Excellent essay from FAB contributing author Bradley Mattes.  Mr. Mattes is the Executive Director of Life Issues Institute.

They’ve sunk to a new low
by Bradley Mattes

Just when I think I’ve heard it all, I come across something that makes me pause in disgust. This week, I read an article from the Huffington Post titled, “How Do You Feel about Sex and Teenage Sleepovers?”

There’s no doubt how I feel, but let’s first take a look at what the author said. In the first paragraph she asks, “Why not teach children how to have sex well, the way you teach them how to do other things?” She elaborates, describing parents inviting the teenager’s partner over, having a nice dinner and then the couple “toddles” off to bed together. (In reality, that’s just permitting the behavior to take place, not actually educating.)

Then she goes further stating, “It seems logical to me that the same way I try to teach my kids to exercise, sleep well and be good people, I would teach them to have healthy sex with other good people.” Appalling mental scenarios come to mind, but I’m not going there.

The author’s arguments in the article are built on a number of faulty premises. I’ll address three:

1. Blaming abstinence-only sex-education for the teen pregnancy rate in the US.  Abstinence-only sex-ed has become increasingly rare in our schools, instead being replaced by so-called comprehensive sex-ed. The truth is, comprehensive sex-ed isn’t working. It fosters an environment of promoting adolescent sexual activity by implying that teen relationships should include sex. Further, it falsely assumes that teens don’t have the ability to avoid sexual experimentation. Teens are actually empowered by embracing sexual purity. For example, a group called Healthy Visions has been welcomed into high schools to tackle tough issues like promiscuity. They present teens with the consequences of sexual activity and empower them to make better life choices. Through their no-nonsense, straightforward approach, teens are shown they can “change their story.” The impact it’s had on students’ lives is nothing short of astounding. To meet some of their successes firsthand, watch our Emmy Award-winning episode of Facing Life Head-On called “Teens Making Healthy Choices.”
2. Presenting only two perspectives: either abstinence means “sex-is-bad” or promiscuity equals “sex-is-awesome.”  Just because a person believes in abstinence doesn’t mean that he or she thinks sex is bad. In fact, I support abstinence and think sex is great! But it’s a gift to be given within marriage, rather than promoting it as something casual. It’s an act that’s to be treated with respect. Recently, Duck Dynasty stars Jase Robertson and wife Missy shared why they chose to wait until marriage to have sex. Jase told reporters, “We were both virgins when we got married until our wedding night. We decided to do it God’s way and basically had a godly agreement that we would help each other get to heaven.” Teaching teens respect and encouraging self-control reinforces how awesome sex really is and why it’s important to wait for the right time and the right person to enjoy it.
3. Downplaying the risks of teen sex, while calling abstinence the “scare-them-silly” camp.  We live in a highly sex-saturated culture that mocks abstinence. Unfortunately, this has made it easy for teens to embrace casual sex. Yet, there are consequences for those actions. No matter how “healthy” and “responsible” sex is, young people are putting themselves at risk of sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancies and all but certain emotional repercussions. This isn’t about instilling a false sense of fear; there are real dangers that exist and cannot be ignored. Abstinence offers the only truly healthy alternative.

Surprisingly, there’s one thing that the author and I agree on—the role of parents. She writes, “It also turns out that parents have more influence on what their kids think and do about sex than teachers do. Parental attitudes, it turns out, are far more influential and meaningful.” (Emphasis mine) That’s why it’s crucial we stay engaged in our children’s lives and not be afraid to discuss sexual purity. We have to be honest; it isn’t easy for teens to remain abstinent. Olympic athlete, Lolo Jones shared this about her efforts to remain abstinent, “It’s just something, a gift that I want to give to my husband. But please understand this journey has been hard. . . Harder than training for the Olympics, harder than graduating from college, has been to stay a virgin before marriage.”

What’s not surprising is abortion-giant Planned Parenthood also openly advocates for teen sex. From their perspective, “The solution… is to teach young people how to experience sexual pleasure instead of teaching them not to have sex.” Their motive is clear. When teens are sexually active, they need to rely on Planned Parenthood’s services, including their lucrative abortion “services.” It’s a sick and manipulative approach that essentially fuels Planned Parenthood’s business model. And it’s even more reason we must diligently fight to protect the lives of not just the unborn, but of our young people.

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We would love to display our huge Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) at every major university ever year.  But when funding or timing prevents GAP, we can still win hearts, change minds, and save lives by invading campus with a few “Choice” signs!  Here we are at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU).

This was an excellent target because MTSU is one of many schools where we can reserve a good space without a student invitation.

At upper-right is long-time CBR volunteer Kathy Hardin.  She and her whole family have been a huge blessing to CBR and to many babies and moms.  Below is Kathy’s daughter Karine, who first graced the cyberpages of FAB in 2011.  She’s come a long way since Armenia!  At MTSU, Karine was a force to be reckoned with.  She asked anyone and everyone to take a pro-life pamphlet (bearing abortion photos, of course) and almost nobody refused.

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CBR peacefully confronts a crowd of 350,000 with the truth. What an honor to bring light to this darkened place! What a tragedy more pro-lifers don’t do it.

FAB is grateful to CBR Maryland Operations for filing this report.

Pro-life activism at it’s best — Artscape 2013

Again this year, CBR rocked the Baltimore art scene to its core with three days of non-consentual, anti-abortion witnessing.  Twenty volunteers helped reveal the truth of child-killing to a crowd of 350,000.  Many of them were willing to see and hear the pro-life message.  Reactions ranged from extremely hostile to enthusiastically supportive.  In fact, four people came out of the crowd and joined our demonstration!

On Friday, a woman who had protested against us last year turned up again, this time with spray paint.  She defaced one of our signs and violently assaulted a volunteer before being apprehended by Baltimore police officers.  There were many more incidents of vitriol and rage, but this was the only physical assault, thanks to the diligence of the Baltimore Police Department.

Two volunteers abandon their plans for the day to help save babies. Will you abandon your plans for the day and help? Whether you hold a sign yourself or buy a sign for somebody else to hold, your contribution saves lives.

Saturday and Sunday gave us greater exposure, as the size and density of the crowd increased.  Our headline banner could be read seen from the other end of the fairway, so we attracted a great deal of attention.  People of all races, ages, and backgrounds passed by to read our messages and see the reality of abortion.  We spoke to Satanists, eugenicists, homosexuals, atheists, Christians, post-abortive women, adopted children, and a self-described socially liberal, gay, pro-life young woman running for state delegate.  The diversity of human emotions and reactions was incredible.

It is often saddening to see how absolutely the pro-abortion narrative dominates people’s thinking, despite their pro-life instincts.  Over and over, they confirm what CBR Executive Director Gregg Cunningham has long said,

When the topic of abortion comes up, the average IQ in the room drops by about 40 points.

People have taught themselves to believe really stupid things about abortion that they don’t … well … things they don’t really believe.

We met several who did not believe late term abortions were performed in Maryland.  The assumption that the world is overpopulated was almost universal.  Few people, even the most intelligent, had a coherent idea of what constitutes a “person,” almost as if they had never considered the question before — which most probably hadn’t.  As always, many had simply never seen what an abortion looks like.

What an honor to bring light to this darkened place!  What a tragedy more pro-lifers don’t do it.

As we departed for the last time Sunday afternoon, a police officer quietly shared with one volunteer that his parents had considered aborting his younger brother, yet chose life instead.  This same brother is now designing satellite systems.  What a testimony!  If only every unborn child were given the same chance!

The pro-life movement cannot afford to overlook opportunities like Artscape.  Everywhere we turn, there are people whose pro-abortion assumptions have never been challenged.  How can we expect to win without converting people to our side?  Babies are being murdered even as you read this.  To save them, we must reach our fellow citizens … where they are … and make them see.  Please help us do it.  There is no time to waste.

Dr. Maureen Condic, Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy at the University of Utah, testifies before a Congressional hearing on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.

Dr. Condic earned her PhD from University of California, Berkeley.  She is a widely published scientist whose works have appeared in a wide variety of peer-reviewed journals.

Read the LifeNews coverage of the story here.

Excerpts from her written remarks:

The neural circuitry responsible for the most primitive response to pain, the spinal reflex, is in place by 8 weeks of development. This is the earliest point at which the fetus experiences pain in any capacity.  And a fetus responds just as humans at later stages of development respond; by with withdrawing from the painful stimulus.
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Imposing pain on any pain-capable living creature is cruelty.  And ignoring the pain experienced by another human individual for any reason is barbaric.  We don’t need to know if a human fetus is self- reflective or even self-aware to afford it the same consideration we currently afford other pain-capable species.  We simply have to decide whether we will choose to ignore the pain of the fetus or not.  (emphasis in the original)

Video of her testimony:

FemKill Fundraiser

Abortion industry fundraising events are a great venues for pro-life activism.  Here is a story from Mick Hunt of Life Advocates in Asheville, NC, describing his work at a Femcare (abortion clinic) fundraiser.  You can read the complete story and see more photos on his blog (Part 1 here and Part 2 here).  Mick is a faithful CBR volunteer and uses CBR Choice signs in his work in North Carolina, as seen in the photo at right.

FemKill Fundraiser
by Meredith Hunt, Life Advocates

Yesterday evening, fourteen of us stood in front of the entrance of the Millroom to greet financial donors of the Asheville business that aborts prenatal children on Orange Street.

Amy Renigar, Executive Director of Girls on the Run of WNC (GOTR) attended the fundraiser.  The GOTR website says, “Amy Renigar joined the GOTR team in June 2012 because of her interest public health and passion for creating a world where all girls (and women) are empowered to become their best selves.”  Ann Pfaff, an outspoken abortion supporter, is on their Board of Directors.  This organization runs programs in elementary schools all over the region, including at Veritas Christian Academy.  Go to it’s website to learn of its numerous local sponsors, many of whom would not wish to be connected with the violent deaths of prenatal children.  Groups such as Rotary Club of Asheville, Earth Fare, Diamond Brand Outdoors, and so on.

City Councilman Gordon Smith passed by me with an acknowledgement, “How are you, Meredith?”  I nodded.  Then he turned back and said with a grin, “You have raised so much money for them in there.”  Something like that …  Money.  This got me thinking.  The people at this event were pretty committed and not likely to be influenced.

But not everyone is this way.  Many people still have a functioning conscience when it comes to abortion.  Or at least they can have a normal reaction.  When we were winding down, I took Eric and Starla with me around the block to the other side of the building, which is the front of Asheville Pizza and Brewing, the business that owns the Millroom, which was either rented or donated for the Femcare fundraiser.  Asheville Pizza has an outdoor dining patio that is right next to the sidewalk and last night it was full of people eating.

We had faced the large posters of a mangled, bloody 10 week pre-born child toward the customers no more than two or three seconds before we had a diner in our face, confronting us.   None of the Femcare supporters acted like this.  People are more upset over an impediment to their appetite then they are about children being slaughtered and about a fundraiser for such atrocities in the same building in which they are filling their stomachs.  They demand that we behave decently when this horrible outrage goes on day after day, year after year (out of sight, out of mind).  But at least they react.  One of the managers called the police and when an officer came we chatted a few minutes.  I wonder how much money we could raise for Asheville Pizza and Brewing.  It would be a new twist to “Brew and View.”

Notorious celebrity Cecil Bothwell’s contribution to dialog was to practically shout that one of the protestors should “repent of your self righteousness!”  I wonder if he can explain “self-righteous” in a way that doesn’t include his own attitude?  This accusation dodges talking about what’s really right or wrong.

Insurance cost almost triples, from $333/month to $965 for this family.

Remember that the current version of ObamaCare is only Phase I.  Phase II comes later.  The purpose of Phase I is to create such chaos in the health care industry that people will scream for relief.

When that happens, the statists who created this mess will blame the insurance companies and demand a new round of changes to protect consumers from the evil insurance companies.  (What we really need is protection from evil government, but that will never be mentioned.)

Statists will insist that only government can be trusted with something this important, and they will attempt to force all of us into a single-payer, government-run, health-care rationing system.  This system will of course be “affordable,” because “somebody else” will be paying.  That’s Phase II.

Notice that the statists who created the mess will blame everyone but themselves and will claim that only they can fix the problem.  Will the American public be stupid enough to fall for it?  We shall see.

A simple country boy who can give a decent interview

Great video covering our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).

Please help us take this message to more students.  Support Pro Life on Campus with your generous gift of $1000, $500, or $100.

Or even better, join our monthly support team.  Whatever you can afford to give your local cable TV company, you can afford to spend on winning hearts, changing minds, and saving lives.  Remember, a little baby’s life is at stake.

Anna Maher and another SFL member talk about “choice” with a GMU student. They use a CBR “Choice” sign because they know the word has no meaning without the photo.

Social reformers like William Wilberforce and Dr. Martin Luther King knew they must avoid, at all costs, one particular sin.  They could not allow themselves to be ignored.  They could be unpopular, but they could not be irrelevant.

Anna Maher explains how she is forcing students to think about abortion at George Mason University (GMU):

Since having GAP 2 years ago at George Mason University, we aren’t popular on campus … but everyone knows who we are.  Our last event was packed out.

Not only did they display GAP, the GMU Students for Life regularly display hand-held “Choice” signs.  What an inspiration for all of us!

This photo was taken earlier this month. We thank God for young warriors like these!

Rand Paul:  Senators should read bills before passing them.  Really?

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created …  (US Declaration of Independence)

The Case for a Creator is an awesome film is about Lee Strobel’s personal journey from spiritual skepticism to a profound faith in God, the God who has etched his indelible signature upon every galaxy and in every living cell.  The film examines scientific evidence in the fields of molecular biology, astronomy, physics, cosmology, paleontology, and genetics to answer this critical question:  Does modern science confirm the theory that life and the universe are the products of blind, materialistic processes?

The DVD is available for purchase now.  Visit www.illustramedia.com for more information. Use Coupon Code YTIM15 to save 15%!

Part 1 of 10:

Pro-life singer Tori Harris is making her mark in Nashville.  I met Tori in Nashville a few weeks back.  After overhearing my conversation with a CBR supporter at a Panera Bread (my office on the road), she came over and let me know of her heart for the preborn.  In fact, she had recently returned from the March for Life in DC!

Pray that God will give Tori songs to help end the abortion holocaust.  Here she is, in a video also featuring up-and-comer Brian Campbell.

Gregg Cunningham speaks with Pastor Matt Higa of New Hope Kauai Church at Kapaa, Hawaii.  Watch the entire video below.

Excerpts:

The church response to this holocaust has been tepid, ineffective, timid, and risk-averse.  We are working to change that.

The Church is missing an enormously effective healing ministry [by covering up abortion.]  … We’ve had countless men and women tell us that actually seeing abortion forced them to stop rationalizing what they had done and seek forgiveness and healing.

If what we are doing is socially responsible and Biblically correct when we go onto a university campus to display abortion pictures to students whose professors are covering up the truth about abortion, why wouldn’t we do this on sidewalks outside churches whose pastors are covering up the horror of abortion?

One of my nieces asked me a few weeks back how ObamaCare would be different from the status quo of health care in America.  Good question.   Certainly the status quo isn’t optimal.  But it’s still the best health care system on the planet.  And ObamaCare will make it much worse.  Here’s a partial answer to her question.

The status quo is this:

1. If somebody needs medical attention, they can show up at the emergency room, the hospital is legally required to render assistance, and the cost is borne by the paying customers, and
2. Low-income people can apply for and receive needs-based assistance from Medicaid or one of its state substitutes, e.g., TennCare.

I have some second-hand experience with health-care delivery to a low-income person.  A friend of mine did not have insurance to cover needed cancer treatments.  He received the treatments anyway, as needed, and now he pays a little bit each month toward his bills.  He will never completely pay off those bills, but he will do what he can.  He is thankful for the life-saving medical care he received.  He has since qualified for Medicare.

I’m not arguing for the status quo.  I believe that for most Americans, the dominance of the third-party payers (either the Government for those on Medicare or insurance companies for everybody else) has driven the cost of health care much higher (in fact, many times higher) than it should be.  There are two big reasons for this.

1. First, there is zero cost competitiveness in the health-care delivery system.  If I wanted to look for a low-cost provider, I couldn’t do it.  The system wouldn’t let me.  When our son was one year old, we were told (falsely, it turns out) that he needed a test to confirm reflux disease, but they wouldn’t tell me what it would cost.  I needed to know, because insurance coverage for his condition was limited under a preexisting condition clause.  But they still wouldn’t tell me.  Is there anything else we buy where the supplier steadfastly refuses to tell us the cost before we buy it?  They get away with it because too few people have the slightest motivation to even ask, “What will it cost?”
2. Second, the nearly universal customer disinterest in the cost of medical care means that most of us will buy as much of it as is offered.  I have myself purchased several unnecessary and overly expensive tests because (a) the tests were offered and (b) I had no incentive to pass them up.  I guarantee that I would not have had those tests had I been required to put down a 20% co-pay.  We must find a way to reinstate cost incentives/competition back into medical care, but still provide health care to people who truly cannot afford to pay.  By health care, I mean health care, not wealth insurance for people who choose to forego health insurance premiums in order to purchase beer, cigarettes, cable TV, cell phones, etc.

Now, back to your question.  Here are just a few of the ways that ObamaCare will be different from the status quo:

First, it will hasten our decline into financial insolvency.  We don’t have the money in the Federal treasury to pay for it.  We know it will cost hundreds of billions of additional dollars to implement, and it does nothing to reinstate cost incentives back into the system.  Let’s step away from health care and look at the big picture.  Every election cycle, one political party makes it a point to claim that an ever-growing number of Americans are entitled — entitled, mind you — to a laundry list of free stuff.  Each election year, the number of “entitled” people grows larger and the list of free stuff gets longer.  And who is going to pay for all that “free” stuff?  It is to be paid for by an ever-smaller, ever more despised — despised, mind you — group of producers.  Can this continue?  Consult your own common sense.  If you need an example, see what’s been happening to Greece.

The ever-smaller group of producers couldn’t keep up with all of the Government spending even during the good economic times.  In the early to mid 2000s, the Government revenues were setting record levels, and we still had deficits.  During the more normal times, we have no hope of keeping up with spending.  And even less hope during the inevitable recessions that cycle around.  The cost of ObamaCare will only grow our debt even more, making our next recession even deeper and more painful.

As much as we would like to wipe away every human need in this country, there is simply not enough money to do it.  In the 1960s, it was estimated that if we “invested” 60 billion dollars into poverty programs, that poverty could be wiped out.  Trillions of dollars later, I could argue that the problem is worse now than then.  In fact, the Government instituted expensive programs that actually made poverty worse.  I have no reason to believe that ObamaCare won’t make health care worse than it is now.

Second, the implementation of ObamaCare will reinforce the belief that some people are “entitled” to the wealth created by others.  Without any incentives to limit their medical “needs,” they will demand more and more “free” services … “free” to them but not to those of us who will be paying the bill.  What is President Obama’s plan to deal with all the new demand for limitless health care?  Hire new doctors?  No.  His plan is to hire 10,000 new IRS agents.  (The CBO has said that the IRS would spend $0.5 billion to $1.0 billion to enforce the ObamaCare law.)

Third, it will create a new bureaucracy to administer all the rules.  The law itself was 1,000 – 2,400 pages (depending on who’s counting and what’s counted) of stuff that few, if any, members of Congress even bothered to read.  The final regulations will be tens of thousands of pages.  In fact, bureaucrats had generated 13,000 pages of new regulations as of July 2012, and they’re not done yet.  Who will be tasked with making sure all those regulations are complied with?  Just to simply stay out of jail, medical providers will be forced to hire additional compliance staff.  (Medical providers are already being forced to hire new staff to meet the ObamaCare electronic medical record requirements.)  Of course, the Government will have to hire their own army of enforcement officers.  After all, what good are regulations if they are not enforced?  And guess who will pay for all of that!

Fourth, you mentioned that you have yourself benefitted from the ObamaCare law, because it forced your parents to pay for the cost of your insurance for more years than would otherwise have been the case.  There was no net benefit here; there was only a shift in the costs from one person to another.  Plus, it only reinforced the idea that Government action could create “free” stuff for your benefit.  If you are getting “free” stuff, then others will line up to receive it as well.  I’m not criticizing you for taking advantage of the free stuff that you will eventually have to pay for — with interest payments and bureaucrat labor costs added on, you and perhaps your children will be forced to pay for it many times over — but I’m merely pointing out that “free” benefits aren’t really free at all.  You will pay dearly.

Fifth, ObamaCare drives up costs by mandating that all insurance coverage includes everything imaginable, even free contraceptives.  (The very idea that the guy down the street should be forced to pay for my contraceptives is foreign to me.)  The Government is deciding that you should have an unlimited list of free services, and they make it palatable for you by pretending that somebody else will actually pay for it.  Apply the same kind of thinking to your auto insurance policy.  Imagine that you could buy car insurance that paid for every imaginable automotive expense, including oil changes, new tires, minor repairs, major repairs, etc.  Would you buy it?  No way!  You would never buy that policy because it would be prohibitively expensive.  It would be great for the automotive repair shops, because you and all your friends would be lined up around the corner, demanding that the scratch on your door and the little rust spot on your fender be fixed, but this would drive up the cost of insurance so high, you would not buy it (unless you were forced to do so by law).  A free person acting in a free market would almost always choose a reasonably-priced automobile insurance policy to cover only the catastrophic losses, and accept personal responsibility to pay for everything else.  Most people would agree to pay for such nonsense only if they were forced to do so under threat of incarceration.  It is just as true for health insurance; the only way they can force this system upon us is to (a) lie to us by saying that “somebody else” is actually paying for it, and (b) force us to pay for it under threat of incarceration.  That’s what all those new IRS agents are all about.

Sixth, ObamaCare forces people — employees are people, too — to purchase abortions and contraceptives, a clear violation of conscience for many Americans.  People shouldn’t have to choose between closing their businesses (i.e., firing their employees) and violating their consciences.

Seventh, when this is all over, it will create a gigantic transfer of wealth to the abortion industry.  At $450 per abortion, the industry generates revenues of roughly $550 million (not including premiums for late-term abortions).  I’m convinced that ObamaCare will be manipulated to force that number up to more than $7 billion. (Link here for an explanation.)  Keep in mind that the abortion industry sells abortions at $450 apiece, not $5,472 apiece (the cost of a similar non-abortive procedure), because abortions, unlike every other medical procedure, are paid for directly by the consumer and thus are subject to the normal pressures of consumer economics.  When cost competition in the abortion market is gone, prices will rise accordingly.

Eighth, the cost burden to employers will incentivize them to hire fewer people, thus increasing the unemployment rate.  Who pays for that?  The greatest burden will fall on minorities and young people, because they suffer the greatest rates of unemployment.  But we will all pay a price, because the fewer people working, the more the rest of us have to pay to keep the ship of state afloat.  Worse than the financial cost of unemployment is the human cost: unrealized personal growth and development.  People who are not working lose the opportunity to learn, grow, and increase their value to some future employer.  They are stuck.

Ninth, by decoupling bad behavior from its costs, you only incentivize more bad behavior.  There will never be any shortage of human needs around us.  Some are due to circumstances beyond people’s control, but most are the result of bad behavior.  In this case, bad behavior can include laziness … simply deciding not to work and letting somebody else pay the freight.  When you make it easier for people to leave the ranks of the producers and join the ranks of the “entitled,” you can be sure that more of them will do it.  We all pay for that.  We all lose.  Such people lose their self-respect.  Their children learn dependency instead of self-sufficiency.  We lose their participation in the economy.  Our culture degrades.  We see the victims of degraded culture all around us.

Bad behavior also includes health-destroying activities like drug abuse, overeating, drinking, smoking, etc.  If we really wanted to improve the health of American citizens, perhaps we should spend the extra money (the trillions of dollars of money we don’t have) on programs designed to improve moral fitness.

Anyway, that’s all I have for now, just off the top of my head.  I suspect I have just scratched the surface.

Your loving but fearful uncle,

Fletcher

Role-playing helps PLTA students understand and retain techniques for answering the hardest questions.

Want to learn how to articulate and defend the pro-life position, even in a hostile environment?  How about others in your pro-life student or community group?  Would they want to be confident in answering the toughest pro-abortion questions?

Act now; we have openings for the Fall semester!

At the Pro-Life Training Academy (PLTA), we don’t just tell you what to say.  Instead, you will spend an entire afternoon practicing your best answers to their toughest questions.

But don’t listen to me, listen to Zack Wepfer, who attended the PLTA in Tuscaloosa, Alabama:

I can honestly say that the PLTA exceeded expectations and I feel confident in fully defending the prolife stance against anyone!  I will be able to use that training for the rest of my life.  I would highly recommend the training …

Levi Crawford concurred:

The world wants a philosophical argument grounded in reason, so pro-lifers like myself turn to the Pro-Life Training Academy (PLTA).  With the intuitive learning and detailed outlines we received, we were much more confident and successfully handled opposition at our next pro-life event on campus.  There is no doubt in my mind that the Pro-Life Training Academy was the key to our clear victory over the child murder apologists.  PLTA was simply invaluable.

We spend a lot of time on role-playing.  You will practice and become confident in your best answers to their toughest questions.  Act now; we have openings for the Fall semester!

Course Outline:

• Standing on the shoulders of giants.  Listen to those who came before.
• Modulated conflict is your friend.  Do not fear it.  Embrace it.  Use it.
• What is it?  The slam-dunk scientific certainty that life begins at conception.
• But when is life important?  The philosophical case for personhood at conception.
• Three steps to success:  Columbo Questions, Trot out the Toddler, and SLED.
• Hard questions:  Rape, incest, life of the mother.
• The genocide claim.  Abortion is not just another evil.

Would you like to host a PLTA in your city?  Please call us and we’ll set the date!  Act now; we have openings for the Fall semester!

When she sanctions consumer fraud as a means of victimizing abortion customers, she reveals a view of women that is both archaic and repressive.

Gregg Cunningham recently spoke at a church in Stockholm as part of a month-long European tour.  As perhaps the world’s premier pro-life strategist, Gregg is frequently asked to consult with pro-life leaders in Europe and elsewhere around the globe.  This particular talk was attended by Ida Ali-Abdulla Lindqvist, an extremist abortion advocate who posted a one-sided story on the Swedish state television website.  In this essay, Gregg responds.  Note: your browser can translate the links to English (or something like it).

Swedish Abortion Extremist Clearly Frightened of Abortion Pictures
by Gregg Cunningham

Shortly after my antiabortion presentation at a church in Stockholm, Ida Ali-Abdulla Lindqvist posted an extremist abortion manifesto on the Swedish state television website.  She misrepresented her position on abortion to gain access to our meeting (unnecessarily, because we eagerly welcome our adversaries, particularly if they are journalists) and then misrepresented the events which transpired at that meeting.

Mr. Mats Selander and I advocated the public display of prenatal development imagery and abortion photos to ensure that voters, and especially people contemplating elective pregnancy termination, possess the clearest possible understanding of an unborn child’s humanity and of abortion’s inhumanity.  In advanced societies, healthcare professionals are ethically obligated to present patients with disturbing clinical information, even over their patients’ objection.  The same duty should exist regarding abortion.  Ms. Ali-Abdulla Lindqvist, however, demands that this information be withheld.  Why does she fear the truth?   Because she can’t face the facts without losing the argument.

She incorrectly asserts that our “strongest weapon” is the use of “confusion, shame, and guilt.”  But in reality, our strongest weapon is the truth – the truth which must be seen to be understood.  The truth for which no words are adequate.  The truth revealed in our aborted baby photos.  That truth dispels confusion and can only induce feelings of shame and guilt if abortion is exposed as an indefensible act of violence that kills a real baby – which, of course, is precisely the truth Ms. Ali-Abdulla Lindqvist is trying to hide.

Ms. Ali-Abdulla Lindqvist says our abortion photos are “manipulation” and “mental abuse” of the “most disgusting sort.”  But it is Ms. Ali-Abdullah who is the manipulator and abuser.  Nothing could be more manipulative than abusing women by misleading them into abortions they would have rejected had they been shown the horrifying truth.  When she sanctions consumer fraud as a means of victimizing abortion customers, she reveals a view of women that is both archaic and repressive.

Ms. Ali-Abdulla Lindqvist then falsely accuses us of displaying abortion-related imagery which was not representative of most pregnancy terminations in Sweden.  This is not true.  Because 95% of Swedish abortions occur in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, 95% of our abortion-related imagery depicts embryos and early fetuses of 12 weeks or younger.  A brief look at our website (www.abortionNO.org) proves this point.

She also criticizes what she mistakenly suggests were a set of questionable “statistics,” but which I clearly explained were not “statistics” at all.  They were merely rough estimates being offered for purposes of discussion.

She refers to a question from a young man who asked whether any of our videos depicted miscarriages.  She intimates that my answer was evasive, but all of our abortion imagery was obtained at abortion clinics.  Women go to abortion clinics for abortions.  When women miscarry, they are generally treated in a hospital or their doctor’s office by the obstetrician/gynecologist who treated them during their pregnancy.  All of our abortion imagery depicts abortions.  Anyone who alleges otherwise is placing themselves on the same moral plain as Holocaust deniers who say Jewish death camp photos are fakes.

Ms. Ali-Abdulla’s racism and gender bias and are on full display as she rages against patriarchy generally and white men specifically.  Half the babies butchered by abortion are male and that alone should give men a voice.  But she is also an anti-Christian bigot.  She asserts that the Swedish Lutheran Church will not be perceived as a “modern institution” unless it suppresses meaningful dialogue regarding abortion.  Censoring speech may be a modern institutional value in some parts of the world, but thankfully not in Sweden.  Christianity is committed to timeless truth, not fleeting modernity.

Ms. Ali-Abdulla Linqvist is frightened of these pictures.  We can hear the fear in her voice.  Like most feminists, she wants no debate over abortion.  She understands that abortion photos make that debate more difficult to suppress.  She understands that abortion photos make that debate more difficult to win.  People yawn at words.  No one yawns at pictures.