Three Women Quit Gym over Fetus Tree

[Judi Lynn]

December 20, 2005

Three Women Quit Gym over Fetus Tree

AP
Three women turned off by a pregnancy counseling service Christmas tree have canceled their memberships at a women-only gym in Lawrence.

They quit Body Boutique last week after noticing that the tree in the lobby of the gym was decorated with plastic figures meant to represent fetuses.

Gym co-owner Lorinda Hartzler said the tree was placed by Birthright of Lawrence, a local nonprofit that offers pregnancy counseling. Hartzler said the tree was intended to support women
and their children through the holidays and was not meant to offend
anyone.

Blue and pink stockings on the tree were stuffed with a plastic figure labeled "between eleven and 12 weeks old.'' It also contained coupons for a video called "After the Choice'' and another tape showing an abortion procedure.
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http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/2094397.html

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Fitness club members criticize tree with Birthright message
Some offended by Christmas display in lobby of Body Boutique

By Ron Knox

Monday, December 19, 2005

Three Lawrence women have canceled their memberships at a women-only gym after finding a Christmas tree in the lobby adorned with plastic figures meant to represent fetuses.

The women quit Body Boutique, 2330 Yale Road, last week after entering the business and taking notice of the small tree on a table by the entrance, they said.

“This is insidious. This is in my gym,” former member Kelly Jones said.

The fitness center, Jones said, was a place to promote physical and mental health, not to push a polarizing issue, like a woman’s right to choose, onto the gym’s clientele.
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http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/19/fitness_club_members_criticize_tree_abortion_messa/?city_local