Christian Group Lobbies Arkansas to Erect Anti-Abortion Statue Featuring Jesus

Posted by GottaLaff at 2:00 PM on September 24, 2007.

This post, written by GottaLaff, originally appeared on Cliff Schecter's Blog

How did I miss this one? In Arkansas:

A group asked Secretary of State Charlie Daniels on Wednesday for permission to put a statue in the state Capitol to commemorate infant deaths, including abortions.

Nononono.

Supporters of the memorial said it would allow parents to cope with grief caused by miscarriage, abortion or fetal or infant death.

I'm feeling a little grief myself right about now.

During the presentation, several mothers talked about their children. Some of the children were aborted.

Lace described the statue as a man holding a baby while talking to a woman. The robewearing male figure wears sandals.

Daniels asked Lace, "Is that Jesus ?"

"It's whoever you want to say it is," Lace replied.

What if I want to say it's Hugh Hefner? He's always in a robe. Or this guy? Or this guy? This guy, notsomuch.

According to materials Lace handed out, the statue is called the Hope Monument. According to the Web site www. hopemonument. com, the male figure is Jesus.

No. You said I could say it's Hef. It's Hef.

The commission met in the Old Supreme Court Room on the Capitol's second floor. On a table at the rear of the room the group set up a display showing a small model of the proposed statue. At the end of a table was a rectangular, dark wood box.

Lace told commission members that the box contained a fetus miscarried in 1993.

"Since he was considered medical waste, his mother asked if he could be preserved," Lace told the commission. "He is here with us today at our reference table. If you desire to see him, let us know."

After the meeting, Daniels looked at it.

Daniels says he'll appoint a subcommittee to come up with guidelines for what's appropriate for monuments at the Capitol.

"We really do have to be careful on monuments inside the state Capitol," Daniels said. "There is no set of rules or regulations, and there should be. We need to make sure we're doing the right thing."

I wonder if the supporters of this memorial would also be willing to lay out the money it takes to support life-saving measures like stem cell research.

H/t to Feminist Peace Network.

Tagged as: abortion, religious conservatives, arkansas

GottaLaff is a regular blogger for Cliff Schecter's Blog