Trucks with anti-abortion ads roll through town
By Tonya Shipley
© 2002 Zanesville Times Recorder

ZANESVILLE -- Some area residents were downright stunned Wednesday afternoon when two trucks displaying anti-abortion ads drove through the city.

The graphic nature of the ads, which showed first trimester aborted fetuses, were a shock to those in the downtown area around 11 a.m. The trucks will be in the city again today.

"Yeah, we saw 'em, they're kind of graphic," said Bruce Buchner, who saw the trucks when he was on Fifth Street.

The trucks are part of the Reproductive "Choice" Campaign, conducted by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, a not-for-profit organization based in California. The group also has an office in Westerville.

Zanesville is the last stop in a 12-city tour of Ohio and Pennsylvania. The trucks were in Newark on Monday and Tuesday and will head south to Alabama and Tennessee this weekend.

Buchner doesn't have an opinion either way about abortion, so the trucks didn't make him re-think any of his views. However, he questioned the medium the group chose to make their statement.

"I don't think they should be driving around where kids can see them," he said.

Mark Harrington, executive director at the CBR Midwest, said the reaction they get from people when they bring out the trucks is always mixed. He said some give them a thumbs up, some give a thumbs down, and once in a while people will throw food at the trucks or make offensive gestures.

No matter what the reaction ... people are looking.

"The only media available to us is these trucks showing abortions in the first trimester," said Harrington, as he and the trucks made their way up Maple Avenue.

People being disgusted by the ads are what the group wants to see.

"No one talks positively about abortion. Abortion is offensive and disgusting," Harrington said.

Jason Seborne was standing at the corner of Sixth and Main streets when he saw the trucks. However, he was unsure what the picture was supposed to be until he read the sign.

He said he is pro-life, but he was unsure if the anti-abortion ads he saw Wednesday were a good idea.

"It makes people look so I suppose they made their point," he said.