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Sunday, November 7, 1999
Daily Southtown
Abortion group assails hospital

By Gene O'Shea
Staff Writer

    Carrying graphic posters depicting aborted pregnancies, a group of approximately 120 anti-abortion activists quietly marched outside of Christ Hospital Saturday morning.  The group, lead by Joseph Scheidler, head of the Chicago Pro-Life Action League, had gathered to protest the hospital's practice of performing abortions in the case of rape, incest or when there is a serious threat to the life of a mother.

About 25 members of the group marched near the front of the hospital's entrance, singing songs and reciting the rosary. The remainder, including young children, lined up along 95th Street and Kostner Avenue holding up the graphic posters.

Others signs held up by the group proclaimed "Christ Hospital aborts Babies Alive."

Reaction by drivers passing the scene varied. Some honked their horn in support, others turned away from the bloody images.

Mt. Greenwood resident Corinne Madden and her 7-year-old daughter Killian were forced to look at the posters as they walked south on Kostner Avenue across 95th Street.

"I don't know what to think,'' Madden said when asked her opinion of the protest. "I'm personally against abortion. I'm troubled by the graphic nature of these photos though. I'm going to have to explain abortion to my daughter now.''

One young mother with her two young children winced when she saw the photographs while stopped at a red light at 95th Street and Kostner Avenue.

"It's depressing to look at but it certainly makes you think,'' the woman said before driving off.

A middle-aged woman driving with her daughter stopped at the same light said she was disgusted with the group's tactic.

"I'm pro-choice,'' the woman said. "I think this is a visual assault. They shouldn't put these in the public eye,'' the woman said.

Oak Lawn resident Bill Schnenold, who lives across the street from the hospital, said his 28-year old daughter came home in tears after seeing the posters.

"It disturbed her greatly. She wasn't ready to see that. If it has that kind of impact on her think of what impact it could have on the children who live in the area," Schnenold said.

The graphic photos were attacked by the hospital in a press release issued after the event.

The photos were described as a "shameless misrepresentation of the issue'' and described as "irresponsible" by the hospital.

Christ Hospital has been the seen of several abortion protests over the last few months. Scheidler's group has protested twice. Another larger group, lead by local Protestant and Catholics, has held prayer vigils at the hospitaln on several occasions.

The hospital came under fire when it was learned it was performing controversial "therapeutic abortions."

At issue is an abortion procedure the hospital describes as "medically indicated pregnancy terminations." Pregnancies which the hospital decided could be ended in such fashion were those fetuses with Down syndrome or spina bifida.

The procedure is performed on women between their 16th and 23rd week of pregnancy by dilating the cervix and inducing premature labor. Most fetuses are not delivered alive. Sometimes the procedure results in a live birth, hospital officials have said.

On those occasions, the baby is held and "comforted" until it dies, hospital spokeswoman Sue Reimbold said in August when the Daily Southtown first reported the controversy at Christ.

On Oct. 20, Christ Hospital decided to no longer perform such procedures on fetuses with abnormalities such as Down syndrome and spina bifida.

In its first official policy on pregnancy terminations, Advocate HealthCare Network said it would limit abortions to cases of rape or incest and to situations in which there is "serious threat to the life and health of the mother or when there are lethal fetal anomalies incompatible with sustained life."

Several Oak Lawn police officers were assigned to the hospital to keep an eye on the group which has been directed by a federal judge to limit its
protests to public property.

A camera crew hired by the hospital was on hand to record the group's action. Police also filmed the group.

Last April, a federal jury in Chicago awarded $258,000 to two abortion clinics that sued Scheidler and the Pro-Life Action League. In its verdict, the jury said Scheidler and his group engaged in racketeering activity by blockading clinics.

Contributing: Staff Writer Brett Watters

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