Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 28, 1993 TAG: 9302260251
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
POSITIVE SIGNS FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE ABORTION ISSUE
The minister made no bones about his strategy." `Healing' is the latest thing in the pro-life movement," the Rev. Joe Hughes said.
Hughes is senior pastor of the Foursquare Gospel Church at Fishersville that created the Field of Blood abortion memorial.
The memorial, you may remember, consists of 4,400 red crosses erected Arlington-cemetery fashion in a field near Interstate 64. The crosses represent the average number of abortions performed each day in the United States.
In a ceremony for the press Tuesday, Hughes and others involved with the new Field of Blood International organization burned a pile of crosses destroyed by vandals and announced plans for a massive statewide "healing and education" network.
Hughes has adopted the new game plan of the anti-abortion movement in the country with its stress on "healing."
And while some will write it off as just a callous political maneuver, Hughes' approach seems sincere - and certainly more effective than the confrontations of the past.
Hughes - and other smart anti-abortion activists - have abandoned the condemnatory rhetoric that once labeled women who have had abortions as murderers.
He and many others refuse to participate in Operation Rescue-type tactics blocking abortion clinics, insisting that those who demonstrate or "educate" at clinics obey the law.
They specifically endorse the rights of their opponents to have their say and refuse to engage in name-calling or threats when their views are challenged.
Their message to those who have had abortions focuses on what they believe to be the healing forgiveness of Christianity.
The effort by Hughes and others like him will continue to be offensive to many who support abortion rights.
Graphic pictures, pious pronouncements and just plain interference will be denounced by opponents.
They will latch onto Hughes' claim that he didn't want the burning of the memorial debris to be "a show," yet his organization invited the media for miles around to witness it and report on it.
They will blast his contention that extensive psychological or psychiatric therapy is not necessary to relieve the guilt some women feel after having an abortion. His solution - "all they need is Jesus" - will be branded as dangerously simplistic.
Opponents will continue to challenge Hughes to make sure the planned homes for pregnant women are willing to take in and care for drug addicts and AIDS patients and the other "undesirable" people many churches are just plain scared to help.
But while Hughes' approach may have shortcomings, it at least has the benefit of demonstrating some progress.
His declaration that the Field of Blood operation will be open to the scrutiny of the press and his opponents, as well as to supporters, rang true. The organization is willing to be held to its word by public scrutiny, he said.
Despite the opinions of some commentators, the abortion debate is far from settled. Its resolution depends on reasoned communication between those who support abortion rights and those who don't.
The attitude evidenced by Hughes is just the latest of some positive signs from those on both sides.
While some abortion-rights advocacy groups - Planned Parenthood, for instance - have always promoted education to prevent unwanted pregnancies, others are just now joining that battle.
That's good.
Virtually every family planning agency now advocates sexual abstinence - particularly for unmarried teens - as the best way to prevent the spread of AIDS and to avoid pregnancy.
Religious leaders like Hughes can buy into that, too.
The two sides will continue to disagree, of course. Should condoms be distributed in schools? Should explicit photographs on the results of an abortion be shown to children? What is the role of systems of morality in sex education? Should the abortion pill - RU486 - be approved?
We have to keep working on some of those. But there is hope that we can move ahead with everyone's goal of reducing the demand for abortions by reducing the number of undesired pregnancies.
Lowe Cody Lowe reports on issues of religion and ethics for this newspaper.