Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Warsaw motorists on Center Street got a glimpse Sunday of the uglier side of the national abortion debate.
Abortion protesters - fewer than a dozen - stood by five poster-size photos of what they claimed to be the remains of an aborted fetus.
The peaceful protest began in the late afternoon and lasted about an hour. It marked the second consecutive Sunday protesters used the posters on Center Street to draw attention to the issue.
The photo depicted a bloody fetus with part of its abdomen mangled and a leg severed.
Protester Mark Rosendahl said he saw more thumbs up than middle fingers during the protest.
Nationally, Americans abort nearly 1.5 million pregnancies - about 4,000 a day - according to one protester.
"We want people to be aware - and we don't think they are - of what abortion really does - it kills a human life," Rosendahal said.
Another protester said he hoped to shock a few people about the realities of abortion. Some of the shock was followed by reactions from motorists.
"We get all kinds of reaction. Some people just can't bare to look. Some give gestures that are unpleasant. But many, we're finding, really intently look. Which is what we want," said Ron Christy, of Warsaw.
"We're here just to stir people," he said.
Christy said the event wasn't organized by one church, but rather by those who are "repulsed by abortion."
The recent protests follow an annual "Chain of Life" protest, a nationally organized event that attracted throngs of protesters on Center Street one month ago.
The protest also gave voters something to think about when they head to the polls Tuesday.
"It's not a political thing, but we hope it influences people to vote for people who are for life and not for death," Rosendahl said.
Warsaw police monitored the protest, but received no complaints. Protesters were not required to have a permit, but were asked at one point by police to move off private property. The protesters obliged.
