5 months ago
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And here in Arkansas some Hot Springs community members are raising awareness on the issue in a not so subtle way. For the next 30 days, the group of abortion protesters hopes rows of hundreds of white crosses along Hot Spring's Central Avenue will do one thing.
"The people of Hot Springs will drive by and say 'what's that?' That's the number of deaths per day from abortion," says Dick Antoine with the group.
Most in the group are members of the First Church of Nazarene and St. John Catholic Church.
"It's just a choice that some people make and this is trying to discourage that choice and encourage the choice of life," explains Dina Hartsell.
Two banners at the front ends of the cross memorial tell drivers that 4,000 children die each day as a result of abortions. The group hopes they also emphasize the idea that the mothers too are victims.
"It's a gift in all of its forms and whether it's convenient, inconvenient. Whether it's risky or not, we place ourselves in God's loving hands and we trust in his purpose for us," said Mary Gallimore.
This is the third year the group has put up the Crosses for Life Memorial, making sure each year that it's close to the roadside so anyone who walks or drives by sees it and perhaps joins their cause.
But Sunday, some who drove by the site said they didn't even notice the crosses. Pro-choice supporter Ray Palmer is one of them.
He says he has no problem with the group's public display but he feels uneasy when the government gets involved as the Washington debate on healthcare is starting to do.
"I think there's a problem when the government tries to legislate morality issues like that and that only sounds like if you say I'm pro-choice you encourage abortion, I don't," says Palmer.
Today's THV phone calls to Choice Hot Springs, an action board of Planned Parenthood which has abortion clinics across the country, were not returned.
Last year the group was criticized by the sponsors of the cross memorial for trying to open a Planned Parenthood in Hot Springs.
