12th & Delaware

The corner of 12th and Delaware Streets in Fort Pierce, Florida is not as run-of-the-mill as it might look. Day and night, members of the Pregnancy Care Center hang around outside the abortion clinic located across the street. Armed with photos of dead fetuses, they hope to fight evil by getting women to think better of terminating their pregnancies. Then "evil" pulls up in a bright yellow Mustang. The abortionists in the car have a sheet over their heads so as not be recognized. Not without reason, as we soon discover in the suddenly far less diabolical surroundings of the clinic: doctors who perform abortions have been murdered in the past. At stake in this battle are the often very young pregnant women, who still make their way to the clinic despite feelings of guilt and fear. If they accidentally go into the Pregnancy Care Center across the way, many of them abandon their choice on the basis of gruesome stories: "They pull the baby out piece by piece." In the abortion clinic, few people understand the fanaticism of their neighbors: "Why are they playing around [with these women] like that?" \i 12th & Delaware\i0 reveals the anger, the sadness and the powerlessness of two entirely different worlds, each completely convinced of its own mission.