Four trucks carrying anti-abortion billboards will drive through Greensburg for a second day today as part of a campaign targeting Pennsylvania and several other states.
The Ohio-based Center for Bio Ethical Reform's Key States Initiative includes a tour by the trucks displaying 8-by-22-foot images, each showing a first-trimester aborted fetus.
The trucks drove around Greensburg from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday, focusing mainly on the downtown, and are scheduled to return today at the same time. An airplane with a 35-by-100-foot sign will fly over the Pittsburgh area today, weather permitting, according to Mike Harrington, executive director of the Center for Bio Ethical Reform Midwest.
"Abortion must be seen to be understood," Harrington said.
Harrington said the foundation's goal is to get as many people as possible to understand abortion, and to make pregnant women think twice.
Kenneth Burkley, a Greensburg lawyer who is active in the Democratic Party, disagrees about the tactic.
"I don't believe for a moment that that has any impact on the issue or the people that would be impacted on the issue," he said.
However, he said the display is the group's constitutional right.
The trucks, followed by a security car that videotapes the tour, steer clear of elementary schools and day care centers, Harrington said.
He said some young children would see the images and get upset.
"That's a trade-off we're willing to accept," he said.
Burkley said he wouldn't want his own granddaughter to see those images.
"I question their judgment in doing that, knowing that small children will be exposed to this thing," he said. "Their judgment has got to be a little flawed."
Harrington said he has received about 400 phone calls in the last several days, many of them objecting to the display.
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