BY SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON -- More than 700 people formed Butler County's first link to the annual National Life Chain Sunday as anti-abortion groups around the country gathered to spread their message against abortion.
The Right to Life Butler County chapter organized the Hamilton chain. It started at Second Street and ran along High Street, which turns into Main Street, and ended at D Street.
Young and old silently lined both sides of Main and High streets holding signs that said"Abortion Kills Children" and "Adoption: The Loving Option."
"We wanted Butler County to know that we're taking a stand for what we believe is biblically and morally right, which is to stop abortion," said Joyce Thomas, who spearheaded the effort to bring the chain to Hamilton.
Mrs. Thomas is both a member of the local Right to Life organization and the wife of Pastor Glen Thomas of the Hamilton Church of God. The organization estimated that 714 people turned out for the chain, which stood from about 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., she said. Before the chain moved to Butler County this year, Mrs. Thomas and her husband would drive to Warren County or Cincinnati for the national event. "We feel so strongly against abortion, we felt our county needed to have representation in the life chain," she said.
Christopher Owens and his wife Christina of Preble County held signs encouraging adoption as four of their five young children played behind them on the sidewalk.
"Our children are important and precious and their lives need to be preserved," Mr. Owens said.
Down Main Street, 12-year-old Kimberly Blanton says she's no stranger to the war against abortion. Kimberly helped convince an older sister, then 17, not to abort her baby.
Kimberly now has a 2-year-old niece and a grateful sister.
