'It's her body, her choice! She could do it [abortion] any time she chooses!'Ohio Education Association delegate
Kermit Gosnell might be a big yawn to America's teachers' unions. Some of us found out on Mother's Day weekend just how radical and stone-hearted these folks can be.
In a sidewalk protest on Friday and Saturday, May 10-11, 2013, a small group of us demonstrated before the Ohio Education Association's Spring Representative Assembly at Vets Memorial Auditorium in Columbus. The 1,300 delegates could not miss our signs as they entered the building.
One protester was Judy Bruns, former teacher and delegate for years to both OEA and its national affiliate, the National Education Association. She is now on the national board of Teachers Saving Children, Inc. On Saturday, she was joined by another former delegate.
"OEA supports the 'choice' to dismember a preborn baby," her sign read. Gruesome, but sadly true, both in NEA/OEA policy and in real-time attitudes of OEA delegates, as we were about to discover.
The Ohio teachers' union is on record with its Resolution I-3 [2010-2011] for so-called "reproductive freedom," and leaders explained when questioned that this permits abortion at any time during pregnancy. Numerous attempts by pro-life OEA delegates to have the words "reproductive freedom" struck from the OEA resolution document have failed.
At the NEA, the news is even more grim. Conservative delegates to the national union were told specifically that its "choice" policies apply throughout a woman's pregnancy, "no limitations." The NEA Representative Assembly refused to pass a resolution banning sex selection abortion despite its policy against discrimination based on gender. Most such abortions occur to end the lives of unborn females.
Future students, the teachers' unions do not have your back.
Our protest was greeted by a few middle fingers, head shakes and eye rolls. But we also got thumbs up, car horn beeps, and folks stopping by to say, "I support you. God bless you for being here!" A few were OEA delegates; most were passers-by.
One gal got out of her car to lecture us that we were not representing the love of Jesus. Is it better to let teachers remain comfortable with sin and death? I recall Jesus' pointed words about millstones and such for those who lead children into sin.
Certain ironies would have been humorous if not for the subject matter. One delegate walked up to those holding anti-abortion signs and said, "Get a life!"
We were gratified when a man pulled his car to the curb, got out and gave us all big hugs. An African-American pastor, he introduced himself and thanked us for being there.
And two current OEA delegates talked with us about their struggles to overcome these policies. One woman shook her head in frustration. "If you stand up against this, you get shouted down," she lamented. Another teacher delegate, near retirement, just shook his head. "I'm tired of fighting," he said.
So not all the delegates march in lock-step to an extremist tune.
Yet there's enough to accomplish the grisly job of passing resolutions that drift relentlessly into child-endangering territory. A well-dressed OEA delegate approached us.
"It's a woman's body, her choice," he asserted. "But it's a human being, a baby," I kept saying.
Then out of the blue, he proclaimed, "I even support the right of people to commit suicide. In fact, I support a pregnant woman committing suicide if she wants."
What?? Our jaws dropped. My teacher friend then related to the delegate a painful episode from her past: her own mother's suicide, which she discovered.
Somewhat mollified, he conceded this must have been a painful experience. But he circled back to his "choice" argument and my friend asked him, "Would you support infanticide, like Kermit Gosnell committed?" Astonishingly, he, like others we talked with, had not heard of the murder trial of Kermit Gosnell for the deaths of babies surviving an abortion. Keep in mind this was still a few days prior to the jury handing down its murder conviction of Gosnell and the national mainstream media finally giving more coverage to the issue.
But yes, this delegate was okay with the death of those children under the umbrella of "choice."
Still recovering from this conversation, we were confronted by two women, also OEA delegates, one quite advanced in pregnancy. Her companion pointed to our signs. "It's a woman's body and her choice!" I responded, "No, it's a separate human being, and deserves to live."
The woman loudly repeated the "choice" mantra. Then I gestured toward her pregnant friend. "Your friend here- that's a baby she will soon deliver, a separate person from mom, and could probably live on its own." The mother-to-be remained mute, looking uncertainly between us.
"No," the friend shouted, "it's her body!"
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "Wait- you think it would be okay for her to get an abortion now?"
Our gentleman debater observed this exchange, then went to stand beside the women. Union solidarity, perhaps? The friend responded, ""It's her body, her choice! She could do it [abortion] any time she chooses!" And they stomped away, the man nodding in agreement.
My teacher colleague burst into tears.
Indeed, it's heartbreaking that those leading a teachers' organization hold such barbaric attitudes. The good news? Not all the delegates are on board.
One man said to us, "I agree with you, but you know, this would cause division in the union." Yes, it would, and wouldn't that be a great thing? Lives saved, girls deterred from the tragic choice of abortion.
Yes, division in the teachers' unions to minimize the influence of Gosnell attitudes is what we want, for the sake of the children.
------------------------
Article originally published on WND.com, HERE.
