CHICAGO, -- With the national horror over abortionist Kermit Gosnell's conviction for murdering babies still fresh in the public mind, a new bill banning late-term abortion having just passed in Congress, and a dramatic confrontation over abortion legislation boiling in Texas, the Pro-Life Action League hits the streets of Chicagoland to remind the public what abortion is really all about. From July 12 through July 20, Face the Truth Tours will appear at busy intersections throughout Chicago and the suburbs, with pro-life advocates displaying large posters that accurately depict the graphic reality of abortion, juxtaposed with beautiful pictures of living children, both born and unborn.
One significant stop on the Face the Truth Tour will be the Saturday, July 13, visit to the controversial Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Aurora. The clinic has generated continued opposition from residents, churches and area pro-life groups, since its embattled opening in October 2007. It was the largest abortion facility in the country at the time and remains the subject of ongoing protests and lawsuits.
Two days of the Face the Truth Tour will be devoted to downtown Chicago, with graphic displays at Daley Plaza, Ogilvie Transportation Center, Union Station, Lake Shore Drive, the Art Institute and along overpasses on the Kennedy Expressway.
The schedule of communities the Face the Truth Tour will visit follows. Time and location details are available at
prolifeaction.org/truth/tours.php.
- Friday, July 12: Joliet/Shorewood
- Saturday, July 13: Aurora/Naperville
- Monday, July 15 & Tuesday, July 16: Downtown Chicago
- Wednesday, July 17: Melrose Park/Westchester/Westmont
- Thursday, July 18: Lake Zurich/Palatine/Arlington Heights
- Friday, July 19: Chicago South Side/Burbank
- Saturday, July 20: Lincolnwood/Evanston
Though the Face the Truth Tour always meets with some opposition, the goal is not to offend or to shock, but rather to raise awareness and change attitudes. The Face the Truth Tour allows people to confront the horrible injustice of abortion with their own eyes—and when they do, they are more likely to take action to prevent that injustice, even if they resent having to see it.
"It's true that these pictures of bloody, broken, aborted babies are disturbing," explained Eric Scheidler, Executive Director of the Pro-Life Action League. "They should be disturbing, because abortion itself is disturbing," he continued, "This is the reality of what abortion does to unborn children. This is not some harmless, inconsequential surgery. It's violent and it's ugly."
The Pro-Life Action League has coordinated Face the Truth Tours for over a dozen years, and last year's event encountered some first-time obstacles, including a temperature of 102° on the first day. The Westchester police had city workers remove the tour's "Warning: Graphic Abortion Photos Ahead" signs that allow drivers and pedestrians the opportunity to detour around the display. In Chicago's 34th Ward "Special Services Area" officers—not to be confused with Chicago police officers—attempted to shut down the display, insisting that a permit was required from Alderman Carrie Austin for any protest activity
Despite the occasional challenges and objections, Scheidler was ready with the reason why the Pro-Life Action League will continue organizing these public education tours. "The Face the Truth Tours work. Every year people stop to thank us for sharing the reality of abortion because it caused them to reconsider a planned abortion or begin the healing process from a past abortion," said Scheidler. He added, "Last year a woman came up to us and said that she had an abortion 12 years ago, and that at the time, she felt she had no choice. She told us, 'I keep looking at your picture, and I can't believe I did that to my baby…nobody told me it was a baby.'"
To learn more about Face the Truth Tours and the life-saving work of the Pro-Life Action League, view the two-minute Face the Truth video
here: or read more at
prolifeaction.org/truth.
About the Pro-Life Action League
The Pro-Life Action League was founded by Joe Scheidler in 1980 with the aim of saving babies from abortion through direct action. Not content to await a political or judicial solution to abortion, the League seeks to stop the killing of unborn children right now through all available peaceful means, including public protest, sidewalk counseling, education, youth outreach, and national leadership.
