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Protestors have rights but students need options

Editorial Board
September 30, 2004

Abortion is an extremely sensitive issue in today's society.

There are those who believe strongly that it should be illegal, and others who believe just as strongly that it should remain a choice. Debate has continued nationally for more than 30 years, and more often that not that debate is emotionally charged.

The debate landed on the sidewalk in front of Stratford High School last week, in the form of a small group of anti-abortion protestors. They were from the local chapter of a national organization, Operation Save America.

Apparently the group, which regularly protests in front of a Bridgeport abortion clinic, decided it ought to bring its message directly to teens. Last month the protesters went to Bridgeport public high schools, and they plan to go to Bunnell High School sometime soon.

To share their message, the protestors set up outside the high schools early in the morning when the students are arriving and distribute literature. They also display signs depicting the stages of fetal development. The most controversial aspect of their protest is the presence of graphic pictures of a late-term aborted fetus.

The Stratford Star was alerted to the protestors' presence at Stratford High School because of these very images. A mother of a freshman called because she was extremely distraught by what she and her daughter saw, and she felt the protestors were being pushy with their literature. She also said she believes abortion is a topic that should be addressed at home, and there should be a safety zone for students entering school.

We agree. While the protestors had a right, under the First Amendment, to stand on the sidewalk in front of the school with their signs and brochures, the children and their parents had rights too. They had a right not to be confronted by graphic, upsetting images and people trying to push brochures at them. The teacher who tried to intervene on behalf of the students had a right not to be threatened with false assertions about lawsuits. And those who tried to reason with the protestors had a right not to be intimidated by a video camera in their faces.

The group warned police and Stratford High School administrators that it would be at the school. Given the sensitive nature of the issue, the students - many of whom are only 14 and 15 years old - should have had options. Surely the school has other entrances besides the front door? Couldn't one of those have been made available for the students who wanted to avoid the protestors?

Bunnell administrators know their school is next. We encourage them to take advantage of the advance warning and arrange for alternate entrances into the school for the younger or more sensitive students. They also should alert parents in advance, in case any parents want to escort their children to school that day.

That also will give parents an opportunity to discuss their own thoughts about abortion with their children and help them prepare for the distressing images they might see at the protest.

In the meantime, no one - not police, or principals, or teachers - should be swayed from their responsibility in looking after students' welfare by empty threats and video cameras.

©Stratford Star 2004

To the Editor

Comment Re: Editorial - Protestors have rights but students need options –
9/30/04

This is not about either protesters' rights or students' options. And abortion is far more that merely an extremely sensitive issue. This is about a national tragedy. This is about a holocaust, a blot on the conscience of our nation. Consider that over 40 million American babies have been slain by abortion since it was legalized in 1973. 40 million! That's greater than the populations of Texas and New York State combined. Terrorists took the lives of 3000 innocent citizens on 9/11 and look at the national resolve. Suppose terrorists had wiped out the populations of the states of New York and Texas in one massive attack. What would have been our reaction? I dare say it would have been a thousand times more aggressive than our Homeland Security/Patriot Act/Invasion of Afghanistan/Iraq War efforts to date.

And what about graphic images of aborted fetuses? It is possible some kids could be shocked. And if so, parents should neither explain away the images nor be outraged but should honestly advise their kids that this is what legal abortion is all about. This is the truth. Babies are killed by abortion; this is what it looks like. Besides by the time our kids reach the early teen years they probably have already seen tons of shocking images in the popular media, right? The wide screen, Technicolor, graphic images with all the appropriate sounds of violence in films like Jurassic Park, Lord of the Rings, Patriot, Gladiator and dozens of others surely are potentially far more mentally and emotionally disturbing than several silent photos of aborted babies.

What is our community responsibility to our children? Shouldn't we fully advise them of the risks inherent in sexual relationships outside of marriage? Shouldn't we show them the dangers of incurable STDs? Shouldn't we make them aware of the potential for creating a baby with every act of sexual intercourse and the fact that doing so brings significant consequences to both the mother and father that abortion can never resolve? Can't we tell them that safe sex isn't? Is it not our adult responsibility to promote the fact that abstinence until marriage is the only sure, safe and honorable way to live and love? Indeed we should, we must make all this information readily available to our teens.

Sadly we see that teens are just not getting this message today. If pro-life activists are silenced as some would have it, who among us will bring this message? Where are the voices of reason and truth? Instead of being vilified, pro-life groups telling this message should be lauded. They should be thanked. We should be inviting them into the public arena to broadcast the hard facts. We should be calling them into our school assemblies so our kids will hear the whole truth on this. I must ask, what in the name of heaven are we afraid of here? The lives and futures of our children hang in the balance.

Think about this. If just one young girl (possibly your daughter or mine) is saved from the lifelong enduring damage of abortion, if one young boy (maybe your neighbor's son) is restrained from an illicit sex act in the backseat of a car, if one youngster (your grandchild) becomes convinced to abstain until marriage, if one so-called unwanted baby's life is spared, these pro-lifers' efforts to show our kids the truth will have been totally justified.

Ron Coddington
668 Still Hill Road
Hamden , CT
(203) 281-7633

NO SIGNS OF ANGER AT ANTI-ABORTION EVENT

I was at the prolife outreach at Stratford High. I did not see any "angry" parents. If they were so angry, they should have gotten out of their cars and asked why we were there. I did see about three or more parents ask for literature and Bibles. They were pleased to get the materials. I did not see any students approached aggressively; the ladies would ask if they wanted materials and if not, they went onto the next teenager. Nobody was harassed or intimidated and as a matter of fact, the event was recorded on video for that purpose.

Operation Save America's national campaign "God is Going Back to School" has been successful all around the country. They supply the truth of God's word and facts about abortion, sexually transmitted diseases and abstinence. Young people are not barnyard animals and can be taught to have self-control. I wonder if the same parents who were supposedly "angry" are angry that Planned Parenthood is allowed in public schools to give out condoms and refer abortions behind their parents' backs.

The group's vehicles were not illegally parked. There is a two-hour parking sign where the cars were parked. I am 79 years old and never thought I would see the day that we would have to convince young people that it is wrong to kill little babies.

Fran Zotti
Milford

This letter to the editor was published in the New Haven Register, Fri. Oct. 8, 2004 in response to their biased reporting about the event.