Abortion activists face off at courthouse

“Stop Abortion Now.”

“It’s a Child Not a Choice.”

Men, women and families shivered in the icy cold, but they held their signs high to protest against abortion on the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

On Sunday afternoon, the 2012 Rally for Life took place on the Monroe County Courthouse lawn, its 20th year. This year, the protest attracted more pro-choice advocates than ever before to counter those who were pro-life.

“This is one of the biggest anti-life crowds I’ve seen,” said Andrew Henry, a pro-life activist who attended with his daughter and pregnant wife. “I had a couple of guys say things I’d never repeat. Oftentimes, they are very rude and impolite while we are here very calmly, peacefully.”

Pro-choice and pro-life protesters converged face-to-face with their signs’ opposing messages — “Free Vasectomies for Pro-Lifers,” for example — on the corner of Kirkwood Avenue and Walnut Street. Henry, who has been attending the Right for Life protest for 10 years, said about 200 pro-life advocates show up each year.

“In terms of what is honestly going on, it is unjustifiable,” he said.

Normally, right-for-life protesters march past the Planned Parenthood clinic on College Avenue, said Scott Tibbs, publicity director for Christian Citizens for Life, a pro-life organization in Bloomington. This year, however, protesters lingered near the courthouse or across the street shouting “life, life, life.”

Tibbs, who has helped organize almost every Bloomington Right for Life protest, said a number of women at Planned Parenthood have decided not to get abortions because of the Christians who protest on the clinic’s sidewalk every week.

“We just want to continue to be a witness against this great and terrible evil so that, hopefully, we can stop it,” he said.

Pastor Joseph Bayley from ClearNote Church of Indianapolis spoke before protesters who were urged to hold up their signs and walk along the sidewalks. Before and after his speech, he led the crowd in prayer.

Bayley said the history of slavery is like the “atrocious practice of abortion.”

“Too much of this country’s past is built on the blood of the innocent,” he said. “We need to speak up in these circumstances, not just when it is safe.”

Henry said the pro-life ralliers don’t just protest against abortion. He said they also donate diapers and supplies for pregnant women at Hannah House Maternity Home, a residential program at the Crisis Pregnancy Center in Bloomington.

“A lot of women who consider abortion have financial hardships,” Henry said. “Being able to help with that is a beautiful thing.”

Lane Bowman, who was an IU student 10 years ago and lives in Bloomington, said he was encouraged to protest as a student but remained indifferent to the abortion  controversy.

“I was ignorant to how prevalent it was and pleaded ignorance,” he said.

Bowman also said he saw more opposition to the pro-life rally this year than he has ever seen before.

Tibbs said he thinks the amount of publicity for the 2012 Rally for Life brought more pro-choice protesters.

“In this county, they’re the majority,” he said. “But as long as abortion is legal we are going to continue to be here, and we’re going to continue to protest it.”