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04/03/2009
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Staff photo by Andy MolloyHer thoughts carry her back 20 years, all the way back to that other life, the one that allowed Sneddon to end four pregnancies.
"I knew with the second abortion there was a child in there, but I girded up my mind and I didn't let it get to me," she said. "I know Christ has forgiven me, but when you get a scar, every once in a while you get a sensation."
It is that sensation that has driven Sneddon to leave her Richmond family dozens of times over the past few weeks to stand in the cold outside Family Planning Association Maine.
Sneddon is one of about 160 people from across the state who have gathered to sing and pray on Gabriel Drive as part of the international 40 Days for Life campaign.
The gatherings have been from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day since Feb. 25. The campaign is scheduled to conclude Sunday.
"We've had them from all around the state of Maine," said Judy Icenogle, of Winslow, who is in charge of scheduling. "It's been a blessing to me to meet all these people."
The 40 Days campaign has grown to include more than 175,000 people and 4,000 churches nationwide. The first coordinated campaign was in 2007 and, before this year, had reached into every state except Maine.
There are currently events in 135 U.S. cities, as well as communities in Canada, Northern Ireland and Australia.
"We're not there to protest or picket. We're there to pray," said campaign director Janet LeBlanc, of Waterville. "We're there to be a helpful presence. We do not approach (the patients). We're there for them to approach us."
LeBlanc, who has been involved with the anti-abortion movement for 15 years, said she heard about 40 Days for Life last year and began e-mailing people she thought would be interested in participating.
The campaign is not affiliated with any church or organization, but it has been promoted by anti-abortion organizations such as Maine Right to Life and the Maine Jeremiah Project.
"When I started to let people know, I found they were really in favor of it," LeBlanc said. "Finding people to get involved and plan it was very easy."
The participants carry signs urging an end to abortion, but there is little else to indicate the group's mission. Standing across the street from Family Planning, the group sings hymns and chat in between sessions of prayer.
"We're not here to make people feel guilty," Icenogle said. "We're not here to pass judgment. We're here to save people's lives."
But the group does have an impact on the patients, said Sue McPhee, spokeswoman for Family Planning Association of Maine.
"It's unfortunate that women coming here are feeling intimidated," she said.
Neither the Augusta police, nor Family Planning, knew of any instances in which the group has created a disturbance.
"They're perfectly entitled to express themselves the way they are, just as the patients we serve are entitled to access the services we offer, which is the full range of reproductive health services," said George Hill, chief executive officer of Family Planning Association of Maine.
Maine has among the lowest abortion rates and teen birth rates in the country, McPhee said. Family Planning estimates it helped avert 6,000 unintended pregnancies in 2004.
"Behind every abortion is an unintended pregnancy, so we have to focus on prevention," McPhee said. "That's really what matters most."
For Sneddon, 48, abortion became its own prevention.
Having terminated four pregnancies between the ages of 19 and 25, she said she never could have imagined at the time that, some day, she would be standing outside a clinic praying the women going in would turn around and make another choice.
"I'd always seek out a place like this because they could help me out of my vice of promiscuity," Sneddon said. "I counseled friends to get abortions. I said, 'If you make it out, you're a stronger woman.' I thought everything was OK until I had a conversion, and I came to know the Lord."
Now Sneddon longs to share her experience with any woman weighing whether to have an abortion.
"I'd like to go up there and tell her how much I love her," Sneddon said. "I wouldn't be out here if there weren't any effects of this."
Craig Crosby -- 623-3811, ext. 433
ccrosby@centralmaine.com
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