Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, October 11, 1993 TAG: 9310110075
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Spokeswoman Patricia Henry said her group - the Catholic Pro-Life Foundation of the Blue Ridge - is not a political organization but an educational one.
The recently formed foundation, she said in a prepared statement, had an "almost burdensome sense that the Respect Life message was not getting out to the general public and our fellow Christians."
Members decided their task was to "use the mass media as a tool to God's advantage, to get the message out loud and clear that all human life - from the moment of conception until natural death - is a precious gift from God and therefore deserves respect and protection."
The billboards - which show a picture of an "alive and growing" 8-week-old fetus - are the group's first project and will stay up at least one month, Henry said.
There are several in the Roanoke Valley and a few in the Alleghany Highlands. She gave a "ballpark" figure of $2,000 for the cost of the campaign.
Henry, who has worked as a neonatal intensive care nurse, contended the public at large and women in particular have been denied detailed information about what happens to the fetus and the pregnant woman during an abortion.
She read from a July 12 article in the American Medical Association News in which an abortion provider was quoted as saying "she didn't know how or whether she should protect her patient from the reality of the [abortion] procedure."
The doctor said women who asked to see the fetal remains "probably were not prepared for what they were going to see."
Henry said her group intends to address the lack of understanding.
The organization is open to anyone interested in working to stop abortions, Henry said, but is focusing on the Roman Catholic community. "So many Catholics just don't know what the teaching of the church really is," she said.
Though abortion "probably touches more people's lives than any other emotional, moral or health issue," Catholics often don't hear much about it from their clergy, she said.
That lack of attention is "a mystery to me," Henry said. After contacting each of the Roman Catholic parishes in the area about the new group, the official response "was not very good."
Henry said one parish didn't respond at all, despite numerous calls and letters.
Some priests are reluctant to address abortion unless it is in the context of a spectrum of concerns, particularly euthanasia and the death penalty, Henry said. She contended that abortion personally touches thousands more parishioners than either of the other two issues.
by CNB