Author Sue Hertz wrote a book about an abortion clinic and the protesters outside. Her book, entitled Caught in the Crossfire: A Year on Abortion’s Front Line was written in a narrative style, but based on extensive interviews with clinic workers and protesters.
In one part of the book, a spokesperson for the abortion clinic named Fran was meeting with pro-choice leaders to discuss proposed legislation. The purpose of the meeting was to decide if the pro-choice coalition of groups were going to defend legal abortion right up until birth. Many of the feminist leaders there argued that abortion should be unrestricted even in the eighth and ninth month. The clinic worker, however, felt differently.
20 week-old preborn child.
Fran felt that the pro-choice leaders were out of touch with what abortion really was. She worked in a clinic, and saw the bodies of aborted babies regularly, and she knew that abortion was not just a simple medical procedure. To her, third trimester abortions were almost unthinkable.
The author of the book relates Fran’s thoughts:
These people are political activists, Fran thought. Their work was critical to protecting abortion rights, but how many of them knew the reality of abortion, had seen the reality of what it destroyed? Fran felt like standing up and saying to those arguing for unrestricted abortions,
You haven’t seen the little feet. They look just like the little feet pushpins that the antis wear.” As a provider at Repro [the abortion clinic] once said, if half the pro-choice people saw the fetal remains of a 2nd trimester abortion, they would jump the fence into the antis’ arms.”
“Antis” is a term some pro-choice activists use to describe pro-lifers. It is short for “anti-choicers.” She is saying that many pro-choice people would convert to pro-life if they saw a second trimester aborted baby.
Hertz, through the clinic worker Fran, verifies that what pro-lifers say about preborn babies is true. The “little feet” of the aborted children do look like the little feet of the famous Precious Feet pins.
On the other hand, Fran believes that pro-choice activists are ignorant of abortion’s reality. They are not educated about the details of the procedure. That is actually the case for many pro-choicers. This is why pro-lifers must educate and educate and educate. We must teach those who do not know the facts of fetal development or the brutality of abortion procedures the truth. Whether or not it is true that half of all pro-choice people would convert to pro-life if they saw the remains of a second trimester abortion, the truth about abortion is compelling and powerful.
Pro-lifers have one huge advantage in the abortion debate – the most persuasive facts are on our side. Abortion is brutal and gruesome, late term abortion (particularly the “dismemberment abortions” pro-lifers in some states are trying to ban) are even more so. When true information about abortion is expressed in pictures, quotes, videos, or just descriptions, it has the power to change hearts and minds. Even some clinic workers, such as Fran, acknowledge this.
Sue Hertz Caught in the Crossfire: A Year on Abortion’s Front Line (New York: Prentice Hill Press, 1991) 122
