By Tim McCarthy
tmccarthy@haverhillgazette.com
—
Commuters, pedestrians and neighbors were confronted with larger-than-life, full-color photographs of what protesters described as the aftermath of abortion — miniature severed limbs and bloody medical equipment — as they made their way to work or to run errands Thursday morning.
About 20 protesters, members of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue and sympathizers of their cause, lined the Basiliere Bridge beginning at 7:30 a.m. holding signs nearly 6 feet high and 3 feet wide for passersby to see.
Within an hour, Haverhill police had asked protesters to take down the graphic images and to end their rally.
The group has targeted Haverhill since the opening of the Merrimack Valley Women's Health Center earlier this summer.
Police Capt. Alan Ratte approached the group around 8:30 a.m. and informed them that city ordinances require a $5 permit from the chief of police before an assembly or rally.
All materials displayed or distributed as part of the assembly must be approved by the chief, Ratte said.
Chief Alan DeNaro was out of the office this morning, leaving Operation Rescue unable to purchase a permit.
The protest ended around 9 a.m., which protesters said was their planned quitting time.
Deputy Chief Donald Thompson said police received calls about Thursday's bridge protests and the protest outside the Groveland Street women's clinic on Tuesday.
"I've been here 30 years and I can't remember one of these (protests) in Haverhill," he said. "I've never dealt with this myself."
As a result, police are making sure they are clear with city ordinances and state regulations.
Thompson said he had spoken with Operation Rescue members last week to make sure they understood the state laws about buffer zones and how far they had to stay from the clinic.
Thompson said police continue to examine local ordinances to determine whether the protesters can use imagery like that displayed Thursday morning or whether they can say the rosary and pray aloud during protests outside the clinic on Groveland Street.
"Realistically, we're not going to stop people from praying," he said.
Thursday morning's rally was a juxtaposition of violent imagery and quiet prayer.
Members of the group mostly stood in silence, their posters visible to passing cars, pedestrians and school buses full of children crossing the main bridge that connects Bradford with Haverhill. Some sign holders, who ranged in age from 20 to over 70, waved to passing cars while others with closed eyes rested their foreheads on the signs.
Some protesters held up signs with the name Marcus Gordon, the doctor who runs the Merrimack Valley Women's Health Center.
Caroline Bernard, a 16-year-old junior at Whittier Tech, crossed the bridge with eyes cast down to the ground or at her cell phone.
"I had knots in my stomach," she said. "Those pictures got to me."
Though undecided with her own stance on the debate, she said that the presence of both the images and the protesters unsettled her.
"I was kind of weirded out," she said. "It's scary."
Operation Rescue's organizer for the event, Leslie Sneddon, 49, of Richmond, Maine, said Bernard's "shock and awe" was the point of the demonstration.
She compared the group's use of grisly images to Martin Luther King Jr.'s civil rights activism, which used images of African-Americans brutally beaten to prove the need for social justice. Furthermore, she said the images were directly targeted toward passing children in the hope that they would start a dialogue with their parents.
This event marked the first protest for Haverhill native Leland James, who lives on Leyland Avenue.
James said he became active after reading about Tuesday morning's protests in The Haverhill Gazette.
"It makes me feel terrible this is happening in my own backyard," he said.
A devout Roman Catholic, James had a personal contact with the procedure himself 40 years in the past after, at his encouragement, his ex-wife chose to abort. Since then, he said he's felt compelled to warn others of the suffering the procedure can cause and been attempting to make amends for his decision ever since.
"Anytime we can discuss the murder of a child is a positive," he said. "Without knowledge we're lost."
Passersby, however, disagreed with how Operation Rescue broadcast its message even if they were mixed in their emotions on the content.
"Little kids don't need to see that," Sean Blaisdell, 20, of Amesbury, said.
Blaisdell had just bought his morning iced coffee at Dunkin' Donuts when the demonstration began in earnest.
"If it gets this graphic, the police should shut it down," he said.
Others said they were impressed with Operation Rescue's emotional reserve despite the shock value of their props.
"With what kids are watching on TV, I don't think this is any worse," said Kelly Le Cours, 45, of Bradford.
Le Cours slowed her morning run to examine the signs at closer detail and briefly chat with several protesters. She said that personally she believes in a woman's right to a legal abortion.
"They're not screaming and yelling," she said. "The silence is telling. I'm impressed with how peaceful and organized they are."
Pat Donahue, who owns A1 Pro Star Glass at the Bradford edge of the bridge,said he wasn't a fan of having the demonstration so close to his business.
"Freedom of speech is a good thing, but cluttering the sidewalks with disgusting things isn't," he said. "It's just not right."
He said that some of his customers were complaining about the protests by Operation Rescue on Groveland Street.
"They don't want them in their neighborhood," he said.
Andrew Herlihy, the mayor's chief of staff, said the phones of the mayor's office have been ringing off the hook with messages from concerned citizens crossing the Basiliere Bridge.
"I had one woman say she was going home over the Comeau bridge," he said.
