Pro-life group holding vigils at area clinic

  A pro-life organization is holding prayer and fasting vigils outside Yuma's Planned Parenthood clinic as part of the nationwide 40 Days For Life campaign.

  Susan Crump, coordinator of the movement in Yuma County, said her local group is involved only in peaceful demonstrations and does not picket or block access to facilities. But Rachel Chañes, vice president of Community Services for Planned Parenthood of Arizona, said even those actions could dissuade teens and young women from getting the reproductive and preventive health services needed.

  Planned Parenthood, 1455 W. 16th St., does not perform abortions in its facility but does assist women with reproductive planning. Of 20 Planned Parenthood locations in Arizona, three provide surgical abortion services.

  "Yuma has forever been a pro-life community," Crump said, "and I hope it stays that way. We're getting five to 10 people because we didn't get a lot of outreach in the beginning. There will be more and more."

  Forty Days For Life, in its fifth year, is holding demonstrations in 179 cities in 47 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa and two Canadian provinces. Started in College Station, Texas, in the fall of 2004, 40 Days For Life is also hosting vigils in the Phoenix metro area, Flagstaff, Sun City, Tucson and Tempe.

  The event began Sept. 24 and concludes Nov. 2, with the time period based on multiple biblical events spanning 40 days.

  "Their aim is to persuade patients from going in to get basic health care," Chañes said. "It's unfortunate. The protesters are sending a loud message that women and men getting prevention health care is a problem."

  Crump said the event is the biggest pro-life mobilization in history and that the general public is invited to participate on scene or at home via vigils, prayer, fasting and community outreach involving distribution of pamphlets and fliers.

  Forty Days For Life is not directly affiliated with any church, but, according to its Web site, aims "to bring together the body of Christ in a spirit of unity during a focused 40-day campaign ... to turn hearts and minds from a culture of death into a culture of life, thus bringing an end to abortion in America."

  "I always thought that every baby deserves a chance to live," Crump said. "We have gotten overboard in this country. Every 24 seconds an abortion is performed. We're over the 50 million mark since 1973."

  On Jan. 22 of that year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that a mother may abort her fetus for any reason up until the fetus becomes viable and able to survive outside the womb, generally a 28-week period.

  The court also held that abortion post-viability must be available to protect a woman's health. The court stated that most existing laws against abortion - including ones in Texas, where the case originated - violated a constitutional right to privacy under the 14th Amendment.

  Chañes said 85 percent of Planned Parenthood's services are aimed at education and prevention. The organization, she said, provides sexual health education in schools and focuses on providing teens and parents with the "resources to make lifelong healthy decisions."

  "By and large, what is important is that we work harder than anyone to prevent abortions," Chañes said. "These protests are aimed at harassing and intimidating health care staff and patrons. What happens is, if a teen drives by and was going to go into the facility to get birth control, that teen might see that as a barrier."

  Chañes said some Planned Parenthood staff have been verbally abused, with activists filming them and recording vehicle license plate numbers. She said the Yuma staff has not experienced any abuse or intimidation.

  Approximately one dozen 40 Days For Life supporters stood outside Planned Parenthood on Tuesday afternoon. None had cameras or was yelling at staff. Most stood with signs or prayed.

  Cars often honked in support, though some group members said people have yelled derogatory statements while driving past. Traffic and foot access to Planned Parenthood was clear.

  Pat Kunkel, a pro-life and 40 Days For Life supporter, is the mother of an adopted son, Matthew. She waved a sign and recalled trying to adopt a second child over a four-year period in Illinois without success, noting that just two babies were adopted in her local area despite multiple families desiring to do so.

  "The only way we had a child was the birth mother choosing life," Kunkel said. "So I am for the ending of all this. It's a drain on our families."

  Kunkel and Crump acknowledge arguments that a women has an individual right to choose. The debate, they say, is the timetable.

  "I agree it is a women's right," Crump said. "But the right comes before the act. She has a right before she engages in the act of procreation. Once the child is conceived, she has no more right over killing that child than she does over a 6-year-old or a 15-year-old."

  Crump said she also disagreed with abortion with incest or rape factors.

  "I would not compound one mistake with another," she said. "I wouldn't want to add murder to an already horrible situation."

  Tracey Waters, a mother of adopted and biological children who participated in 40 Days For Life's Yuma campaign, said her pro-life stance strengthened after researching statistics on abortion.

  "I look at the numbers and then my three kids and I think 'Which would I not have wanted?' Which one would I have killed?"

  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the government agency responsible for compiling abortion data, there were 839,226 legally induced abortions performed in the United States in 2004, the most recent year with all data compiled. One state, West Virginia, did not supply data.

  The CDC reports for the 47 states, including Arizona, that have supplied data each year since 2000, the abortion ratio - the number of abortions per 1,000 live births - has remained steady at 16. After a spike in the late 1980s, abortion rates have consistently decreased. Abortion is legal in every state, though each has differing requirements regarding parental consent for minors.

  "It's great that we can agree to disagree," Chañes said. "We hope they obey the rules. We're simply trying to provide health care services."

  Forty Days For Life will host a candlelight procession Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. in front of Planned Parenthood. Daily vigils are held from 7 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m.