Coalition for Life and 40 Days of Harassment

Sphere: Related Content “The idea is to bring awareness in our community and an end to abortion in the Brazos County community.” The mission of the Coalition for Life, as articulated in a Texas A&M Battalion article by communications director Bobby Reynoso, is not as clear as the Coalition for Life would like you to believe. While raising awareness might be a part of their mission, the large part of the mission harassing patients outside of Planned Parenthood. While ending abortion might be a part of their mission, they oppose ever policy and program that actually reduces abortion. When a woman walks into the Planned Parenthood in Bryan the Coalition members and protesters often say that Planned Parenthood does not care about women, however, the reality is that Planned Parenthood (and other reproductive health care facilities) do more to meet women’s health care needs than the Coalition and the protesters ever have.

Over the course of forty days in the fall the Coalition organizes a protest that also takes place at reproductive health care facilities (primarily Planned Parenthood clinics) throughout the country. The protest is staged again in the spring during Lint, which was the time period of the original protest. During what is called 40 Days for Life, protesters stand outside of the clinic for twenty-fours a day. They hold signs, pass out pamphlets, and talk to anyone that will listen. Reynoso said that the protesters are “there to educate people, make sure that people have taken an honest look to what abortion does to women.” However, what the protesters say about abortion, family planning, and Planned Parenthood is anything but honest.

The Coalition for Life reported to the Battalion “abortion rates have dropped by 28 percent in the Bryan-College Station community since 2004, and more than 1,500 cases have been documented where mothers said that, because of the actions of the volunteers, they chose not to have an abortion.” However, the Coalition’s number conflict with the facts, and they have not produced and evidence or documentation that supports their claims. According to Planned Parenthood their records show that the numbers of all of their services, included abortions and other health care services, have increased during the time period that the Coalition claims they have declined. While the Coalition claims that there have been 1,500 cases of women choosing not to have an abortion as a direct result of protesters, what becomes clear from talking to reproductive health care professionals is that usually women return to the clinic after the rare occurrence that they choose not to have an abortion. This is actually dangerous for the women, because abortions are safer when they are performed as earlier as possible into the pregnancy.

The truth about these protests is that the Coalition and their supports are not interested in the truth or raising the awareness about anything but their particular ideology and narrow interpretation of Christian dogma.