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The groups organized along East Market Street at Marshall Street in Springettsbury Township during rush hour, holding signs supporting their respective stances.
The first group to schedule a gathering was Planned Parenthood. The group sent out a news release saying it was going to use the hour to protest a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to ban a procedure sometimes called partial-birth abortion.
"The ruling further limits a woman's right to work with her physician to determine what is best for her health," Melissa Plotkin, director of public affairs at Planned Parenthood of Central Pennsylvania, said before the gathering.
But when the time came to gather, the signs the pro-choice supporters carried said nothing about the Supreme Court decision. A majority of the signs the seven supporters carried read "Protect women's health."
Suellen Craig, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Central Pennsylvania, said her group wanted to make a general statement about their concerns for women's health and the prevention of unwanted pregnancies and diseases.
In response to Planned Parenthood's announcement, Paul Schenck, director of the National Pro-Life Action Center on Capitol Hill, organized a group of about 40 people who supported the court's
Schenck, of Manchester Township, said Planned Parenthood's objections were overstated based on the "gruesome" nature of a partial-birth abortion, especially in states where that type of abortion could occur up to the due date.
In Pennsylvania, abortions are not typically permitted after the 24th week of gestation unless the mother's health or life is seriously at risk.
"How is spinning a baby around in the womb, only to hold it in place in the birth canal to kill it, any safer than just delivering the baby?" asked Ron Sisto, executive director of Human Life Services in York. "I mean if the head travels another 4 inches, then the whole thing is over anyway."
Several attempts to reach a pro-choice doctor to discuss the matter were unsuccessful.
Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation in Washington, D.C., said that many doctors choose to keep a low profile because they either are or have been targets of violence over the abortion issue.
At times, she said, doctors do put their personal safety considerstions aside. For example, when testifying about issues such as the partial-birth abortion ban.
Because neither Craig nor Plotkin is a physician, neither felt qualified to address the abortion process. But both said it is a safe abortion choice for women, which is their primary concern.
Craig also said any limitations on a woman's right to choose are unacceptable. This is because she believes it will lead to other decisions that will further erode a woman's ability to receive the best health care options for her.
Schenck said the partial birth abortion process has been allowed because of another abortion decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973 - the case of Roe v. Wade.
In that decision, Schenck said, the justices wrote that it could not be determined what was in the womb.
"Back then, they said the womb was a mystery," Schenck said. "The current decision states that what is in the womb is an innocent human organism."
At a pre-protest gathering at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Springettsbury Township, Schenck described the judge's new womb definition as a key element for the ultimate banning of all abortions in America.
"The seed is now there if someone is willing to cultivate it," Schenck said.
The decision and its wording concerns other pro-choice supporters.
Pro-choice protester Jane Heller, who carried a sign reading, "Say no to the American Taliban," said she did not appreciate male judges telling her what she could do with her body.
"I fought this battle more than 30 years ago," said Heller, a co-convener of the original National Organization for Women movement in York in the early 1970s.
"I didn't think we'd have to fight it again."
