Abortion pictures at a day care center?
At our GAP presentation at Auburn, some complained that we displayed graphic photos near a day care center, where they might be seen by children. We don’t know if the University administration notified the day care staff or not, but they had a month to do it. Unless we show pictures in the public square, the killing will never stop. No injustice in history has ever been eradicated by covering up the truth.
In 1997, the movie Schindler’s List was shown on network TV during the family viewing hour. Some expressed concern that children might walk into their living rooms and see the graphic violence before parents could intervene. Those people were laughed to scorn, “How dare they suggest that this movie shouldn’t be shown in places where children might see them?” They even said that children ought to see this movie, so that they can prevent such an injustice from ever happening again. That movie, by the way, was much more difficult to see than any of our abortion pictures.
We won’t submit to a double standard. If it’s appropriate to show a violent movie so that people, even children, will understand an injustice committed in another place and time by another group of people, then it’s appropriate to show pictures of an injustice that we are commiting ourselves, right here and right now.
Additionally, horrifying images of violence are routinely published on magazine covers and on newpaper front pages. These images are placed in checkout lines at the supermarket. Millions of children see them. Nobody complains about that.
We really have only two alternatives. If we show the pictures, some children may be disturbed by them, but other children will certainly be saved by them. We might even stop the whole bloody mess. But if we cover up the truth, the killling will never stop.
Tags: abortion pictures, Auburn University, GAP, Genocide Awareness Project
This entry was posted on Friday, April 26th, 2013 at 10:00 am and is filed under Campus Debate (GAP). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
3 Responses to “Abortion pictures at a day care center?”
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April 26th, 2013 at 6:34 pm
Hi Fletcher, I remember the student prolife president remarking over and over to people that they HAD informed the childcare center through the University but that it wasn’t a big issue because they all went through the other entrance.
April 30th, 2013 at 9:23 pm
Abortion is very revolting to some people and other people see it as a way of helping desperate women. This is an argument that no side can win.
April 30th, 2013 at 11:14 pm
Sheri, thanks for your comment. To your three points, I’d say the following: True, True, and Not Really.
1. True. Abortion is very revolting to some people.
2. True, other people see abortion as a way of helping desperate women.
3. Not Really. First, winning the argument is different from winning the political fight. Perhaps you were referring to whether anyone can win the political fight. And yes, to the extent that items 1 and 2 remain static, we cannot win. However, the fight is absolutely winnable if we can (a) get more people to see abortion for what it is and be revolted by it, and (b) reduce the desperation that women feel when facing an unplanned pregnancy.
Getting more people to see abortion is just a matter of putting abortion photos in places where millions of Amercans can’t avoid seeing them.
Helping women feel less desperation requires a multi-facted approach: (1) showing the truth to boyfriends, husbands, family members, friends, employers, etc., so that they will be more likely to help women instead of pressuring them to abort; and (2) provide support to women through our network of pregnancy help centers. We also need to help people understand that abortion creates more desperation than it relieves.
To the extent people are paying attention, we’ve won the argument already, even though we are a long way away from winning the political fight. Quoting Meredith Hunt:
“While abortion seems entrenched into our culture, in the realm of reasoned argument, the abortion choice movement has lost the game entirely. With the advances in observing the life of children in the womb, the work to educate university students on the true nature of abortion, and the logical arguments that demonstrate the humanity and personhood even of an embryo, abortion-choice rhetoric shows itself to be empty. It’s strong on absurdities, non sequiturs, false history, and demonizing characterizations of pro-lifers. If you add to our intellectual victory the network of nonprofit agencies that serve women in a crisis pregnancy and confirm the compassionate heart of pro-life ideas, the defeat of the abortion choice position is total.
“The problem is, legal abortion isn’t dependent on sound jurisprudence or moral reasoning. It never was. ‘Pro-choice’ efforts in those directions have been no more than gauze over the power to kill. They’re an illusion to make the terrible seem less terrible — to comfort people so they can do what they want, and to mislead the desperate.” (source: http://box2012.temp.domains/~fletchl3//time-magazine-wrong-where-it-matters/)