Oh, I Get It, This Is the Kind of Assault That’s Good for Kids
I’ll give Steve Klein this much: He doesn’t fudge. As a staunch anti-abortionist, he doesn’t rail one minute about how abortion kills babies and then agree the next to exceptions for rape or incest or because a friend’s daughter is really a “good girl” who made a mistake.
When it comes to anti-abortionists, I respect only those who are in it 100%. If you think aborting a fetus is killing a human being, why look for loopholes?
But that’s all I will grant Klein and his supporters, who will be displaying 6-foot-high posters of dismembered fetuses Saturday morning on the Harbor Boulevard sidewalk outside Disneyland.
I half-expected Klein, an insurance broker in San Diego, to at least express qualms about exposing unsuspecting children at an amusement park to the grotesque photos.
But when I ask, ‘Why Disneyland?’ he replies, “Great question. It’s a great place to go because it’s a great draw--for the public and us in general.”
Oh, he understands my implication that it’s all a bit unseemly. He says I’ve got it all wrong.
“We sense that when little children see the signs, they will intuitively and inherently know something is wrong,” Klein says. “They will turn to their parents and say, ‘What is that?’ That puts the parents in a squeamish position, why is this legal in America?”
He targets Disneyland for the same reason he’d have targeted a children’s Christmas program at an Atlanta church during the height of slavery. Or, a church in Nuremburg, Germany, when Jews were being persecuted.
“Children are going to be there, and they’re going to see it,” Klein says of all three venues. “Children themselves are going to hold their parents accountable. I believe that’s why parents are so upset [with us]. They’re ashamed that they’re allowing [abortions] to happen, and they don’t know how to handle it. So they get angry and vent at the messengers.”
It’s apparently lost on Klein that even anti-abortion parents in the Disneyland crowd may deplore the arrogance of strangers ambushing their children with grotesque photos. Or that an Anaheim sidewalk isn’t the place for children to learn about abortion.
Forget the parents’ reactions, I tell him. What about the impact on children who see the photos?
“From my experience, that’s never bothered a child,” he says. “They don’t get traumatized.”
What do the posters show? “Aborted children, torn limb from limb,” Klein says.
The posters are no more graphic than photos from Nazi death camps, he says, again not seeming to realize that parents don’t expose 6-year-olds to those photos either.
“Little kids come out and hold signs with us,” Klein says. “Toddlers, kids in strollers, all the way up to 18 years old. Lots of them.”
Klein, a 50-year-old father of two grown children, heads a group called San Diego Christians United. After talking with him, though, I wonder if he’s a double agent for abortion-rights supporters. Can he really think his tactics will win over America?
“We are conceding it is offensive speech,” he says of the Disneyland demonstration, which is scheduled to run from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.
“It will be troubling to see. I know it will be, and a lot of parents will say, ‘These guys are kooks.’ And all I can say is, thank God our Founding Fathers understood the 1st Amendment exists for offensive speech and we can redress grievances.”
I tell Klein that no one says they can’t protest outside Disneyland. The question is whether they should.
Ah, he reminds me, no child has ever been upset by the photos.
If I believed that for one second, maybe his strategy wouldn’t seem so repugnant.
“It’s a wonderful thing for kids to see,” Klein says. “They can understand that what we are doing is an effort so other little children won’t be abused in this fashion.”
Soothing words, indeed.
For you parents taking your kids to Disneyland on Saturday to be photographed next to Mickey Mouse, please know you can stop by Klein’s demonstration.
Remember, he’s there to make your kids feel good.
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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821; by writing to him at The Times’ Orange County edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626; or by e-mail at dana.parsons@latimes.com.