Anti-abortion convoy cruises I-4 today
By Sandra Mathers
© 2003 Orlando Sentinel

Central Florida drivers on Interstate 4 today could be in for a bloody shock -- and it won't be from an accident.

Up to four tractor-trailer rigs -- their sides and rear doors emblazoned with blood-red photos of aborted fetal body parts -- plan to share the roadway with commuters.

The Reproductive Choice Campaign, as the anti-abortion caravan is called, will travel an undisclosed portion of I-4 today and Friday to bring home to drivers "the reality" that first-trimester abortions result in dead babies, its organizer said.

"Every significant social reform has successfully used horrifying pictures to prick the public consciousness," said organizer Gregg Cunningham, director of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform in Los Angeles, Calif.

The organization launched an 11-city highway tour in Tampa earlier this week. Next week, it will continue on to Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.

The highway tour caught both sides in the abortion debate in Orlando off guard.

"Little kids [in cars] will see this," said Jane Gerhardt of the National Women's Health Organization, an Orlando abortion clinic.

A spokeswoman for the Catholic Diocese of Orlando's Respect Life Office said the church does not support the tour.