A Community Speaks Out Against Antichoice Tactics

A Community Speaks Out Against Antichoice Tactics

The City of Allentown, Pennsylvania has ordinances against obscenities in a public space. But when female antichoice protesters began standing on Union Boulevard, adjacent to the Allentown Womens Center, with their oversized signs about baby killers and graphic images of fetal remains, the City and local police acted with deliberate indifference. It took a mother’s concern and community outrage to shame these antichoice women into retreating off the busy street. In a letter to the editor in the Morning Call, Patricia Wilburn expressed her concern for her children who were subjected to the gruesome, bloody pictures on their way to school. Her call to action worked. Ms. Wilburn wrote, “As a community, let's tell these protesters that their method is offensive. Let them protest, but please remove the graphic imagery.” Ms. Wilburn’s message was simple: respect the protesters rights to protest AND respect the fact that minors need protection from potentially harmful media.

And the community responded. Online comments were loud and clear including naming the protesters and their home town. Your community can respond too. Your community of friends and supporters can speak up about offensive behaviors using letters to your local papers, police, mayor, Human Relations Council, supportive religious and women’s organizations. The online comments are instructive for those who consider writing a letter or speaking out.


    -Speak out against the terror tactics.
    -Name the terrorists, if you know them.
    -Apply the same standards for television, radio and print media to public displays. Curtail obscenities because of the potential effect on minors.
    -Realize that there are limits to free speech.
    -Apply highway safety standards for roadside distractions.
    -Point out antichoice contradictions--what they say they believe versus what they do
    -Disapprove of their symbolically annihilating women, reducing them to vessels for pregnancy
    -Remind them that abortion is legal