By Blake Hollingsworth | Staff Writer
Pro-Life Waco activists gathered outside the CVS on 5th Street near Baylor’s campus Wednesday to protest medical abortion access, prompting a pro-choice counter-protest by Baylor students and local advocates.
Founding Director of Pro-Life Waco and former Baylor economics professor John Pisciotta said the goal of the organization’s gathering is to protest pharmacies’ decisions of “getting in the business of killing people.”
“We’re talking about killing babies from five to 15 weeks of pregnancy, and [pharmacies have] already started in six states,” Pisciotta said.
Furthermore, Pisciotta aims to educate people about self-managed abortions, calling them “dangerous,” and a “real, serious problem.”
“You start out with mifepristone, which breaks down the lining of the uterus so that the baby has no way of supporting his life anymore,” Pisciotta said. “Then, two to three days later, you take the misoprostol to have the abortion, and then, typically, everything comes out and your baby goes down the toilet.”
The organization believes that life begins at conception, according to Jannie Niemeyer, former Baylor School of Nursing student.
“We are for life,” Niemeyer said. “No one can say ‘it’s a fetus only.’ Once you are conceived, you’re supposed to be safe in your mother’s womb. So, we fight for the rights of those babies.”
In opposition, a similarly-sized pro-choice group assembled at the store as well, led by Waco junior JW LaStrape, president of College Democrats at Baylor.
“We heard about this [Pro-Life Waco protest] Monday evening, and we thought it was unconscionable,” LaStrape said. “Texas already has one of the strictest abortion bans … At least three women have died, and further restricting access as maternal death rates and sepsis cases among women rise is unacceptable. That’s why we’re here – to show that there are people in Waco who want to fight for women.”
Donna Wright, a retired Lutheran pastor and member of the McLennan County Democratic Party, further emphasized the safety of mothers.
“These anti-abortion and anti-family planning groups say, ‘We don’t want unborn babies killed,’ but we don’t want already born moms to die either; Jesus loves them,” Wright said. “That’s why we need abortion, because it’s healthcare. If something goes wrong with the pregnancy, and the baby dies inside, doctors aren’t allowed under Texas law to help the woman live. It’s just the saddest thing.”
