Upset parents say dolls curse,Parents upset after children receive fetus dolls at Halloween event
Loganville, Ga. —Some parents who attended a trick-or-treat event in Loganville say they were offended by what some children got with their candy; a doll resembling a 12-week-old fetus.
"I think there's a time and place for everything," said resident John Ramsey. "But I don't think handing toy fetuses to 3-year-olds is an appropriate thing to do."
Ramsey said his 3-year-old grandson picked one up from a table along Main Street, where thousands of people took trick-or-treaters Halloween weekend.
"He wanted to know what it was and so the gentleman told him it was a 12-week-old fetus and this is what you looked like in your mother's belly," Ramsey said.
The man who handed out the dolls, or fetus models, is Joshua Edmonds, senior minister of 'Project: Ignite', which he describes as a Christian social justice organization.
He believes those who were offended misunderstood his message about life, and that he did not mention abortion during the event even though his organization is against abortion.
"We're still trying to understand where the offense is at," Edmonds said. "We think it's with the assumption that when we talk about life in the womb, it's about abortion. But the whole point of the event, point of the models, is we should respect life."
He says it would be no different from having an anti-bullying message for children, and added that he gave candy to all, but dolls only to those whose parents approved.
Edmonds said the complaints he has heard come from just a few of the thousands who attended the event, and that there were no complaints about his participation last year.
He says he apologizes to those who took offense and hopes to reach out to them.
But John Ramsey said many of the adults who considered the dolls inappropriate would likely agree with Edmonds' pro-life message, just not the time and place for the fetus models.
"Almost everyone I've talked to is pro-life, but they just don't think this is the proper venue to stage something like that," Ramsey said.
The event organizer told Channel 2 Action News that while she respects the opinions of others, she would welcome Edmonds and his organization back next year, but she's unsure whether she will be organizing next year's event.