Trucks covered in photos of aborted fetuses hit Fla.
By Paul Lomartire
© 2001 Palm Beach Post

TAMPA -- Two white trucks covered with large, graphic photos of fetuses merged into morning traffic in Tampa on Tuesday -- the first stop in a Florida tour intended to shock commuters with an anti-abortion message.

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, based in Southern California, plans to bring its two-truck caravan to West Palm Beach's morning rush hour on Monday.

The trucks are the size commonly rented by a family for a household move. But all sides of these trucks display photos the group claims are fetuses aborted at seven and 10 weeks. The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform's phone number and Web address accompany each photo with the single word "CHOICE."

"This is a traveling educational display," said Greg Cunningham, director of the nonprofit group.

Southern California drivers have seen the center's mobile billboards since June when the groups first hit the highways to prepare for its national tour beginning this week. The trucks, with a security car following behind, will hit jammed freeways around St. Petersburg today, Orlando on Thursday and Friday, then West Palm Beach on Monday. Stops also are planned in Michigan, New York, Indiana and possibly New Jersey. This truck tour is an outgrowth of the Bio-Ethical Reform group's college campus visits where the enlarged, graphic photos have been used for the past several years.

The three-man crew in Tampa hit the road at 6:30 a.m. and merged into bumper-to-bumper traffic on Interstate Highway 4, and stayed on crowded freeways for most of the day. Tampa drivers barely seemed to notice the trucks. Only the occasional driver even stared. After more than an hour in traffic, one of the anti-abortion drivers said Tampa's drivers appeared far more docile than those in Southern California, where rude gestures are common.

The group measures how effective their street campaign is by traffic on its Web site (www.abortionno.org).