LOCAL GROUP TO PROTEST ABORTION

Janet Besand won't miss the bus.

The Perryville woman has made the bus trip to Washington each January since 1982 to protest abortion, with one exception: during the Persian Gulf War six years ago.

She is making the journey again this year.

Besand will be among 40 Southeast Missouri residents who will board a bus in Cape Girardeau today for the trip to Washington and Wednesday's anti-abortion march.

The Southeast Missouri Right to Life members range in age from 15 to 77, and include various Christian denominations.

The group will carry a huge banner that asks, "Why Should God Bless America?"

The question must be asked when some 4,000 abortions are performed daily in this country, or 192 an hour, said Teresa LeGrand, who chairs the Southeast Missouri Right to Life group.

The group annually sends a bus load of people to the march. But this year organizers had a tough time finding enough people to make the trip.

The march in the nation's capital attracts tens of thousands of Americans each year who want to see abortion outlawed. The abortion protest has taken place every year since 1974.

"It is really awesome to see people from all over the country, all walks of life," said Besand.

Even a blizzard one year didn't stop the march. "We couldn't use the streets," she recalled. "They made us stay on the sidewalks because of road conditions."

Besand and her fellow anti-abortion protesters from Southeast Missouri will spend a total of 48 hours on the bus traveling to Washington and back home again.

"The first year is the worst because you feel like you need to sleep," said Besand.

The Southeast Missouri group is scheduled to arrive in Washington around 7 a.m. They will spend the day there.

In addition to the march, they will visit with U.S. Sens. John Ashcroft and Kit Bond, and Rep. Jo Ann Emerson.

Then they will board the bus again for the long journey home. They are scheduled to arrive back in Cape Girardeau on Thursday.

The 51-year-old Besand figures this won't be her last bus trip.

She said she and others will continue to march in Washington until abortion is outlawed.

"I know it is not going to happen next year or the year after that, but we are in there for the long haul," she said.

"We will come year after year after year," said Besand. "We are not going to go away."

Besand said she and others keep hoping and praying for an end to abortions.

This will be Christine Stephens' first march in Washington. "I always wanted to go on one of these trips," said Stephens, who works as an anti-abortion volunteer in Cape Girardeau.

Stephens said it is discouraging the annual protests haven't changed things.

"I just really wish this would make a difference for a change," she said.