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Abortion protestors send their message in front of City Hall

By CHRIS ROBINETTE
Traveler Correspondent

Demonstrators gathered outside City Hall on Tuesday to proclaim their views on abortion. In a 45-minute rally that featured three speakers and a choir, the Family Life Services organization, Ark City Christian Academy and local community members spoke out against what speaker Joyce Irving called a "huge mistake" made by the government and the Supreme Court; Roe Vs. Wade.

The demonstrators marched to City Hall carrying signs; there they were met with a sound system set up in front.

There was a decent turnout, which pleased the main speaker, Executive Director of Family Life Services, Tim Durham.

The first speaker was Joyce Irving, who spoke of abolishing abortion.

"I'm in the Lord's army, and I want to abolish abortion," said Irving in her speech. She was followed by the girl's choir from the Ark City Christian Academy, who performed the song "Hold On," which Durham said fit very well into the rally and it's message.

The choir was followed by speaker Renee Smith. Smith started out by asking the crowd to spend a moment in silence, at the end of which she said, "Three precious lives have been cruelly ended." She shared the story of her first child, which was conceived when Smith was 16 and still in high school. When Smith was offered the option of abortion, she said she immediately rejected it. She went on to speak of abortion and the views of the demonstrators against it, also saying that their campaign for abolishing abortion still had a way to go.

"The number is rising every day," said Smith, referring to the numbers of babies that have been aborted. "We cannot stop trying, and we cannot be silent."

Durham offered demonstrators the chance to come up and speak after Smith's speech. One woman, who had two children and was pregnant with a third when her husband was killed in Iraq, shared her story of the third child, which she said at the time was incredibly hard for her to support. Given the option of two clinics in Wichita, one which would perform an abortion and one that wouldn't, she said she chose the latter. After her child was born he was immediately adopted by a family in New York, the woman said he lives happily there. After the child was adopted by the family, the husband started a campaign to fight abortion. The woman said her choice had a huge effect, not only on the family's life but on the children affected by the family's campaign.

Durham was pleased with the event, as was John Irving, husband of speaker Joyce Irving.

"I thought It was real good," he said, adding that the event was important, and that aborted babies "have no voices."

Cosette Marcotte, a junior at Ark City Christian Academy enjoyed the rally: "I thought it was really neat," noting that quite a few people showed up to the event despite the cold temperatures. "Just, the way the event went was beautiful," she added.

Marcotte attended the rally with her school, she has gone each year since she was in third grade, but she believes strongly in abolishing abortion. Marcotte said that there's a quarter of her high school class that she'll never meet, citing the statistics that say a quarter of all pregnancies end in abortion. "You are killing an innocent life, and that's horrible."

Above: Arkansas City Christian Academy students, from right, Isaac Nichols, Cole Davis, Joanna Parmar, Rachel Burroughs and Destiny Locke. carry signs down Central Avenue Tuesday as they prepared for a small demonstration to protest abortion on the anniversary of the Roe V. Wade Supreme Court decision. About 50 people gathered in front of City Hall to hear speakers and sing songs in the cold weather.