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By Jaedda Armstrong
VIRGINIA BEACH
Charles Gorski remembers when he and his wife were surprised with an unplanned pregnancy. They were young and in college. They could have gotten an abortion and moved on, he said, but that wasn't an option. Today, his daughter is a 23-year-old graduate student pursuing a career in public policy.
"The abortion statistics are terrible," Gorski told a group of nearly 50 people huddled on the side of Newtown Road during Monday's rush hour. "We need to speak out and speak up about this issue."
The group was celebrating the midpoint of the 40 Days For Life campaign, a national effort to "draw attention to the evils of abortion," according to the campaign's Web site. The nationwide campaign, which started Feb. 17 and ends March 28, highlights the issue of abortion through prayer, fasting and community outreach.
The group rallied near the intersection of Virginia Beach Boulevard and Newtown Road because it believes a Planned Parenthood is being constructed there, said Gorski, one of the rally's organizers.
"Planned Parenthood makes teens believe that sex is recreational and normal instead of a beautiful thing that God intended for two married partners," Gorski said about the sexual and reproductive health care facility that offers birth control and abortion services. "They're basically saying if you get pregnant by accident, just take care of it by killing your baby."
During the hour long rally, the group sang songs and prayed that God would stop the construction of the facility.
Rita Diller, the national director of Stop Planned Parenthood, an organization geared toward shutting down existing facilities, told the crowd she helped shut down 19 Planned Parenthood facilities in Texas.
"You can do something like that in Virginia Beach and help rescue babies being led to the slaughter," she told them.
Erin Zabel, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia, would not say whether a facility is being constructed at that location. There is already a facility nearby on Virginia Beach Boulevard.
"If people would put this much time and energy into sex education, they would not have to rally against abortion," Zabel responded.
Jaedda Armstrong, (757) 222-5110, jaedda.armstrong@pilotonline.com
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why am I on probation?
What's my crime now? I have read posts that are racially, ethnically and stereotypically insulting but I have done none of that and I'm on probation. I have read posts and reported some and still see those same writers freely allowed to continue posting their opinion. What's the deal here? Other than posting in all caps I have read the rules and ask to know what rules have I broken. I am beginning the moderator has shown bias and allowed double standards to persist.
God is not Great
I bought the book "God is not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything" by Christopher Hitchings. It's a great read. I honestly believe society would be so much better off without the fanaticism of religion. The legacy of religion, endless wars, genocide, slavery, inquisition, terrorism, the list goes on and on. Please spare me the "god have mercy on me", or "Jesus loves you". I don't want or need it. If I were to pray to Jesus, I would beg him to save me from his followers.
thank you
i could not agree more
George K
You gave me a great "in," buddy.
This is not an "abortion mobile," as you joked.
No, you need to see where the facility sits, on the edge of Lake Edward, one of the Beach's highest concentrations of African-American citizens.
Some of the people there are middle class, some are poor. They are townhomes that are sometimes owned, sometimes rented.
I believe the writings about abortion being targeted toward blacks,esp as Margaret Sanger, an early activist for legalized abortion, was a known eugenicist who believed blacks needed to be kept in check (their population).
Make your own conclusions, but it grieves my heart to see this "clinic" go in right there. As though the nearby location, right in front of St. Gregory's campus and Gateway Baptist's campus doesn't draw in enough women to be convinced to get an abortion . . .
next to lake Edward!
OMG! They're targeting fish!
" right in front of St. Gregory's campus and Gateway Baptist's"
Like the congregations of either would not have fought that tooth and nail.
Maybe they located in the least likely place to be burned down.
Burned?
In fact, the location in Virginia Beach was attacked and fire bombed on a Sunday morning I think it was in 2007. So, those attackers were not in church and the church nearby did not hinder them. Unfortunately, some protestors take their scary words into action in the form of bombings and threats to providers. Their rights to protest are given, their rights to impinge the rights of others - not so much.
Sad
God have mercy on your soul sir.
That was not even
remotely connected to the story and nothing but an insult implying that i need your god to save me or something just as ridiculous. Please leave your myth out of my life, out of my rights and out of my face.
Democracy
I am so glad that we can move toward a respect for life, from conception to natural death, one election at a time. We the people should never let judges or lawmakers declare a segment of the the population sub-human and deny them the right to continue living. As we give our time and money to nominating and electing commonsense good hearted leaders, we will see a return to justice for all. Keep up the good fight you abortion protesters. Remember to throw just as much effort into nominating and electing leaders who value and protect human life.