Good Friday brings out 2 sides of abortion issue
By:Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic -- Apr. 10, 2004 12:00 AM [Excerped]
One of Phoenix's largest abortion protests was met with a vigorous rebuttal on Good Friday by Planned Parenthood officials, who accused Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted of headlining a blockade of the organization's central Phoenix headquarters.
More than 1,000 people joined Olmsted in the orderly protest, held annually on Good Friday, when Christians commemorate the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The crowd, limited to the sidewalks by Phoenix police and employees of Planned Parenthood of Central and Northern Arizona, stretched well beyond the building at 5651 [North] Seventh St. A lane of northbound Seventh Street was restricted during the height of the noon protest, and protesters lined both sides of Montebello [Street which goes east of 7th St].
Much of their time was spent praying the rosary, transmitted from one end of the crowd to the other by walkie-talkies.
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Planned Parenthood President and CEO Bryan Howard said the protest was the largest he had seen in his seven years with the organization. The protest, which lasted about three hours, curtailed business at the building, which houses offices and medical facilities.
"When a young woman who needs our services faces a crowd of that size, it effectively constitutes a blockade," Howard said at a news conference during the protest. "Our parking lot usually is full on a Friday."
It was all but empty on this Friday.
Howard said abortions, moved to a different site two months ago, constitute a fraction of the services Planned Parenthood provides. It offers birth control, treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and well-woman exams for early cancer detection, he said.
"No organization does more to prevent abortion and to protect women's future child-bearing than Planned Parenthood," he said.
"The protesters are correct in believing we have a problem. Their solution is wrong, misguided and dangerous."
Howard accused Olmsted and the protesters of perpetuating "fear and shame about sex and sexuality," while his organization "promotes knowledge and responsible choices."
About 10,000 women a year choose abortions in Arizona, a number that has slowly declined over the past 15 years.
"We don't believe in harassing employees of Planned Parenthood or their clients," said Tom Takash of Glendale, who organized the protest and is a leader of Children of the Rosary, a group that opposes abortion. "We are not here to cause trouble, but to pray for people's conversion."
He attributed the large turnout to increased publicity for the event and the leadership of Olmsted, who led the rosary at a similar but smaller protest on Christmas Eve as one of his first duties as bishop of the Diocese of Phoenix.
The bishop frequently was mobbed by well-wishers on Friday.
He said the church offers services for people planning families and for pregnant women.
"I come here to pray for the mother and the child," Olmsted said. "Any abortion is a great evil. We want to help women become the mothers they were meant to be."
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Note: Underlines, bolds, and bracketed words added to original.