Defending Moral Values at Gettysburg
Campaign in Gettysburg, Penn.
July 22, 2017
Saturday, our sixth day on caravan. We woke up at eight, an hour later than usual, got ready and departed from headquarters at about ten for our morning campaign. Our destination: Gettysburg, a popular tourist spot on weekends.
We arrived in the town at a bit past eleven. We initially set up in the center of Lincoln Square, on a grassy area in the middle of a roundabout, with one standard and one banner, along with our flag and our handheld signs. Two members crossed the street and offered our flyers -- Ten Reasons to Reject Abortion -- to anyone walking by. There was moderate foot traffic, mostly tourists browsing around town. Several women brushed away the fliers saying, "No, thank you, I like my rights." One man said that he was on vacation and didn't want to have to think about such things just then. Only sometimes was he anti-abortion; just then, he happened to be indifferent. That very well may be the most mediocre remark we heard thus far.
We saw a bearded man roar around the roundabout in a bright blue car, screaming, "Everybody hates you! Go home and do something useful!" One elderly lady stood on a street corner across from us and yelled "Get a job!" at one of the TFP members. Another lady drove by and yelled "I hate you! I love abortion!" She had two children in the car with her.
A TFP member on one of the street corners was even spat at from a passing car. Most people against us just uttered incoherent vulgarities at us, not wanting to take the time to start any civil or logical argument.
Two policemen stopped and told us that we were distracting traffic and would have to relocate. So we put the flag at one corner, and the rest of us separated onto either side of the main road leading up to the roundabout. At this point, a lady walked by and was offered a flyer. When she saw what the campaign was for, she became furious and started a heated argument. She said that she was "personally against" abortion, but she was horrified that we wanted to "take that right away from women." She was so upset she started crying. A few other pedestrians tried to intervene and told us to "leave the poor lady alone," though it had been she who had first started the incident. She abruptly ending the debate and quickly walking away.
A couple with two young children walked by. The woman yelled something unprintable, and when a TFP member answered "insults are not arguments," her husband stood just in front of the member's face and said, "You don't talk to my woman that way." He seemed just on the verge of attacking, but fortunately they just crossed the street and continued on their way.
At about three o'clock we lined up on separate sides of the sidewalk, said a prayer, and delivered the TFP battle cry. A lady who had seen us campaigning gave us a large batch of homemade chocolate chip cookies -- enough for all 22 of us -- as a token of her thanks.
Tomorrow we will wake up early for the ten-hour van ride to Chicago.
Your turn:
What's the best rebuttal to this frequently used pro-abortion line:
"It's a woman's right to choose. Nobody can tell her what to do with her body."
God bless you!