Archbishop John Vlazny speaks to the crowd at Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Sentinel photo by Gerry Lewin

For the second year, foes of abortion brought their message into the heart of Oregon's largest city.

After decades at the state capitol in Salem, organizers moved the annual pro-life rally to Portland. That showed that a large number of city dwellers oppose killing in the womb. The 3,000 pro-lifers who gathered in Pioneer Courthouse Square Sunday outnumbered counter-protesters 25 to 1.

"Abortion basically is murder," said Chloe Lisicak. The 14-year-old Central Catholic High School student stood near the back of the big crowd, her umbrella fending off persistent drizzle.

"People say it's the choice of a woman, but you choose for your child," said Chloe, a member of St. Joseph the Worker Parish.
The protest marked the 37th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal nationwide. A loud recording of a bell resounded across the city 50 times, once for each million unborn children lost to abortion since 1973.

Archbishop John Vlazny received loud cheers from the rain-soaked crowd when he said that their movement is not simply about faith, but a matter of justice and human rights. Science is making it obvious that personhood begins in the womb, the archbishop explained.

"This is our moment," he told listeners. "This is the only way we can transform the culture of death into a culture of life — from heart to heart and one person at a time."

Cynthia Brunk of Hood River stood before the thousands and explained how having an abortion ruined not only her child's life, but hers. A leader of Silent No More, an organization of women recovering from abortion trauma, Brunk says it's easy to believe what pro-choice advocates tell you — it's just a lump of tissue and getting rid of it will make everything better.

"How I wish I had fought for him," she says of her unborn son.

Brunk believes her abortion 29 years ago set her on a course of drug abuse, emotional instability and relationship problems. Healing began only when she heard another abortion survivor speak at church. The growing number of post-abortive women has become an inconvenient truth for abortion advocates, she told the crowd.

The annual gathering brings out members of the Christian community not otherwise given to public protest.

Nick Clements, an 18-year-old senior at St. John Bosco High School in Silverton, hoped the rally would show Portland that the Catholic Church has a moral right to speak out for the unborn and other weak members of society. He hopes for a reduction in what he calls "persecution toward religion."

Pro-life demonstrators carried signs reading "I regret my abortion," "Your mom chose life," and "Abortion is not health care." One man wore a sandwich board with images of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Two counter-protesters walked through the square with placards pushing for abortion rights. When pro-lifers took a moment of silence to pray for earthquake victims in Haiti, abortion backers continued chanting slogans.

Other speakers explained an annual vigil called 40 Days for Life, which focuses on local abortion clinics, and an Oregon-originated website called StandUpGirl.com, an alternative for young women pressed to have abortions.

Dr. Frank Rosenbloom, president of Oregon Right to Life, criticized public schools for altering the consciousness of children, who naturally find it repulsive to think of a baby being killed while still in the mother's womb. Dr. Rosenbloom, an internist in Portland, also took a swipe at Catholic politicians, getting a big cheer when he said, "You cannot be Catholic and pro-choice, despite what Nancy Pelosi thinks."

Gayle Atteberry, executive director of Oregon Right to Life, encouraged the crowd to persuade federal lawmakers to clear the health care overhaul of funding that would go toward abortion.

Many of the pro-life crowd began their demonstration earlier in the day at the site of a Planned Parenthood construction project on Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Drawing attention to the center, which critics say is meant to increase the abortion business in an African American neighborhood, the crowd walked over the Broadway Bridge into downtown.

Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, a leader at Immaculate Heart Parish not far from the new abortion center, claimed that Planned Parenthood not only intends to make money from abortions on African American women, but seems intent on decreasing the black population.