On Friday, June 22, small teams of pro-life volunteers will take up stations on highway overpasses in 50 cities throughout the United States for the first-ever National Pro-Life Bridges Day. These volunteers will display banners declaring “Abortion takes a human life” to commuters in both directions of highway traffic during rush hour. Hundreds of thousands of drivers and passengers are expected to be reached with this pro-life message.
“Our goal is to get people thinking and talking about abortion, a topic that most people want to avoid,” explained Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League, the Chicago-based group organizing National Pro-Life Bridges Day. “After all, abortion takes 2,500 human lives every single day, with the sanction of law. That’s a hard reality to face—but one that we cannot go on ignoring.”
Scheidler noted that the message that will be displayed on banners on June 22 was carefully chosen to have a broad appeal. “Polls show that most Americans agree with the statement that abortion takes a human life,” Scheidler said. “We’re inviting people to face the moral and social implications of that reality.”
Scheidler said he expects local law enforcement officers to cooperate with this bold exercise of free speech: “The federal courts have consistently held that highway overpasses are a public forum where our First Amendment rights are protected.” He notes that local leaders for this project have been provided with a legal memo from the Thomas More Society that clearly establishes the legality of the project.
Among the 50 cities where National Pro-Life Bridges Day is being held are Tampa, Florida; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Omaha, Nebraska; St. Paul, Minnesota; Olympia, Washington; San Antonio, Texas; Fresno, California; Memphis, Tennessee; and the suburbs of Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Local groups will continue to display their pro-life banners in the weeks and months after National Pro-Life Bridges Day. By year’s end, the Pro-Life Action League hopes to have reached at least one million commuters with the message that “Abortion takes a human life.”
