THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 28, 1995 TAG: 9511280051
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
IF THERE WERE fewer unwanted pregnancies, there would be fewer abortions. Right?
And if there were fewer abortions, there would be less contention between those who are pro-life and those who are pro-choice. Right?
Tonight at 10:30 on WHRO, four people on opposite sides of this debate sit with moderator Chris Dickon to talk about what they can do - together - to reduce the demand for abortions. For starters, how about doing a better job of preaching abstinence to kids 9 to 14?
That subject comes up during ``Abortion: Seeking Common Ground in Hampton Roads,'' which after the 9:30 broadcast of a ``P.O.V'' special, ``Leona's Sister Gerri.''
After that documentary, the pro-life members on Dickon's panel, the Rev. Randy Childress of the Kempsville Church of Christ in Virginia Beach and Marilyn O'Donnell, find themselves at a distinct disadvantage.
It takes guts to say legal abortion on demand is a bad thing after watching ``Leona's Sister Gerri.'' It's the story of a 27-year-old mother of two who died of a hemorrhage on the floor of a motel after her lover botched an abortion. She was well into her pregnancy.
The filmmaker, Jane Gillooly, says she did not set out to make a pro-choice documentary.
But that is what she has done by telling the story of the woman whose stark image - nude, doubled up with pain - first appeared on the pages of Ms. magazine in 1973 and now shows up on posters held high during pro-choice rallies.
The woman is Geraldine Santoro, who took a lover after she left her abusive husband in the early 1960s. After listening to Gillooly's interviews with the dead woman's family, including her two daughters, it is difficult not to feel sorry for Gerri Santoro and to think of the life she might have had today if abortion had not been the social stigma it was 31 years ago.
``Never Again,'' the headline in Ms. magazine shouted over the picture of Santoro, who died reaching for a towel to stop the bleeding.
Wrote the Ms. editors in 1973, ``She has come to represent thousands of women who have been maimed or murdered by a society that denied them safe and legal abortions.''
Powerful TV.
After this ``P.O.V'' film, it takes courage to go on camera and take a stand against legal, presumably safe abortion. Childress did that with grace while making an important point: ``If all the energy, enthusiasm and resources involved on both sides could be put into a single direction, imagine what could be accomplished.''
For the last year or so, Childress, Jayne Flowers of Planned Parenthood and others in this area with strong views on both side of this issue have been looking for ways to lower the number of abortions. Are you, as a taxpayer, willing to give your dollars to help support the children of mothers who did not choose to abort?
That's one way to lower the number of abortions.
Taking a cue from the The Common Ground Network for Life and Choice in Washington, D.C., and working in league with the Mediation Center of Hampton Roads, Childress, Flowers, O'Donnell and Elizabeth Thornton, who also appears on the WHRO panel, have been looking for that place where both sides meet and agree - abortion's middle ground.
Talk is good in this case, said Flowers. ``The more we talk, the more we work together.''
Despite Gillooly's denials, ``Leona's Sister Gerri'' is a film that champions safe, legal abortions. But it also serves conservatives who regard abortion at any stage as murder. This ``P.O.V'' special never leaves any doubt that abortion is a horrible thing.
No woman should have to endure it.
Here is a footnote to Gerri Santoro's story: Her daughter had an abortion when she was 15. by CNB