Belligerent “White Trash” humanized by a story of heartbreak.

by John Stair

On the first day, we had a man dressed in a Halloween costume stalking around the pictures, yelling at us, with intense profanities and vulgarities in a fake New York accent.  The accent conveniently changed when he was stopped by the police for getting physical with a pro-life student.  His costume was a white garbage can, his hat was the lid.  We think the costume was intended to mock us as “white trash.”

On our second day at VCU, the suit was gone but he was even more belligerent.  He stalked a couple of our group who had tried to talk with him, but he only wanted to berate us for being there.  We told him they would not respond to yelling, but he only got louder.  He accusing us of not wanting to talk.

The protester yelled at me from a distance and asked me if I would speak with him.  I told him I would not, until we was willing to listen to what I had to say.  He said he would, so I walked over and told him I could have a better conversation if we stood closer together.  We were now about 4 feet apart, and I asked if I could tell him why we were there.

I shared the horrible experience of a miscarriage of my 3rd child, in our bedroom and into the toilet.  I told him about taking the tiny body to the hospital and giving the body over to the hospital personnel.  Years later, I realized they had just thrown that baby into the trash and I regretted not giving my child a proper burial.  I told him that CBR photos of a 10-week fetus in the womb are what I held in my hands after the miscarriage.

I told him about CBR staff—people of integrity, people with college educations, people who would never display photos that could not withstand intense scrutiny.  I encouraged him to investigate on his own as well.  He had some comments, but his response was much more muted and diminished, thanks to the Holy Spirit.  He hung around the display for a while longer, but he never yelled at or berated one of us again.

John Stair is a CBR Southeast Project Director.

Men in pink shirts and strange socks thought they would frighten us, but we are not that easy to scare.

More from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).

Stooping low out of respect?  A student complained, “I just wish you could present this so as not to disrespect liberal students and maybe they would listen.  And maybe find common ground.”

Hmmmm.  Looking at the crowed of half-naked, cursing, sex-crazed snowflakes, we wonder what they would consider “respectful.”

Kill ’em, cause I don’t want ’em.  A middle-age maintenance man took issue with the genocide comparison.  Not because he had an argument, but because he didn’t want to take care of his own children.  “Are you going to take in all those kids that live?  I’m not.”

A young man admitted that abortion is murdering a child, but he would still do it.

Demonic.  A young man came up to the poll table and voted that abortion should remain legal.  He wrote, “I worship Satan and I think abortion is great.”

Whom do you fear?  “I thought we scared them off, to be honest,” a male Planned Parenthood operative said when we showed up for Day 2 (3 days after Day 1).  Yeah, right.  Men in pink shirts holding “I stand with Planned Parenthood signs” are much less scary than God’s judgment on a nation that sacrifices its children to Molech.

Regrets.  We ran into a handful of people who were vocal about their regrets.  A woman had an abortion via plan B regretted it deeply. She started crying.  CBR staffer Jane Bullington tried to comfort her and told her that there was forgiveness in Jesus.

Standing up to bullies.  When he was 22, his girlfriend aborted his child against his wishes.  After that, he studied the facts and changed from pro-choice to pro-life.  He stood in front of the GAP display and engaged students for an entire day.  He was spit upon and harassed by “pro-choice” students, but he held his ground.

Jane speaks with a young man who became pro-life the hard way — his girlfriend aborted their baby.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overcome it.  (John 1:5)

Joyful.  An Asian freshman female said in a soft whisper, “I wanted to tell you that I am pro-life and that I am very joyful that you have come to our campus.  I pray for you and wanted you to know that not all the students here are like these protesters.”

Grateful but curious.  A Muslim woman was thankful about our sign comparing abortion to honor killings, but she was very curious about  how we even knew about this ugly part of the Muslim culture.  Honor killings are largely ignored here because the leftist media see Muslims as a force against Christianity, and they hate Christianity more than they love women.

An open mind.  Referring to the ill-mannered protesters, one student commented, “I consider myself pro-choice, but calling people names and demeaning others is not respectful. It’s not the way to get your point across.  When we leave this campus, we will meet people with different opinions.  This is not the way to discuss differences.”  Yeah, he’s pro-choice now, but he’d better watch out, because God can work with an open mind.

Defining “choice.”  Another student commented, “I understand they want choice, but if they watched a child being ripped apart and screaming in the womb, they couldn’t want this.”  Wisdom.

Rebellion against God.  Another student commented, “Abortion is just rebellion against God, and the government assists.”  More wisdom.

So right.  Student 1 complained, “Don’t you think this is too extreme?  Couldn’t you guys just set up a tent and invite people in or set up a table and not be in people’s faces so much?”  But Student 2 had greater insight, “No, man. If they did that, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”

CBR Southeast Director Fletcher Armstrong speaks with students at Tennessee Tech.

The new Centennial Plaza is a beautiful new venue at Tennessee Tech.  While there, we dug up a few gems to share.  (Don’t worry; no bricks were harmed in the mining of these gems!)

Appropriate response.  A female history major commented, “I have seen GAP a couple of times.”  When asked how she responded the first time she saw the pictures, she replied, “I went to the bathroom and threw up.”

Ready for battle.  An engineering student remarked, “We may have different views on the subject, but I appreciate that we can sit here and have a civil conversation about this. You are clearly passionate and well informed.”  Indeed.

Happy.  A male student welcomed us.  “I’m glad you are here. People say it is too graphic, but it is what it is.  People need to see it.”

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Angry.  Three female students, at different times during the day, said essentially the same thing.  “This breaks my heart and I get so mad when my friends don’t get it.  How can they not see it?”

Sad, but bold.  A female student in a medical major spoke of her brother’s child, who was aborted by his girlfriend aborted without his knowledge.  She said, “I could have been an aunt. And that relationship between them is also over.”  She took a photo of GAP and said, “I’ll post this on Facebook and see how many friends I lose!”

Selfish couple.  She tried to argue against the humanity of the unborn human child.  When that failed, she said, “Why should I have to carry a baby I don’t want, just so I can give it away by adoption?”

He didn’t say much.  As long as he can get sex without responsibility, why should he care?

Civil.  Student Carl said, “I really appreciate that I can sit here and have a civil discussion with you even if I’m pro-choice and you are pro-life.”

Barely alive.  A male engineering student said, “My mom was raised Muslim and became pregnant with me right before she and my father divorced.  Her family wanted her to abort me, but she chose to give me life.  It is so eye opening to see these images and think of how easily that could have been me.  My life was decided by a yes or no question.”

Another close call.  A female history student remarked, “I have a niece who is almost a year old, and she is my whole world.  I look at these images and think about how that was her just a little while ago.  How could someone destroy something so precious?”

Kelly Hicks speaking with young women about the painful truth of abortion.

Kelly Hicks was discussing the question of rape with two female students at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU), when another young woman overheard and interrupted.  She wanted to talk.  Normally, Kelly would ask her to wait her turn, but something moved Kelly to give the young woman the floor.

She cried as she told everyone that she was raped in 8th grade.  It was very traumatic.  Then she described going through with the pregnancy and choosing adoption for her child.  Already bold, GAP strengthened and inspired her to do a school project on abortion.  She wanted to reach out to victims like herself.

As you might imagine, everyone within earshot was speechless.

It only takes 2 sentences to define Western Civilization:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

This is the focal point of everything Western Civilization stands for:

• We are created beings.
• Because we are created, we are equal.  You can’t get to equality by way of Darwinian evolution.
• Our rights are granted to us by our Creator, not by government nor by popular will.
• Government is instituted not to grant rights, but to secure rights already granted by our Creator.

It’s that simple.  Thank God we finally have a President who is willing to defend our values and challenge all of us to do the same.