Bloody fetus photos

It takes a certain kind of person to stand outside in Merced's heat during the middle of day. It takes another kind of person to stand in Merced's heat holding a poster of a bloody human fetus.

But that's what Atwater residents Alan Unterreiner (age withheld) and Michele Litchfield, 60, were doing around 1 p.m. on Thursday, near the Planned Parenthood on Olive Avenue...

Me and Brandon Bowers, the Sun-Star's online content editor and a new daddy, were rolling down Olive Avenue back to the office after covering an unrelated story, so we figured this was an opportunity to chat it up with some anti-abortionists. Not to debate, but just to find out why someone would feel compelled to stand out in this blistering heat to exercise their First Amendment rights.

Hey, I'm all for the First Amendment -- all I am saying is, if I am outside in weather that's anywhere above 90 degrees, I had better be listening to Sade and reclining with a chocolate martini lounging between two semi-clad models (female) on an island that ends with a vowel.

It turns out the Unterreiner is no slouch when it comes to being an anti-abortionist. He's president of the organization United for Life Merced County -- a group he claims has between 20 and 30 active members.

Unterreiner, who is self-employed in the computer industry, said he and his associates have been standing at the Olive Avenue location for at least two hours a week for about one year. They move around to different areas of the county, holding the huge color posters of aborted fetuses and passing out a diversity of literature about why they don't like Planned Parenthood and such.

He also gave me a brochure titled "Abortion: The Black Woman's Voice," so I am not kidding when I say a "diversity" of literature.

"We'd like to be out here every day," Unterreiner said. "Choice is the destruction of another child."

Litchfield, who is confined to a wheelchair due to polio, said her own mother asked her to abort her second child, due to a particularly difficult first delivery. She steadfastly refused the request, even though her mom was obviously concerned for her safety. She is now the proud grandmother of three children.

"This is very near and dear to my heart," said Litchfield, as her golden crucifix necklace glistened in the sun. "If am supposed to live, I'll live. If I am supposed to die, I'll die."

Unterreiner, who has no children, and Litchfield both said they get about 10-to-1 support for their efforts in the form of "honks" from passersby -- although an imagination is not necessary to figure out what else they get.

"Sometimes we get the finger," Litchfield said, adding that one angry passerby also threw a soda at Unterreiner on Thursday. There's also a few crude remarks yelled from the passing vehicles from time to time, Litchfield said.

Unterreiner said he also has a problem with Planned Parenthood giving out free condoms -- and handed over a pamphlet titled "Is Sex Safe?: A Look at Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDS)" to hammer his point home. And I must admit, for a small pamphlet, it was a virtual cornucopia of information about STDs -- and how a condom is no guarantee that one is protected from getting an STD.

Those interested in talking to Unterreiner and Litchfield need not wait on Olive Avenue. Unterreiner's organization has a booth at the Merced County Fair this year, inside of the industrial building.