Anti-abortion group displays bloody photos

By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
March 1, 2003
As Victoria Heck, a mother of four in Collinsville, drove to Meridian on Friday, she saw what she called a disturbing sight on Highway 19 at College Park.
Five-foot-tall color photographs of dead fetuses were displayed near the intersection of Highway 19 and Highway 11 by a group of anti-abortion activists called "Missionaries to the Preborn."
The anti-abortion group was founded in 1990 by Matt Trewhella, 42, pastor of Mercy Seat Christian Church in Milwaukee.
Trewhella defended his group's tactics of showing graphic photographs, including some posted on a truck that drove around town. One picture on the truck was of what appeared to be the head of a fetus.
He said he and his wife have eight children; they are expecting a ninth child.
Trewhella said Meridian was one of 23 stops the group planned in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. The group set up in the parking lot of the former Mattie Hersey Hospital, which is now part of East Mississippi State Hospital.
Since he founded his organization, Trewhella said, five of eight abortion clinics in his state have closed and the number of abortions in Wisconsin have dropped.
He also said many local residents stopped by and picked up literature from Trewhella's group. The group was scheduled to go to Tuscaloosa and then Birmingham later on Friday.
Detective Dean Harper, Meridian Police Department spokesman, said police monitored the demonstration from a distance as a precautionary measure. The group received a parade permit Wednesday.