Check out all of Rewire‘s coverage of the 2011 Summer of Trust / Summer of Choice convergence in Germantown, MD here.

About 220 people “Walked for Choice” on Sunday July 31 in the beastly Maryland sun in support of Dr. Leroy Carhart.  Spirits were high and people had come from as far away as California as well as from Mississippi, Illinois, Kansas, Virginia, Florida and numerous other places.  A good core of unapologetic young women and others turned out from the Germantown area, a number of them expressing their gratitude that Dr. Carhart came to their community. 

A number of abortion-rights young people I spoke to went into the anti-abortion rallies and activities over the last couple of days — both to find out their plans as well as just to figure out what makes them tick.  They were shocked by the level of fanaticism, including the demonizing language used to describe Dr. Carhart and the use of religious and priestly authority to spread anti-woman hate.

The Washington Post did an article that describes how the anti-abortion folks sent someone in to Carhart’s clinic in order to be “saved” from abortion by them.  This woman was then broadcast at their rally proclaiming how they converted her to the “pro-life” movement.  Here is just an excerpt from their article:

“About 180 people walked in support of LeRoy Carhart, a physician who recently started performing late-in-pregnancy abortions in the office park. It was their kickoff to Summer Celebration of Choice, which will include a week of demonstrations to support the clinic.”