Hmm . . . . they can put larger than life billboards up of Victorias Secret Models in skimpy Lingerie but you can’t show the truth on the side of a truck.
from the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
On the busiest shopping day of the year at the biggest mall in the state, bargain hunters were met with a startling sight.
They glanced up around the Mall of Georgia in Buford the day after Thanksgiving to see three banners with images of aborted fetuses. The banners were attached to a truck driven by an employee of Operation Rescue, a national organization that opposes abortion.
After someone called police to report “gory” images, officers jailed the driver on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. They cited a provision that refers to “the display of obscene and vulgar images visible to persons under age 14.”
The driver, Robert Roethlisberger Jr., 44, of Belton, Mo., was released Monday after posting $1,200 bond.
News of the incident stoked passions on both sides of the abortion issue Tuesday.
“If these images are so awful that we don’t want to see them, perhaps we shouldn’t tolerate the act of abortion,” said Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue. He said the graphic images on Operation Rescue “Truth Trucks” drive home the group’s message about the horrors of abortion.
Abortion-rights advocates say such shocking displays will only backfire.
“These kinds of antics do nothing to educate young people about ways to prevent an unintended pregnancy. These disturbing images do nothing but enrage people,” said Leola Reis, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood of Georgia.
Legal experts say the issue is not so clear-cut.
When it comes to posters or leaflets depicting similar material, courts have ruled they can be offered freely “because someone can always turn it down,” explained Michael Landau, a Georgia State University law professor who teaches constitutional law. This case involves 14-foot-long banners affixed to a truck, which makes the question of their legality tricky.
“It’s between what’s enough to get your message across and what’s enough to shock people,” Landau said. “The court could go either way.”
The images on one banner included the bloody, headless torso of an aborted fetus and the partially crushed head of the fetus being held in forceps, said Cpl. Illana Spellman, spokeswoman for the Gwinnett County Police Department.
An officer asked Roethlisberger to take down the banners in favor of something more subdued that still bore the anti-abortion message, a police statement said, but Roethlisberger wouldn’t.
Roethlisberger declined to be interviewed Tuesday on the advice of his attorney, Newman said.
This was not the first time Operation Rescue has found itself in legal hot water. Newman said members of his organization have been cited before, but usually a letter from the organization’s attorney is enough to get charges dropped.
In 2004, a charge was dismissed against Operation Rescue in Kansas for parking its “Truth Truck” in the neighborhood of an abortion clinic employee.
The Gwinnett County solicitor’s office is responsible for prosecuting Roethlisberger. Solicitor Rosanna Szabo said Tuesday she plans to review the evidence and decide in a few weeks whether to proceed or drop the charge.
