Community Corner

Pro-Life Demonstration Draws Mixed Reactions

The Pro-Life Action League held a demonstration Thursday morning at Routes 12 and 22.

Don Olson of Palatine couldn’t hold back his emotions when talking about the Pro-Life Action League’s demonstration Thursday morning at Routes 12 and 22.

“The message needs to get out,” said Olson, wiping away tears. “People don’t understand. When I think about the children murdered every day, it breaks my heart.”

Olson said he follows the Pro-Life Action League’s “Face the Truth” tour whenever it comes to the northwest suburbs. He has backed the pro-life movement for years.

“That’s why I come here. If I don’t get enough curse words or fingers or epithets thrown at me, it’s like I wasn’t here,” said Olson.

Reactions were mixed from drivers who passed the demonstration.

“The majority of people pretend we’re invisible,” said Ann Scheidler, of Chicago. “Some people have come by and honked their horns or given a thumbs-up. Some people give you the other finger.”

Nancy Bratcher, of Cary, had the chance to briefly discuss the issue with a woman who was stopped at the stop light.

“Do you guys really have to show this?” the driver asked.

“That’s what abortion is. It’s disgusting,” replied Bratcher, who displayed a sign with a graphic abortion picture on it. “The truth does hurt. It’s hard to look at this.”

That, event organizers and volunteers said, is the point of the “Face the Truth” tour.

“The point is, you need to see the victim of abortion in order to understand it,” said Scheidler. “People who see it don’t forget what they saw.”

She hopes those who see the disturbing pictures and are ever faced with having to make a decision whether to have an abortion “will remember and choose life.”

The images used during the “Face the Truth” tour, Scheidler said, came from aborted fetuses found in garbage bins behind abortion clinics, including one in Chicago.

“It’s so disrespectful of life, even if you agree that the woman is faced with a terrible decision,” Scheidler said of abortion. “We can do better as a society.”

She got involved in the pro-life movement when the Roe v. Wade decision came down. She was pregnant at the time, and she and her husband initially joined Illinois Right to Life.

“There’s definitely a shift in attitude in society in general,” Scheidler said, noting the technological advances that allow people to see a baby in the womb through an ultrasound.

“Every child deserves a chance at life,” said Bratcher, who stood along Route 12 with her 3-year-old adopted daughter, Elizabeth. She also brought her three other children to the event: Nick, 15; Angelica, 13; and Danny, 11.

Bratcher said that at a demonstration last year, a woman who had undergone an abortion 20 years ago stopped and broke down in tears. The woman, Bractcher said, told her that she’d wished there had been a demonstration like the “Face the Truth” tour 20 years ago.

“There are young girls who think there’s no way out. There are so many people out there willing to adopt and help,” said Bratcher. “These teens have to know there’s another way.”


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