Twenty people gathered in a circle and held hands Sunday in a Germantown intersection as the Rev. Lynn Strauss of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Rockville said prayers on the last day of the Summer Celebration of Choice, a weeklong abortion-rights rally.
The group met on the north intersection of Wisteria Drive and Executive Park Circle, more than a block from demonstrators in the anti-abortion Summer of Mercy 2.0 rally and next to an office park where physician LeRoy Carhart performs late-term abortions, after a fetus could survive outside the womb.
“We give thanks for Dr. Carhart and the nurses who work for at the clinic,” Strauss said. “We pray for a time when justice prevails for all people ... We give thanks for life.”
The Summer Celebration of Choice was organized by the website abortionclinics.org and lasted from July 31 until Sunday. The Summer of Mercy 2.0, which was organized by Operation Rescue, began July 30 and ended Monday.
Nearly 100 people, and even a handful of dogs, from across the United States and Canada spent hours Sunday afternoon in 90-degree temperatures and holding signs that with slogans including “Thank God 4 Dr. Carhart” and “Trust Women.”
Accompanied by her husband and their two “pro-choice pooches,” Bob and Andy, Kensington resident Christina Ramos lauded Carhart’s work.
“He’s saving women’s lives and he’s a hero,” she said.
Maryland state law stipulates that the state cannot interfere with a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy before the fetus is viable, or at any point during pregnancy, unless termination is necessary to protect the life or health of the woman, or if the fetus is affected by genetic defect or serious deformity or abnormality.
Keeping both demonstrations in check were Montgomery County police officers, who quietly monitored the day’s events from a short distance away, while police tape blocked the entrance of the office park where Carhart’s clinic is located.
Capt. Luther Reynolds, commander of the department’s fifth district, said last week that police presence would be expected near Carhart’s clinic on days like Sunday when the most demonstrators were expected.
Laura Kacere, of the Feminist Majority Foundation and one of the rally organizers, called the Summer Celebration of Choice a success in that it attracted more abortion-rights supporters to the demonstrations than originally expected.
“We had lots of volunteers come out, and so far, nothing bad has happened,” she said. “We’re keeping watch on the clinic. It reopens tomorrow.”
The Germantown Reproductive Health Services was closed for more than a week since the start of protests July 30. Phone calls to the clinic by The Gazette throughout last week were answered by a voice message, stating the clinic was closed.
Attempts to reach Carhart were unsuccessful.
nnourmohammadi@gazette.net
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