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O.C. Truth Tour nets anger, converts

Ocean City is an intoxicating mix of sun, sand, surf, boardwalk, and the heady smell and taste of  french fries, pizza and cotton candy.

But for a few brief hours on Sunday,August 17, it bore an extra dimension: the glaring, disconcerting truth about abortion.

From 2:30 to 5:00 p.m., 40 to 45 pro-lifers from Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Annapolis and beyond held signs depicting the graphic reality of abortion.

They lined the boardwalk for five blocks, from Wicomico Street to North Division Street.

As with the first Ocean City Truth Tour in the summer of 2002, Priests for Life Director Fr. Frank Pavone kicked off the effort by preaching the pro-life message at weekend masses at Ocean City's Holy Savior Catholic Church.

Reactions from the throngs of people along the boardwalk ranged greatly.

"Several people said, 'I'm so glad you're here-people just don't know what abortion is,'" said participant Nancy Bradford.

"I had Christians come up to me and say that they appreciated what we were standing for," said Sue Priest.

"One woman from Harford County who was pro-life came over and held a sign for us for about 25 minutes while her pizza was cooking.''

Face the Truthers agreed, however,that those who were negative were very negative.

"They were very vocal, very in-your-face," said Nancy. "One woman told me I was going to go to hell!"

Mrs. Priest said that a man in a wheelchair "was like a one man crusade. He gave Father Pavone a hard time.

Pro-lifers line up with posters along the boardwalk in Ocean City.

"He said he hoped something very bad would happen to me; I won't repeat what he said. Then he came around from behind and bumped into my sign on purpose."

John Dyer, who had been vacationing in Ocean City, was so stirred by Father Pavone's pro-life sermon, he joined the Face the Truthers.

Dyer and veteran pro-lifer Joe Frese were subjects of a campaign by a young woman of 19 or 20 who tried to block their signs by standing in front of them.

"When that didn't work, she got a Mexican blanket from a vendor and stood in front of our signs holding the blanket," said Joe.

"I just turned my back to her and held my sign the other way. John held his sign up over his head.

That frustrated her big time!" In addition, he said, "Some jerk came up from behind and kicked the sign out of my hands,

then kept walking. I didn't say a word to him."

Fourteen-year-old Tabitha Watts, an enthusiastic pro-lifer who had taken part in Defend Life's big summer Face the Truth Tour, was prompted to join the Ocean City tour by a dream that urged her, she said, to "go to Ocean City."

Tabitha, who lives in Greencastle, Pa., couldn't figure out how she could possibly get there. But by an unlikely string of coincidences, she wound up in Dundalk at the same time as Nancy Bradford, who then drove her to the tour.

At her post on the boardwalk, the young pro-lifer spoke to two women who were planning to have abortions, but changed their minds after talking to her.

Another woman, who was not pregnant at the time but had had several abortions, said she didn't think she would have any more after she spoke with Tabitha.

The teenager was not as successful with a fourth woman, who was pregnant.

"She gave me the date and time of her [scheduled] abortion and told me to shut up," said Tabitha ruefully.

She doesn't think the woman later changed her mind.

"I felt really bad" around the time the woman had told her she was supposed to have the abortion, Tabitha said.

The Ocean City tour was sponsored by Defend Life and supported by Priests for Life.