Abortion protest was within the law

I offer this in response to your July 23 article, "Lake Zurich to protesters: Meet with cops." As an 11-year veteran of the Face the Truth Tours, I can assure you that the Lake Zurich stop was as well-orchestrated and peaceful as any if the 282 90-minute stops over the past 11 years. It is our constitutional right to be on public property showing the horrors of what abortion does to the hapless child, and ill-informed mother.

In 1846, ex-slave Frederick Douglas said it well: "I oppose slavery because to expose it is to kill it." For people to judge the morality of an action, they must first see it. That educational effort is the purpose of these 282 stops.

Sadly the media has taken sides on this issue. When they fulfill their duty to show both sides of this story, it will no longer be necessary for dedicated groups such as the Pro-Life Action League to bypass the media to get the truth to the American people. Christians are aware that God does not expect us to stay home and watch the Cubs while the killing continues.

In response to Chief Pat Finlon, once the officer on duty asked that the distribution of fliers on Route 12 stop, it stopped. A letter was sent to you on July 12 giving you three days' notice of our planned stop. Most disturbing of all was your attempt to deny us our constitutional rights to be on the public sidewalks of Lake Zurich with our message. You based that claim on an Illinois public demonstration law requiring a permit, when this law was struck down 25 years ago as unconstitutional.

When the killing stops, we will stop. America should be ashamed for staying silent on this issue for so long.

James Finnegan

Barrington