"I know that Gettelfinger has received hundreds and hundreds of phone calls from UAW members who do not want elective abortions to become one of their health care benefits," said Monica Migliorino Miller of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society. "I've been in touch with UAW members all over the country who are extremely outraged.
"I think that in particular that they are keeping this issue a secret because they knew it was a controversial issue. The killing of innocent, unborn children is not a health care benefit and it doesn't belong on a list of negotiable items."
Some of the protesters included:
Deborah Anderson, a salaried test driver at the Ford Dearborn (Mich.) Proving Grounds since 1990. "I am a single mother and everyone around me had pushed me to have an abortion in 1973 and I fought against it," she said. "My son is now an engineer at General Motors; I put him through college. It was the only time I was pregnant in my entire life and if I killed my baby I would not have had a son."
Thurman Opper, member of UAW Local 160 at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Mich. Opper has worked at GM for 23 years and has a daughter and two sons. "I want to be a voice for the unborn," he said. "Children should be protected, no matter how big or how old or how young, in the womb or out of the womb... A medical benefit is improving something. Abortion destroys a mother's psychological health over the years, so there's no benefit in it whatsoever."
Don Rice, a nondenominational chaplain at the GM Tech Center and also a member of UAW Local 160 said that he was not a member of the protest, but rather representing people of faith who are UAW members who are against abortion. "I'm not sure how true it is. The UAW has done a lot of good things for a lot of people. I just wonder if they are losing direction. There are a large number of people at the Tech Center who oppose this issue and were very vocal with me about it and wanted to know where I stand on this... Whoever the people are who are negotiating this, I would pray for them to change."