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WARRIORS FOR LIFE SCORE POINTS AT METRO STOPS

Every worthwhile pro-life campaign needs a name.

Missy Smith thought that “Warriors for Life” had a nice ring to it, and would be a good fit for Defend Life’s effort to reach D.C. metro commuters on Friday afternoons.

The name became especially appropriate on February 3, when things got physical.

Warriors for Life were winding down their 3-to-5 p.m. demonstration on busy Farragut Square, about four blocks north of the White House, when a man with a megaphone and two female companions showed up.

The trio stationed themselves squarely in front of the pro-lifers’ row of large, graphic signs, and proceeded, as Defend Life Director Jack Ames put it, to “make idiots of themselves.”

“The tall man with the megaphone kept screaming, ‘Women have a right to their choice!’ said Missy.  “The two women held handmade signs that said, ‘A woman’s body is not an incubator!’

“Then one of the women got on the megaphone and started screaming obscenities.”

At one point, Ames recalled, “They started singing this off-the-wall song.”

He tried unsuccessfully to talk to them, then gave up and, with the other pro-lifers, gazed at their antics with amusement.

At 5 p.m. pro-lifer Albert Stecklein was picking up one of the sandbags that anchored the signs, to take it back to his van, when, said Ames, “He sees a fourth person start squirting white paint from a squeeze bottle on the signs.”

Stecklein grabbed her and whipped her away from the signs, but she broke loose.

“She came out at the other end where Missy and I were, and started squirting paint on two more of the signs,” said Ames.

“I put a bear hug on her and said, ‘You’re under citizen’s arrest,’ and told Missy to call the cops.”

When the police arrived 20 minutes later, they refused to arrest the woman for defacing property, because the paint was soluble and could be wiped off the vinyl signs.

Then, Ames said, “One of the other protesters came over and hugged her, so they were obviously in cahoots – the three with the megaphone had created a diversion.”

February 3 was Week Five of Warriors for Life’s ongoing campaign to bring the truth about abortion to commuters through the use of mini-GAP signs – a set of twelve 8-by-4-foot signs with photos of aborted babies and hard-hitting messages.

The strategy is to set up the signs near metro stops, where thousands of pedestrians going to and from the stops are sure to see them.

After their first three weeks at the Smithsonian metro station, the Warriors moved to Farragut Square, where two nearby metro stops ensured a steady stream of viewers.

Most of the often tired or preoccupied commuters rush past the signs with barely a glance.

“The majority want to pretend like there’s nothing there,” said Stecklein.  “They want to ignore it.  I think they wish it would go away.”

But a significant number of people do not ignore the signs.

“I couldn’t believe the people gathering around!” said one Warrior.  “They were just staring.  It was like a circus!”

“Two young black girls – I’d say they were about 19 – wanted all the literature I could give them,” said Stecklein.  

“They said a friend of theirs was having an abortion as we spoke.  I showed them a picture of a healthy, 24-week unborn baby and a 24-week aborted baby.  They were very moved by that.”

Several weeks earlier, said Ames, a well-dressed passer-by, seeing the signs, called a friend on his cell phone and exclaimed, “You gotta get over here.  You won’t believe what I’m seeing.”

“This man, who, I learned, was an international lawyer, was totally clueless as to what abortion is,” said Ames.  “It shows how effective the media and academic blackout has been.”

At the February 3 demonstration, Stecklein was startled to recognize a familiar face among the passers-by:  ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent George Stephanopoulos.

The news star’s “eyes popped out” when he saw the signs, said Stecklein.  Al offered him a brochure and he took it.

When Stephanopoulos walked past the corner a second time, he acknowledged Stecklein with a smile – “almost like a look of support – but he didn’t say anything.”

On February 10 the man with the bullhorn was back on the corner, this time with two male friends, but without the female paint squeezer.

When they attempted to again drown out conversations between Warriors and commuters, pro-lifer Peter Shinn, of Herndon, Va., urged them to calm down.

“The guy with the megaphone – nothing would change him,” said Shinn.  “But the guys who were with him quieted down.”

In the relative peace that ensued, Shinn spent at least half an hour talking to a young bicycler who had stopped to look at the signs.

“She was pro-choice, but she was very open in the discussion; she was not ‘fight-you-for-it’ pro-choice,” he said with a smile.

Pointing to a sign showing the bloody, detached arms of an aborted baby, he said, “When she saw that picture, I think she was very moved.”

Others stopped to study the signs as well.  One man walked down the row of signs, snapping pictures of them with his cell phone.  Some lingered to talk with a Warrior, or accepted brochures from them.

“We have handed out about 1,000 pieces of literature every Friday,” said Ames.  “We’ve gone through 5,000 pieces so far, and we’ve ordered 5,000 more.”

Most have been the Defend Life pamphlet, “How Can These People Show These Disgusting Images?” which explains the rationale for going to the streets with graphic pictures of abortion.

Ames believes that in the six weeks of the Warriors for Life campaign, more people have seen the signs and gotten their message than saw any of the pro-life signs at the January 23 March for Life.

By locating the demonstrations at metro stops, he said, “We are where the people who live and work in D.C. are.”

The Warriors’ permit to demonstrate at Farragut Square was scheduled to expire in mid-March.

After that, they planned to move on to another metro stop.

“We’re thinking about Union Station or Dupont Circle,” said Ames.