A Tale of Two Protests

In the town of Dixon, CA, pro-life teens were shocked to discover that Planned Parenthood– which does not have a facility in the area– had set up a booth at last Saturday’s street fair. Coordinating through a local church youth group, they quickly organized a peaceful protest. Pro-lifers stood with their backs to the Planned Parenthood display, holding signs that educated the public about Planned Parenthood’s abortion business. The results were dramatic:

The Planned Parenthood staff was not happy; they hastened to the police and accused us of harassment. Of course the police had no problems with our demonstration which had two immediate effects: 1) Since our signs simply said the word “abortion” and were next to a Planned Parenthood booth, traffic to the booth instantly stopped. There were no more visitors to their booth for the rest of the day. As soon as the booth was actually associated with their true purpose, people wanted nothing to do with them – their ruse as child-friendly community helpers was off. 2) The witness of the young people’s demonstration inspired the rest of the fair’s attendees.

The Planned Parenthood booth packed up early; the fair organizers apologized and said that Planned Parenthood would not be back.

This is an excellent example of protest done right. The pro-life youth of Dixon did not vandalize the Planned Parenthood display. They did not engage in attacks or insults. They simply presented the facts, in a calm, confident, peaceful manner.

Contrast that with the behavior of pro-abortion students at Clarion University last Wednesday. Clarion Students for Life, like many pro-life student organizations, traditionally puts together a “Cemetary of the Innocents” display each year. Such displays use cemetary symbols, such as crosses, flags, or flowers, to memorialize abortion victims. Clarion displayed 350 crosses, with a sign stating that each cross stood for ten aborted children, for a total of 3500: the number of babies aborted each day in the United States.

Pro-abortion students were not interested in having a peaceful counter-protest, or in attempting to persuade anyone of the correctness of their position. Instead, they vandalized the display by:
1) Splattering red paint on it
2) Turning the crosses upside down, a symbol of religious intolerance
3) Writing the word “pro-choice” in red paint
4) Using red paint to create “bloody footprints” of a baby

I can’t make this stuff up.