Rosemary Connell says Show the Truth put the unborn baby in people’s consciousness during Prince Edward Island tour.
Approximately 60 pro-life activists took part in a Show the Truth tour on Prince Edward Island last month. They were protesting a conference held at the University of Prince Edward Island on August 7-8, entitled “Abortion: The Unfinished Revolution.”
Show the Truth national organizer Rosemary Connell told The Interim that their efforts have been successful. The day before the conference, Connell said the team delivered postcards featuring abortion victim photographs to 10,000 homes in three hours. “(Our) message reached people first and the actual conference was secondary,” she said.
The conference reportedly doubled the number of security personnel present, and featured a warning on their program that “no participant could come and talk to the anti-abortionists.” Connell discovered that one of the discussion topics was whether women should see the “products of conception” after an abortion procedure, since it might affirm their decision. She believes that women should see an image of the child via ultrasound, but that seeing their child’s body would have the opposite effect and “haunt them forever.”
There was one troubling incident. According to Charlottetown Guardian reporter Nigel Armstrong, “a lone, young male came walking along the sidewalk … shouting and kicking at the in-ground signs placed in the grass by members of Show the Truth. At one point, as the man started to move through the main protest group, he shoved Paul Gordon of Belleville, Ont. to the ground.”
Emergency medical services determined that Gordon was not seriously injured.
Despite media reports that the man was arrested and taken away, Connell said the police did not charge the unidentified person. “They put a temporary restraining order so he wouldn’t come near us again. He could be charged with breaking the order if he does.”
Gordon, meanwhile, is “over it. He offered it up for the cause and has gone back home” to fulfill other responsibilities, Connell explained.
Armstrong also referred to one of the group’s signs as “a graphic photo alleged to be of an aborted fetus.” When told about this particular wording, Connell responded: “The photos are documented by a pathologist. An abortionist who has done (countless) procedures has verified their authenticity, and the documentation is brought on tour. As horrible as they are, they’re real.”
In October 2009 the New York Times interviewed Monica Miller, the pro-life activist who recovered the bodies of abortion victims and took the photographs used in many signs. “We photograph those babies, because we needed to show their humanity,” Miller said. “It should shock us. It should completely outrage us that this is happening. These are human beings we’re talking about, thrown out in the trash.”
Connell called police in Charlottetown and Halifax “unbelievably cooperative. They understand our freedom of expression and freedom to demonstrate.” She said, “campus police came to stand with us after Paul’s incident.”
Overall, she is pleased with the results of her team’s work: an abortion victim’s “picture was in the newspaper,” because of the assault on Gordon. “The conference was second place because the baby was on their minds.”
