The Rally was Good!
Before the Rally
I’d like to thank all of the folks who gave of their precious Saturday morning to come out to the rally today! If the Lehigh Valley Hospital security car showing up around noon was any indication, we did draw a bit of attention. 
For those who were unable to attend, we had at least 30 adults (I tried counting, but kept getting distracted), and probably as many children. Veronica Torrejon (reporter) and Don Fisher (photographer) from The Morning Call showed up sometime around 10:15-10:20, and stuck around talking to people and taking pictures for about 45 minutes. They expect to have this published in NEXT Sunday’s paper. My guess is the delay is because they intend to run this in the “Life” section of the paper, which is typically printed on Wednesday or Thursday.
Channel 69 News showed up shortly before noon, and I’d like to thank all of you for obligingly staying there to make sure they could get some good footage. The videographer/reporter Tim told me that they hope to run this at 6 pm, but it could get bumped to 10 if there is “breaking news.” He was going to be going over to LVH after finishing up with us to get a statement from them. Lets just cross our fingers and hope I didn’t say anything that can get editted badly…
There were some great examples of creativity in the signs…I’ve put some closeups of the pictures on our new Facebook Page, “Advocates for Birth Choices in the Lehigh Valley.” Please go become a fan! .
Some immediate feedback I got from folks who were there was that they felt we needed to make sure we have a single message that is getting across so that observers have that one take home point.
Also, some folks pointed out that with a quick glance our group could have been interpretted as protesting on the abortion issue. This is NOT a debate that we want to get into, as it is highly charged enough on its own. I really would like suggestions on how to steer clear of that…as the discussion that was had last Tuesday really boiled down to a woman’s right to choose her birth care being the central issue.
Please feel free to send me any additional feedback. Share your stories about why choice in birth is important (or start your own discussion) on the Facebook page. Please remember, the PAGE is a public relations tool…so shouldn’t be the place for questions like “where will the next rally be?” The next rally will certainly be announced there (and anywhere else we can get it)…but we want to keep this page very much “best face forward.”
Final thing…I forgot to bring flyers with me for the “Family Fun Yard Sale Event” (www.ahundredforahome.com) on June 13 that we will have an informational table at. This is right next door to the Walmart on Hamilton Blvd, so sure to have a good traffic flow. I am looking for volunteers to help at the table in shifts as short as 1/2 hr, or as long as the whole sale (8 a.m to 2 p.m.) I’d like to have at least 3 people at the table at any given time…so in half hour chunks…well that’s 18 volunteers. So please, sign up to help, and then before or after your time slot you can browse the sale, get your kids’ faces painted, buy lunch, enter a Chinese Auction…
Thank you!
Tags: birth choices, Facebook, Lehigh Valley, Lehigh Valley Hospital, midwife, rally, St. Luke's Hospital, VBA2C, VBAC