by Tricia Nadolny / Monitor Staff
Concord Monitor, September 30, 2011

Anti-abortion protesters plan to gather outside the Concord Feminist Health Center every day until Nov. 6 as part of a national campaign taking place at more than 300 clinics across the country.
This is the first time the South Main Street center has been included in the 40 Days for Life rally, first held in 2004. Organizers at the clinic say they will hold a simultaneous fundraiser in response to the protest, asking community members to "pledge a picketer."

Yesterday, as a light mist fell on Concord, three people stood under umbrellas outside the clinic, two holding a sign in one hand and a rosary in the other. On Wednesday, the first day of the campaign, about 25 people gathered there.

"I think that there is a need to pray, to begin with, but also a voice needs to be spoken for the women who feel they have no alternative as well as for the unborn child," said Anne O'Brien of Laconia, 51, who spent about three hours outside the center yesterday and plans to return over the next 40 days.

The length of the protest references the significance of the number 40 in the Bible, the group said, such as the 40 days Noah spent on the arc or the 40 years Moses wandered in the desert. According to the group's website, 14 abortion clinics have been shut down since 2007 in direct reaction to the campaign.

Jeff Paveglio hopes the Concord Feminist Health Center is the next.

"We pray that all of the abortion mills will close down throughout the country and the world," 26-year-old Paveglio of Laconia said yesterday as he stood outside the clinic.

But the center's executive director, Dalia Vidunas, said the protest is misguided and causes discomfort for women visiting the center for not only abortions but also for other routine care such as Pap smears or pregnancy tests. She said about 60 percent of the clinic's paid visits are for services other than abortions.

"You have these women who are coming in and are so excited to get a free pregnancy test and to see if they are pregnant," Vidunas said. "And then you have these protesters. It just is difficult for them."

Protesters aren't a rarity at the clinic. They can be seen outside once or twice a week. But Vidunas said the 40 Days for Life group is more organized than most.

"It almost feels like a different level of intensity," she said. "Even though they are silently protesting and they're not talking to our clients, it's just the sheer number and the fact that they are always there."

Vidunas is asking for volunteers to help escort patients to and from their cars during the 40-day protest. In reaction to the campaign, she is also organizing a simultaneous fundraiser, with community members agreeing to "pledge a picketer" by donating a specified amount of money for each protester who attends on a given day or throughout the entire event.

"It goes to helping either uninsured or underinsured women in getting the GYN services they need or abortion services they need," Vidunas said. "People can be specific as to where they want to donate their money or it can just be general."

Terry Barnum, one of the protest's local organizers, said the group is permitted to gather outside the clinic from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day until Nov. 6.