. . . because action speaks louder than words.
League history, NOW v. Scheidler, Action News, Joe Scheidler, League staff
League history, NOW v. Scheidler, Action News, Joe Scheidler, League staff
Q & A on abortion, the unborn child, where we stand on the issues and more
Helping abortion-bound women choose life for their babies
Unmasking the truth about abortion in the public square
Our youth outreach, raising up a new generation of pro-life leaders
Abortion industry converts tell the inside story
News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
NOTE: Due to its length, this article is split into two parts.
Wheeling, IL saw several new recruits joining us for the first time. The police allowed the distribution of literature, but only from the edge of the street. No one was allowed to actually go into the street to hand leaflets to motorists who were stopped at the traffic light. The deputy police chief of Buffalo Grove, Steve Balinski, along with the chief patrolman, Ed Wagner, came to the Wheeling site to get a sense of what the Face the Truth Tour actually looked like. Both had contacted the League office during the week prior to the Tour and Balinski had had an extensive conversation with me on Wednesday, asking every question he could think of. He asked us to make a promise that we would not attempt to distribute any literature at all in Buffalo Grove, using his concern about possible traffic accidents as his reason.
The Face the Truth phenomenon is spreading to prominent national pro-life organizations. When Joe Scheidler recently taped an EWTN interview with Fr. Frank Pavone, Fr. Frank watched the League's "Face the Truth" video. He is so supportive of this approach to changing hearts and minds that he told Scheidler he wanted to organize a Tour in the five boroughs of New York Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island. Scheidler will join Fr. Pavone at the New York tour sites. The dates are to be announced.
Within days of Fr. Pavone's commitment to Face the Truth, Judie Brown of American Life League told Joe Scheidler at her conference in New Orleans that she too was convinced that Face the Truth was a highly effective program. Mrs. Brown plans to coordinate a Tour under the auspices of ALL and to promote the concept nationwide through her publications. Scheidler has been asked to pen an article for ALL's magazine to appear in the near future.
With regard to parking in Buffalo Grove, Balinski asked if we had made any specific arrangements. I told him we had not and would play it by ear. He said that as long as we did not park in the Northwest Community Healthcare facility lot, we should be O.K.
When we arrived in Buffalo Grove, there was a very large shopping mall parking lot bordered by a Jewel-Osco and an I-Hop restaurant. In just a few minutes the I-Hop manager came out to inform us that the police had notified her that we were coming to set up a demonstration and that we could not park in the lot. We told her we would very likely come in and eat at the I-Hop when the demonstration was concluded. She still insisted we could not park there long enough to hold the demonstration and then eat.
[Back to Top]As we prepared to move the vehicles, Monica sent a message on the walkie-talkie that she was in the BP gas station getting a cup of coffee. We had plenty of time before the 11:00 start time, so I headed to the BP to buy ice. I talked with Monica for a couple of minutes, then she pulled out of the parking space. I went in to get the ice and when I came out again another car had pulled into the spot next to me. After filling the coolers, I started to get into the driver's seat. A young woman in the car next to me spoke up. "It's funny," she said. "I was thinking about abortion this morning and now I see your T-Shirt."
I asked her if she had been thinking about having an abortion. "No," she said. "Just thinking about abortion." I asked her if she would like one of the T-Shirts and invited her to join the demonstration. She got out of her car and walked to the back of my van while I sorted through the T-Shirts looking for a medium size. I asked her if her friend in the car with her would like one. She told me that was her cousin. Then she said, "Actually I was thinking about having an abortion, but I didn't want my cousin to know I'm pregnant yet. But now that I've seen your shirt, I'm not going to have an abortion."
I gave her a hug and said, "God bless you." Then we went on our way. She and her cousin have the Face the Truth T-Shirts. And a baby was saved, by the grace of God. I was irritated with the I-Hop manager for making me move my car, but God used her to get me to the BP station where a woman needed to see my shirt and the message, "Abortion Stops a Beating Heart."
Linda Mirabelli and Barb Gunderson worked to get parishioners from St. Mary's in Buffalo Grove to join the Tour. We had an excellent turnout in that town.
Buoyed by the knowledge that a life had been saved that day, we moved on to Wauconda where we had sixty participants. Chief Dan Quick and the Wauconda police were especially cooperative. Several people handed out hundreds of pro-life leaflets. Sarah Crocco, the little girl featured in the Face the Truth video, joined the Tour in Wauconda, along with her mother, Jean. She presented Joe Scheidler with a photo of herself with him on the 2000 Tour. They joked about her film career. Jim Finnegan and Mary Ann Filkevitch did a great job promoting the Wauconda site to the churches and neighbors in the area.
[Back to Top]On Friday, June 28, the Tour headed for the farthest points Rochelle, 82 miles from Chicago, Ashton and Dixon. Deputy Chief Rob Ruck was concerned about visibility of the traffic from cars approaching the intersection at 7th St. from 5th Ave. He asked us if we could turn the signs each time a motorist approached the corner from the side street. We agreed that it was difficult to see oncoming traffic beyond our signs, so we cooperated and turned or lowered the signs each time a car came along. Traffic was not heavy, so this was not much of a problem. Rochelle is a lovely town with many large Victorian homes. People were very receptive to our message and no one shouted obscenities at the demonstrators. Several local people joined the tour in Rochelle.
Ashton was even smaller than Rochelle only 1100 residents but very friendly. Our captain there, pastor Dana Laberge, had promoted the Tour to his own congregation and the other churches in Ashton. He held a sign on Main Street and then led the group in prayer at the end of the demonstrations. The waitress at the Huddle Caf‚ asked if she could have a T-Shirt.
When we finished the demonstration at 1:00 we convened at the Huddle for the most economical lunch we had yet encountered. And it was delicious besides. Two painters who were also dining at the Huddle asked about our shirts and our mission. They were very sympathetic and asked if we could give them a couple of the shirts. One man was rather large and we had no more extra-large shirts. He told us he would take the large and it would be his incentive to lose weight!
Dixon, Il, the boyhood home of President Ronald Reagan was a highly successful site. One man drove by, then pulled in and asked if he could make a donation. Then he decided to park and join the Tour. He was grateful that we had brought the Tour to Dixon. The owner of the Dairy Queen at the intersection allowed us to park in his lot, so everyone patronized his store at the end of the day. The Dixon Telegraph published a fantastic picture across the front page of the Saturday paper, including the pictures of the aborted babies.
[Back to Top]The last day of the 2002 Tour started in Naperville. Four very capable and ambitious captains had promoted the Tour in Naperville Mary Ellen O'Rourke, Terry Fenelon, Cynthia Linn and Elizabeth Verchio. Over a hundred participants joined the Tour in Naperville, one of the fastest growing communities in the country. There were also about a dozen pro-aborts, but their signs were pathetically small and difficult to read and they were so outnumbered by enthusiastic families of pro-lifers that one almost felt sorry for them.
Among the beautiful children joining the tour in Naperville were the adopted twin grandsons of Eileen Dolehide handsome little boys from Cambodia. Dick and Sue Berquist brought their entire family of children, many of whom are handicapped, clearly proclaiming that all life is beautiful and precious. Three of the Scheidlers' grandchildren, Aaron, Aiden and Noah Miller held a poster featuring Aaron, on Ogden Avenue.
[Back to Top]At Oswego the pastor of the Methodist Church arrived after about a half an hour. He was concerned because some of his parishioners had called to complain about the exhibit and wanted to know if he was responsible for it or endorsed it. He wanted us to find a way to make it obvious that the church was not involved in setting up the display. I told him that if he were responsible he could be proud of it.
Although he said that was true, he pointed out that many of his parishioners were not pro-life and volunteered that he himself was a strong supporter of Planned Parenthood because he thought they did great work. I informed him that Planned Parenthood is responsible for over half the abortions in America. He said that people who worked with Planned Parenthood had told him that that was not true, but when I told him that their own newsletters and statistics claim credit for performing and referring for at least half the annual abortions, he had no response. However, he did not ask us to remove our vans from his parking lot.
A League member named Tom decided to attend Pastor Fred's service on Sunday, June 30. He made an announcement about the Tour, explaining that he had nothing to do with it and that he knew people had varying points of view on abortion and that that was all right. Tom gave the pastor a copy of "Sing a Little Louder," a pro-life brochure about a small church in Germany whose congregation was bothered by the cries of prisoners being taken by train to the concentration camp nearby. They solved their disturbance problem by simply singing a little louder when the trains came by. Tom plans to keep in touch with Pastor Fred and hopes to help him understand the gravity of abortion and the role of the Christian church in fighting this evil.
[Back to Top]Sugar Grove was the last stop on the Tour. Ron Stoneberg offered to treat about twenty of us to lunch at the House of Plenty in Sugar Grove before setting up the demonstration. The local captain there, Richard Brennan, had contacted the police to let them know we were coming. Initially the police wanted to tell us where we could set up, but they decided to just let us set up as we did in every other town. The owner of a small strip shopping center insisted that we remove our cars from his parking lot. When all the pro-life cars were gone, it was obvious that there were absolutely no customers in any of the stores along the strip. Response to the exhibit was rather cool not much reaction for or against.
The 2002 Face the Truth Tour once again confirmed the absolute necessity of conducting these tours and showing our fellow Americans the truth about abortion. We shake their complaisance for just a little while, but they will never forget that they have seen the face of abortion, and it is ugly. Maybe some will get involved in fighting abortion. Most will go back to their everyday habit of ignoring the problem. But at least a few will reject abortion as the solution to an unexpected pregnancy. Some babies will celebrate a birthday because several hundred people took a couple of hours out of their busy schedules to stand along a street and make people Face the Truth.
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