(This article, which originally appeared in the Roanoke Times, courtesy of Steven Ertelt and the Pro-Life Infonet email newsletter. For more information or to subscribe go to www.prolifeinfo.org or email infonet@prolifeinfo.org.)
Roanoke, VA — On Sunday, tens of thousands of pro-life advocates
participated in hundreds of life chains across the country. In one-hour long
silent events, participants held signs reading “Abortion Hurts Women” or
“Abortion Kills Children” to take the pro-life message along streets in
cities large and small across America.
A story from a city in Virginia shows just how much impact this silent
witness can make.
Sue Cuyler was driving down Orange Avenue in front of the Roanoke Civic
Center on Sunday afternoon when she saw a gathering against abortion.
Eating could wait, Cuyler said she decided as she turned her car around.
Minutes later, she and three of her four children were on the sidewalk on the
northeast corner of the Orange Avenue and Williamson Road intersection,
holding signs as part of the annual Roanoke Valley Life Chain.
“I highly agree with what they are saying,” Cuyler said as she bolstered a
cardboard poster, “Pray to End Abortion” in front of her.
To her left, Cuyler's 5-year-old son Dontae stood waving at passing
motorists, who honked their horns or waved.
Daughters Monique, 10, and Jameecka, 9, stood a few feet to their mother's
right, holding their own signs.
Cuyler said she stopped her car and picked up the posters because she
believes “children are a gift from God and we don't have a right to end their
lives.”
The hour-long demonstration also had a special significance for Cuyler, who
works for a mail-in pharmaceutical company.
She had gone to her doctor to schedule an appointment to have her tubes tied. Instead, she learned she was pregnant again. Her son is now 20 months old, and “abortion was never an option,” she said.
The Cuylers were standing next to three generations: mother, Judy Lake; her
daughter Andrea Sexton; and Sexton's daughter, Claire, 10.
Holding an “Abortion Hurts Women” sign, Sexton said she has participated in
the Life Chain protest since it started in Roanoke 13 years ago.
Sexton, the mother of five, said abortion is harmful for women. “It's just an
emotional scar they have to carry around for the rest of their lives.”
She said she's known several women who have had abortions and regret it. Most of them seek out pro-life groups for post-abortion help, Sexton said. “I've never met any who have said they were happy about the abortion. I think our society, our culture, needs to make it easier for women to have babies and have them survive.”
Sunday's protest drew fewer people than any year in the history of the Life
Chain demonstration. Lou Patrick, one of the organizers, estimated that about
70 people participated. He speculated that the lack of publicity was the
reason that about 30 fewer people than last year came out.
“Unfortunately we don't have promotion funds,” said Patrick, adding that only
a few fliers and announcements were sent out to promote the event that is
held in conjunction with more than 800 others in the United States and Canada on the first Sunday in October each year.
The Roanoke event was started by the local chapter of the Virginia Society
for Human Life but is now put on by a group of people opposed to abortion.
