Anti-abortion demonstrators rally at Silver Spring intersection

Tuesday’s events in county were part of 24th annual Maryland Face the Truth Tour

June 25, 2024 9:26 p.m.

Editor’s note: This story, which was originally published June 25 at 5:26 p.m., was updated June 26 at 12:35 p.m. to add quotes and information about counter protesters.

A day after the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade, several anti-abortion protesters armed with graphic signage and those who support abortion rights demonstrated at the intersection of Colesville Road and Sligo Creek Parkway on Tuesday.

The anti-abortion group, which stood on both sides of Colesville Road, planned the demonstration in Silver Spring and another scheduled for Tuesday afternoon in Chevy Chase as part of the 24th annual Maryland Face the Truth Tour, according to organizers. The tour is sponsored by Defend Life, an anti-abortion organization based in Maryland.

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Those who support abortion rights countered anti-abortion demonstrators in Silver Spring Tuesday.

“It’s a Catholic tour,” said protester C. Greg Carroll, who has participated in the tour for three years. “We go to 15 major intersections across central Maryland and we want people to see what the actual product of abortion looks like.”

However, the anti-abortion group did not have the Silver Spring site to themselves. About 11 abortion rights counter protesters were scattered along the intersection as well. 

“We were counter protesting because, one, we’re pro-choice, but the other is we don’t want them there,” said Sue Decker of Silver Spring. “They have signs that are offensive to us, they have signs that we don’t want our children to see.” 

According to Decker, most of the counter protesters live in North Hills of Sligo Creek, a community at St. Andrews Way and Colesville Road near the intersection where Tuesday’s demonstration took place. 

“We discovered that these people were coming about three years ago,” Decker said. “We thought it was a one-time deal, but we set-up this [neighborhood] LISTSERV so we could alert each other if they showed up again and then they showed up last year and three of us just quickly made homemade signs and went out there.

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“We know now who they are and they come every year,” Decker added. “So this year we were more prepared in that we made our homemade signs and we were out there.”

The tour started Monday and runs through a final event Friday in Catonsville, featuring three stops per day: in the morning, midday and late afternoon.

Following Tuesday’s Silver Spring stop, which was scheduled to run from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., participants were traveling to Chevy Chase to set up for the day’s late afternoon demonstration, scheduled to run from 4 to 6 p.m. along Connecticut Avenue from Chevy Chase Circle to Bradley Lane.

“We have a core team of, I believe, like 22 and then we’ll try to get locals to come out–you might get five or 10 or 15 depending where we are,” said Albert, a demonstrator and Bethesda resident who declined to give his last name. “So it’s upwards of like 35, 40 people.”

“We have a lot of people really committed to the cause,” Carroll added.

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Albert said he has participated in the Face the Truth Tour for 23 years. “It’s hard to come out here and do this, but we do it once a year,” he said.

“It brings out visceral reactions from people,” Carroll added. “Lots of single digits held up into the air and lots of profanity being yelled and so forth.”

According to Decker, the local counter protest effort on Tuesday also attracted attention.

“While we were there, I had three people from different neighborhoods in that area come up
[and] give me their emails because they want to join me next year,” she said. ““We’re basically just doing this to hopefully let them know we don’t agree with them and we would prefer that they not be there.”

Organizers say the tour includes a Mass on each of the five days, evening picnics and free lodging, meals and local transportation.

“We’re trying to call attention to the importance of life itself as being our most foundational resource,” Carroll said.

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