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Maryland Lawmakers get min-Truth Tour

The Governor’s budget plan.
School construction funding.
Slot machines.
A minimum wage increase.

These were the front-burner issues as the Maryland General Assembly held its opening session in Annapolis January 12.

The last thing on the minds of legislators, as they hurried across Lawyers Mall to the State House, was abortion.

Making sure that the lawmakers couldn’t ignore the issue, however, about 25 Defend Lifers lined the brick pathways, and for the second year in a row, held graphic signs of aborted babies.

They hoped that the unpleasant images of the dead babies would come to mind when pro-life bills came up for a vote.

Bills scheduled for introduction, according to Nancy Fortier of the Maryland Catholic Conference, included a parental notice bill, a bill to license and regulate abortion clinics, legislation to allow prosecutors to charge the murder of a pregnant woman as two homicides, and a bill to ban human cloning.

Ignoring the abortion signs for the most part, however, reporters at the mall to cover the General Assembly opening queried Defend Lifers about some of their signs which called for Governor Ehrlich to commute the sentence of Becky Price.

Price, pregnant and serving a 5-year sentence at the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup, was due to give birth on January 17.

Defend Life had been campaigning for a modification of Price’s sentence, calling it unduly harsh in relation to her crime, and hard on both mother and baby.

The group’s efforts on behalf of the imprisoned mother-to-be gained the attention of The Catholic Review, which published articles and an editorial in support.

WBAL Radio’s Robert Lang interviewed Defend Life Director Jack Ames about Price, and a City Paper reporter questioned pro-lifer Laura Watts on the matter as well.

Lang also got comments from Defend Lifer Nancy Bradford on embryonic stem cell research, which aired on WBAL the next day.

Response to the abortion posters was mixed.

“The reaction is either upbeat, or they’re shielding their eyes,” said sign holder Ed Flanigan, of St. Mary’s parish in Govans.

“One lady said we shouldn’t be doing this – there seems to be a definite feeling for or against.”

“It was sad to see so much apathy,” said Defend Life photographer Mara Herzberger.

“There were legislators who were snickering with each other and whispering; I saw that quite a bit.  If they don’t like the pictures, they should vote pro-life!”

Herzberger noted, however, that an African-American man came up to her and, motioning toward her sign, asked, “Is that how abortions look?  How does the head become detached from the body?”

“I explained the D & E procedure,” said Mara; “he was noticeably affected.”

Several pro-life legislators offered the demonstrators encouragement.

State Sen. Andy Harris, a Baltimore County Republican, stopped by to shake hands.

“Good to see you – thanks for being here,” Anne Arundel County Republican Del. Don Dwyer remarked as he walked by.

“I got a lot of smiles,” said Ames, toward the end of the demonstration.

But, he added, “I think we should go to Senate President Mike Miller’s church one Sunday morning and have a mini-Face the Truth Tour, interspersed with pictures of Miller.

“He’s a Catholic, but he has effectively killed much pro-life legislation.”

As Jack was talking, a well-dressed man breezed by, remarking  coolly, “You folks are nuts.”

“We have a long, long way to go with this legislature,” observed Ames.  

“But repetition is the mother of learning.”