Do you know what happens at a typical Silent No More awareness event? A few shy women tentatively step up to a microphone and read a 3-4 minute testimony about their abortion and how it affected them. They usually read a prepared statement (rather than speak extemporaneously) because of the nervousness that comes with stagefright, and the additional strong emotions stirred up by sharing about this particularly difficult time of one's life. Sometimes their voice is so soft, you can't hear them even with a microphone.

And except for a very brief introduction and very brief closing comments, where observers are invited to pick up printed materials on how to find abortion recovery programs, that's all that happens at one of these events.

Imagine my surprise, then, to read this:

Radical Women learned today that anti-abortion forces associated with the "Silent No More Awareness Campaign" will hold their annual rally at Westlake Park [in Seattle, Washington} this Saturday from noon to 1:30pm. We feel it is important that their presence is countered, as in other years, by a visible and vocal defense of reproductive justice.

Please join abortion rights defenders at noon on Saturday, January 28, outside the coffee kiosk at 400 Pine Street, across the street from Westlake Park. Bring your friends, picket signs, and favorite chants!

I can hardly wait to hear from Lee Anne and Mary...I mean, from the anti-abortion forces associated with the "Silent No More Awareness Campaign"...about how it all went.