Newbie staff member Mik’aela Raymond went on her first GAP tour the Spring of 2018. She did great!

In the Spring semester, we focused our GAP efforts on North Carolina and Tennessee.  We traveled to Appalachian State, the University of Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, UNC Charlotte, and UNC Greensboro.

North Carolina is especially important, because it is one of the most important swing states in our region.

These are all schools we have visited before, but once every year or two is not too often.  New students come and go, so we always get a new audience.  Also, even when we get repeat customers, they often say that we move the needle on their opinions with each visit.

With your $upport, we will get abortion photos on every campus, every year.  With that much exposure to reality, it will be almost impossible for pro-abortion professors to lie to our students any longer.

Check out the press coverage:

• Anti-abortion images displayed on Sanford Mall
• Lean Into It: Sex Week, abortions and campaigns, oh my!
• Letter from the Editor: Why we’re not covering the Ped Walkway display
• Bio-Ethical Reform Club seeking new officers
• Pro-Life Doesn’t Have to Be Scary

by Jacqueline Hawkins

Brandon, the perennial graduate student, comes to every GAP.  This time, he brought his friend, Aaron, whose main sticking point was that we are calling aborting women Nazis, despite our prominent declaration to the contrary.

Joanna explained to him why that wasn’t the case, but he stuck to his guns, seeing himself as a champion for women.

Overhearing him, Alice walked up.  She was the epitome of cool.  She had long messy hair and a cigarette in hand.  “I have had an abortion.  I have 2 kids now.  I don’t see anything calling me a Nazi.”

Oh but she was wrong!  Her poor woman brain couldn’t understand!  And so Aaron proceeded to mansplain to her that GAP was calling her a Nazi and she should be offended.

Alice was unfazed.  Puffing on her cigarette, she calmly spoke in a soft voice, explaining to Andrew that she was not being called a Nazi and therefore had nothing to be offended about.  Her calm and cool demeanor diffused the situation and Aaron was forced to go mansplain to someone else.

GAP is like a box if chocolates.  Ya neva know watt yore gonna gay-yet.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

GAP at East Tennessee State University.

In response to GAP at East Tennessee State University, Lindsey King, Opinion Editor at ET Online, examined our handout, How Can You Compare Abortion to Genocide?  Her piece, Examining the “abortion is genocide” pamphlet, flunked the exam.

She starts with an ad hominem attack on Rabbie Yehuda Levin, whom we quote in the passage.  He said

Each form of genocide, whether Holocaust, lynching, abortion, etc., differs from all the others in the motives and methods of its perpetrators.  But each form of genocide is identical to all the others in that it involves the systematic slaughter, as state sanctioned “choice,” of innocent, defenseless victims — while denying their “personhood.”

It seems that, according to Ms. King and the Southern Poverty Law Center (a left-wing hate group), Rabbi Levin is not qualified to talk about genocide because he is an Orthodox Jewish Rabbi who quotes passages from the Talmud (which offend modern ears).  Interesting claim.

We also quote Elizabeth Cady Stanton:

When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.

Ms. King claims that there’s no evidence that Stanton ever said these words.  It would be more correct to say that the letter in which these remarks appeared cannot be found.  We found multiple independent sources which believe this to be an accurate quote, including here and here.  Further, there can be little credible doubt that Ms. Stanton and other feminists of her day were anti-abortion, which is really the point.

Ms. King also disputes the claim by embryology textbooks that each human life begins at fertilization, as chronicled here in great detail: When Does Human Life Begin?  She says that medical scientists should not be consulted on questions of medical science.  She says questions of science are for the philosopher to answer.  In other words, facts don’t matter.

Ms. King knows that she has no arguments to justify decapitating and dismembering little human beings, so she appeals to opinion editors who say we can’t really know if the growing human fetus with arms and legs and fingers and toes is really alive or not.

She links to a short video about personhood that perfectly illustrates our point.  The speaker doesn’t pick a side, but at the end of the video, he invites the viewer to

… try to figure out what you believe constitutes personhood.  As you consider the factors that you think are most important, be careful how you cast your net.  Make sure you include everyone you think should be included and exclude those you think should be excluded.

Bingo.  In other words, be sure to include yourself, but exclude the intended victim group.  Where have we seen that before?  Over and over again, perpetrators of genocide have redefined personhood in terms that excluded the intended victim class.  Over and over again, these victims were either in the way or had something that the perpetrators wanted.

Ms. King goes on to argue that because many (she claims as many as 50 percent) embryos die of natural causes very early in pregnancy, personhood should not be conferred at fertilization.  But the premise does not support the conclusion.  Most people die of natural causes at some point; that doesn’t justify killing them.

Finally, she avoids the question of when she believes personhood begins.  She doesn’t like our view that all human beings deserve equal protection, but she should tell us where she would draw the line between human beings who may be killed and human beings who must be protected.  And she should tell us what criteria she would use to draw that line.  In so doing, she should remember that every time we draw such lines, we get ourselves in moral trouble.

We strongly agree with Ms. King on one point:

Examine the information and arguments that are presented, think critically, [and] do your own research.

Amen.  Start here: www.AbortionNo.org.  And here: www.Abort73.com.

Lois Cunningham

by Lois Cunningham

In a recent Nashville Tennessean op-ed, Dr. Frank Boehm noted that abortion rates are falling nationally. That is perhaps true.

Dr. Boehm further believes that this drop is due primarily to the growing availability and use of contraceptives.

Not so fast.

Dr. Boehm notes that abortion rates are at their lowest in decades “due to a host of factors,” but then he ignores all factors but one.  He claims that “The reason abortion numbers are at the lowest level in years is relatively easy to explain: more women have been able to obtain and use reliable contraception.”

He gives no source for the contraception claim.  Let’s consider some of “the host of factors” for the decline in abortion numbers:

1. Women are being educated about the violence of abortion and its numerous risks to women, thanks to the efforts of numerous pro-life organizations (www.abortionNo.org).
2. Women now have access to free services and alternatives to abortion at several thousand pregnancy resource centers in all 50 states.
3. Women who have had prior abortions are speaking out in greater numbers about the deep regret they have felt after aborting their preborn children.
4. The law restrains abortion numbers.  According to Dr. Michael New, “A growing body of peer-reviewed research shows that public-funding restrictions, parental-involvement laws, and properly designed informed-consent laws all reduce abortion rates.” (Casey at 25: Pro-Life Progress Despite a Judicial Setback) Dr. Boehm gave no citation for his claim to the contrary.

Abortion numbers are not completely reliable.  The CDC reports that only 33 out of 52 reporting areas (50 states plus New York City and Washington, D.C.) include medical (i.e., chemical drug) abortion in their reports.  For the areas that do report, statistics from 2004 to 2013 demonstrate that medical abortion increased 110% to account for 22.3% of all abortions by 2013 (Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2013).  The reality is that an unknown number of medical abortions are executed through abortion clinics and at private doctors’ offices; they are never reported to the CDC.

Dr. Boehm advocates for “long acting reversible contraception” without mentioning the potential harm done to women’s reproductive systems.  These hazards include (1) perforation of the uterus which can damage surrounding organs, (2) intracranial hypertension, which can lead to loss of vision, (3) dizziness, (4) mood alteration, and (5) abnormal uterine bleeding. (Drug-Watch: Mirena; Abnormal Uterine Bleeding Associated with Hormonal Contraception)