Abortion awareness campaign trucks through town
By Lance Coleman
© 2002 Maryville Daily Times Alive

Fletcher Armstrong sees lots of motorists' thumbs and middle fingers while driving through traffic.

It's not that he's an exceptionally good or bad driver, but the images on the side of the panel trucks he's escorting elicit a variety of responses.

Emblazoned on the sides of the trucks are billboard photographs of aborted 7- to 11-week-old embryos.

The panel trucks rolled through Maryville Wednesday.

The trucks, drivers and security crews are sponsored by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform. The center receives donations from individuals and groups, Armstrong said.

The panel truck effort was started in California in June of 2001 by CBR, Armstrong said.

Armstrong said CBR founder Greg Cunningham did a study of successful social reformers.

``The successful reformers confronted the culture that preferred to ignore or trivialize the injustices. Martin Luther King Jr. brought racism out of the back alleys and into the main street where it could be seen,'' he said.

``When men and women saw pictures of black men and women being attacked by dogs and water hoses, it became difficult for men and women with a conscience to ignore the injustice,'' he said.

``That's exactly what we're doing,'' Armstrong said. ``We're bringing it out of the abortion clinics and into public view.''

The trucks spent a month traveling through California and have since made passes through communities in Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, Florida, New York and Ohio.

Armstrong said motorists are not shy about expressing their opinions of the issue, one way or another.

In some cases, motorists would ``flip'' their middle finger to show their disapproval of the effort.

``People get angry,'' he said. ``But we've had more thumbs up (approval gestures from passing motorists) than the other finger.''

Most motorists point and talk about the images and that's what CBR wants them to do, Armstrong said.

``We want people to talk (about abortion) in an informed way,'' he said.

Armstrong said abortion advocates want to say it's horrible CBR is showing images that are so shocking. This proves abortion is shocking and violent, he said.

Jeff Teague is chief executive office and president of Planned Parenthood of East and Middle Tennessee.

``Those images are designed to be shocking and outrageous,'' Teague said.

``Our only response is we don't respond to things like that,'' Teague said. ``We prefer to the focus on the positive things Planned Parenthood does, whether it is education and health care services, and not respond to negative images.''