivers.

Many of the small, scattered groups of spring breakers didn’t seem to notice what was driving past them. The caravan’s drivers honked their horns to get attention, but the noise only caused one girl to step instinctively out of the way, without even looking up.

Others stopped in their tracks to watch the trucks pass, including a large group of Christian students who were in Panama City Beach for a Spring Break mission. Some members said the images were disturbing, but they said they agreed with the message and hoped the campaign was successful.

Myron Lowry of Tennessee thought the images might be too much at first.

"It will be up to the individual to decide," he said.

John Haskins of Panama City said the images didn’t bother him personally. However, he said they didn’t change his stance on abortion rights.

One thing all those interviewed had in common was worry that the images would upset unsuspecting children.

"That is disgusting," said Bill Winkle of Panama City as he made a delivery to the Oasis lounge and liquor store. "Kids don’t need to be looking at that on the beach."

Even Harrington agreed.

"No, it’s not appropriate for children to see it," he said during a telephone interview from the road. "Neither is it appropriate for children to be ripped to shreds 4,000 times a day.

"If we don’t show the pictures, babies will die. If we do show the pictures, children may be traumatized. It’s a risk we’re willing to take."

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform was in Bay County as part of its "Key States Initiative," a campaign targeting those states most likely to be political hotbeds in this year’s presidential election.

According to the group’s Web site, the trucks also will visit 18 other states, including Georgia, South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, New Mexico and Oregon.

In some larger cities, they will use planes to tow images of aborted fetuses across the sky, and they will set up their caravans outside high schools and middle schools.

"Students who are old enough to have abortions are old enough to see abortions," the Web site reads.

Harrington said the organization has tried "every other way" to get its message across.

"If you asked a bunch of your friends to come over to your house and watch abortion videos, would they come?" he asked.

"It’s a crime against an unborn child who’s innocent. … The reasons Americans are ignoring it is we’re giving them the option to ignore it."

Although the group claims to be nonpartisan, Harrington said the ultimate goal is that voters remember the images they see when they go to the polls.

"We’re just trying to put it back into the hearts and the minds of the American people. That’s what we’re trying to do," he said.