Abortion foes to take message on the road
By Stephen W. Huber
© 2001 The Oakland Press

Starting Wednesday and continuing through Friday, traveling billboard trucks emblazoned with graphic color pictures of aborted fetuses will roam major highways in seven southeastern Michigan counties, including Oakland, Wayne and Macomb.

The purpose is to demonstrate the true horrors of abortion, Gregg Cunningham, director of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, said Monday.

The photos show what the center says are fetuses aborted between seven and 11 weeks. The word "choice" is on the photos.

"Abortion is not costing American people enough emotionally," Cunningham said from Los Angeles. "It's too easy to pretend it's not a baby and we know these pictures create a lot of stress and that's the idea.

"We don't want abortion to be trivialized."

The group had a display Monday on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, showing many of the same disturbing pictures that the trucks contain.

Cunningham's group, which is legally represented free by the Thomas More Center for Law & Justice in Ann Arbor, put 91 local police departments and prosecutors in each county on notice Friday and Monday of the group's First Amendment rights to free speech.

"We are confident that you will abide by your obligations as a government agent to protect the rights of every citizen in your jurisdiction, including the rights of those who speak out publicly against abortion," More associate counsel Robert J. Muise wrote.

"It is our hope that you will do what you can to ensure that CBR is free from unlawful interference with its First Amendment activity."

A similar letter was sent to local departments in California, Florida, Indiana and Kentucky - where the trucks have appeared in the past - including a threat of federal lawsuit, should the group's message be limited because of its content.

"The First Amendment is not an absolute right," Oakland County Prosecutor David Gorcyca said Monday.

"There are certain times you can abridge that right if you violate the law. Yelling 'Fire' in a crowded theater is not permitted under the First Amendment. ... A letter that subtly threatens to start a lawsuit will not deter me from doing my job."

There have been no legal problems so far.

Judy Karandjeff, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan, said she does not believe the group's campaign is effective because most people have already made up their minds, either for or against abortion.

"We are concerned about the tactics they use and the visuals they use, which are inaccurate," Karandjeff said. "They would not be representative of the majority of abortions that take place in this country."

Karandjeff said Planned Parenthood received several calls on Monday from people who were upset by the images.

For security reasons, Cunningham would not reveal the routes the trucks would take or the number of trucks in the campaign. Each driver wears a bullet-proof vest, and a private security vehicle with off-duty police officers follows the trucks, he said.

Cunningham was critical of those who might question their decision to continue the "educational" campaign while the country is at war because of terrorist attacks last month.

"The abortion clinics didn't shut down on Sept. 11," the retired Air Force colonel said. "Planned Parenthood offered free abortions in September in response to the New York tragedy. They used the term 'solidarity.' They were offering to add to the body count."

But Karandjeff said Planned Parenthood has been the target of terrorism for years.

Seven people have been killed by abortion rights activists and 150 clinics have been bombed or torched, she said.

Letters purportedly containing anthrax have been sent to Planned Parenthood for the past three years, she said, although none have contained the bacteria.

Cunningham said his center does not advocate violence and wants those who commit it punished.

"We want people to know who a baby is and what abortion is," Cunningham said. "We don't want people to pretend anymore. Yes, we want abortion to be against the law. If abortion is such a great idea, then why do these pictures make people so angry? Maybe it's not such a great idea."