Pro-life advocates rally Sunday

Bundled up against the sub-freezing temperature, 140 students, parents and children walked the streets of downtown Bloomington Sunday afternoon, carrying signs and spreading a message.\n“Abortion kills children,” read the bright-yellow signs participants held for passing cars at the annual Rally for Life, which was held in front of the Monroe County Courthouse.\nThe rally, which protested the 35th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, was organized by the Church of the Good Shepherd Pro-Life, Bloomington Pro-Life and Monroe County Right-to-Life. After several speakers, the rally ended with a walk around the city.\nDavid Talcott, an IU graduate student, kicked off the event by speaking about what he considers to be the evils of abortion. According to literature passed out at the event, two of every five babies conceived in Monroe County are aborted.\nTalcott said that to most of the country, babies are “rapidly disintegrating sacks of amino acids.”\n“It’s just a matter of whether or not you see human life as important enough to defend,” Talcott said.\nFor Talcott, protesting is nothing new. He and others protest at Planned Parenthood every Thursday and just recently started protesting downtown each month.\nTalcott said they do have an important impact. While protesting outside of Planned Parenthood they were able to convince one woman to choose not to have an abortion, he said. A member of the Church of the Good Shepherd then adopted the woman’s baby.\n“We have a kid in our church who is only alive today because of us,” Talcott said.\nMany of the attendees at Sunday’s rally were churchgoers, and some of the people also quoted scripture and some prayed.\nWhile addressing the crowd, Talcott quoted the Bible and recited everything he said Jesus calls them to do.\n“These things can’t be done sitting on our couches in our comfortable and warm living rooms,” Talcott said. “God calls us to action; Christ propels us out into the world.”\nBloomington resident Karen Combs said rallying against abortion has a special place in her heart, as she was once pregnant out of wedlock.\n“Don’t take it out on the children,” Combs said.\nTina Tuley-Lampke, executive director of the Crisis Pregnancy Center and Hannah House, said she was encouraged by the new wave of young people.\n“This generation is very volunteer-oriented and service-oriented,” Tuley-Lampke said. “In some ways they’re in rebellion to the ‘me’ generation, and they’re really looking to improve the world in a meaningful way.”\nElizabeth Wegener, a senior at Bloomington High School South, said the fact that people are willing to stand out in the cold shows how committed they are, but added they can’t change people’s opinions.\n“It wouldn’t be up to us, it would be up to God to change people’s minds,” she said.