LEARN and CBR team with ALL Black Lives Matter signs at the University of Missouri.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

The University of Missouri (Mizzou) was recently the epicenter of campus unrest nationally, primarily among the African American student population, but also including others who have felt offended for whatever reason.  The protests at Mizzou were an extension of the “Black Lives Matter” campaign that erupted after a law enforcement officer in Ferguson, Missouri was not indicted for defending his own life against a violent criminal.

At Mizzou, there were unproven allegations of racial slurs.  There were complaints about so-called “microagressions,” which may be loosely defined as any statement whatsoever that could somehow be twisted as potentially offensive to anybody.  Campus administrators were excoriated for failing to respond quickly and decisively enough to these offenses.  They failed, for example, to set up “safe places” for blacks only (a policy once known as segregation).  As a result, the Mizzou President and Chancellor were both forced to step down.

Many conservatives tried to keep a low profile, for fear of being accused of who-knows-what, but not CBR.  We teamed with the Life Education and Resource Network (LEARN), an African American pro-life ministry, to remind students at Mizzou that ALL black lives matter, not just the particular black lives that fit a certain leftist narrative.

Our “ALL Black Lives Matter” campaign, a derivative of our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), shows students that while they have been standing against injustices that may or may not exist, a huge, can’t-deny-it’s-there injustice has been going on right under their noses — most of the time, with their explicit approval.

On the third day, a sizable protest took place, with students displaying “I stand with Planned Parenthood” posters and engaging in clownish behavior typical of college pro-abort protesters.

Media Coverage:

• Mizzou students asked to fill out Bias Reports because of ‘offensive’ pro-life display
• MU anti-abortion group disagrees with Genocide Awareness Project’s tactics
• Student organizations speak out against anti-abortion graphic images outside Student Center

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

Engaging the pro-aborts at GAP, because we respect the dignity of every human person.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

They curse.  They celebrate baby-killing.  Some would say they bask in the glow of the fires of Hell in a self-righteous orgy.  But they are still human beings — still people made in the image and likeness of God.  They deserve respect and intellectual engagement.  We keep this in mind when we talk to pro-abort demonstrators at GAP.

Volunteer Marie Bastone approached the die-hard pro-aborts at Tennessee Tech University.  One of them that her church taught about the inherent human dignity of every individual.  Marie readily agreed.  Given they co-ed’s particular schooling in the faith, they had common ground!

On that note, Marie gently spoke to her and her friends about the humanity of the preborn child, hence their inherent human dignity that no one can bestow or revoke because it is inherent.  They didn’t seem to know what to say.  They had been intellectually engaged as equals and couldn’t find a flaw in Marie’s logic.  To top it all off, to show them that they weren’t just a bunch of (poor) arguments with pants on, but actual people with value, Marie asked each of them what they were studying.  By the time Marie left, they clearly saw her respect.  They were quieter and calmer.  And they were thinking.

Marie engaged a pro-abort woman who asked if the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) aimed to make abortion illegal.  To that Marie replied that laws reflect society’s values, as well as shapes them.  Legality is not necessarily morality, as the history of human slavery demonstrates.  Marie explained that GAP was to make abortion unthinkable by showing the results of abortion.  GAP was pointing out the violence against the innocent and asked if we as a society can find a more humane and just way of dealing with unwanted pregnancies.  The young woman questioned Marie for a very long time, trying to make a case for the necessary evil of legal abortion, though she did admit it was horrible.  Marie remained polite, respectful and focused, asking what could possible justify the evil that abortion is.  In the end, the young woman told Marie that she had not expected her to be “so rational and approachable”.

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

Mixed reactions to one powerful truth at UNC Wilmington.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

Here are an assortment of reactions and comments in response to GAP at UNC Wilmington, ranging from the heartwarming, to the disturbing, to the downright ridiculous.

Tolerant and loving.  Three students walked by and one said, “This is so embarrassing — to call abortion genocide.”  Jane Bullington chimed in and asked, “What would you call one million deaths a year?”  To that, the tolerant, loving student embraced diversity by saying, “Don’t talk to me, or you might get assaulted.”

Determined father.  A 19-year-old father of a pre-born child had his resolve strengthened by the pictures.  “My girlfriend is pregnant,” he told Jane.  “It will be hard but we will not do this.”  Jane spent a long time speaking with the young man.  While both have supportive families, they didn’t plan on being parents so early.  He was very nervous but also very grateful that Jane just listened to him and gave him encouragement.

Informed voter.  A young Republican told us after a long conversation, “I am asking a lot of questions because I need to vote appropriately.”  Music to our ears!  That is one of our goals.  We save babies in the here and now, but we also work to prevent future killing by helping Americans ask questions and “vote appropriately.”

Paradoxical or hypocritical?  A young woman made the standard battle cry, “It’s my body!”  But then she followed up with the paradoxical, “You should be ashamed of yourself!”  Not sure how that works.  Weren’t we displaying abortion photos with our own bodies?

Where have the gentlemen gone?  A male student started cussing Jane Bullington out, calling her a piece of you-know-what over and over.  He left after about ten minutes and Jane kept her cool the entire time.  Half an hour later, he came back and told her that while he didn’t agree with Jane, he respected how she willingly took his abuse.  He decided to consider what Jane told him.  Nice.

Forming personal convictions.  A young woman was starting to formulate her own opinions instead of relying on her parents.  She told volunteer Christy McKinney that during a recent sorority meeting, the co-eds were asked to raise their hands if they had an abortion.  She was surprised by the number of hands that went up.  We gave her more abortion information so that the facts, along with the pictures, could properly inform her opinions.

Idiocy gets folks killed.  One student insisted that abortion was perfectly okay because sex wasn’t enjoyable after pregnancy and birth.  Well I guess that’s the logical conclusion when you are willing to kill your children to preserve your sex life.

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

Open-area location allowed many ECU students to look, see, and know.

Here are some gems we found at East Carolina University:

Impressed upper classman.  “This is the best thing I have seen on campus in all four years!” said an ECU senior.  Here, here!

Brother-in-arms.  Pro-life activists often share their own stories with us.  A man who frequently walks and prays scripture around campus thanked us for being there.  In the 1970s, soon after Roe v Wade, he used laminated abortion victim images to do his own pro-life activism.  Many Christians and pro-lifers told him to tone it down, but he said “No way!”  He’s our kind of man.

Too much or just enough?  One student told us it was “too much”… at first.  But after speaking with our Jane Bullington, he said, “I see what you are doing and respect your right to do it.”  That was nice but the kicker was: “And yes, if this had just been a pamphlet you handed out, I would not be talking to you.”  Exactly.  Boy, our job would be so much easier if all we did was pass out pamphlets!  But that doesn’t get the work done.  That doesn’t engage the pro-aborts, fence-sitters, and even pro-lifers in a way that makes them want to come and hash it out.

Several African American students were touched by the pictures. Many of them spoke with Jane Bullington:

Look. See. Stop. Help.  “I didn’t want to look, but I had to look,” she said.  Jane asked her if she considered herself pro-life.  She did.  Jane replied, “Then I am glad you looked because when we realize how evil it is we will step into someone’s life and say, “Don’t.  I will help you.”

The “but” gets folks killed.  Another co-ed said, “They are little human beings.  I wouldn’t, but …”  The word “but” in this case is deadly, so Jane gently explained slavery “choice.”  A lightbulb went off!  “Well when you put it like that, I have just changed my mind.  I understand what you are saying.”

Big and tall, small and frail.  A big and tall young man was taken aback by the smallness and frailty of his fellow citizens.  “Wow! I had no that this is what abortion was.  They are so tiny!  And that is a hand!”

Need to see. “It’s gruesome,” she said.  “I didn’t know how developed it is so early. People do need to see.  Maybe they will make different decisions.”  It’s sentiments like that that will help to save the black community from pre-natal annihilation.

Conflicted to concluding.  Another young woman was not so sure as her schoolmate.  “It’s hard to look at, but I’m conflicted because it’s a woman’s body.”  However as she spoke to Jane, she began to understand that it was another’s body and it was murder.  “Abortion is a hard topic that people don’t want to talk about,” she said, “but we need to.”

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

GAP produces victories at every school.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

Here are a few gems from Georgia Southern University.

People need to see.  A female student was glad we were there, “I know the facts and while this is hard to see, I am glad you are here.  People need to know what the word means.”  Exactly.  People need to connect the dots.

Revulsion. A male student exclaimed, “Disgusting. How can people do that?”  The pictures are making more and more people ask that same question.

She looked like the picture.  An administrator came by and told us that while she was pro-life and abortion was never an option, she had never seen or realized that abortion was so atrocious.  “Startling,” she said.  “I have a 21 year old who was born at 24 weeks, and she looked like the picture you have on your poster.”  GAP connects the dots for pro-aborts, fence-sitters and pro-lifers alike.

Power of the pictures. In the Statesboro Herald, the journalist Scott Bryant wrapped it all up nicely when he said, “Photographs have the power to make us smile, laugh and remember the times of our lives.  They also have the power to challenge our assertions and confront our worst fears. And sometimes they have the power to offend our sensibilities and tastes.”  And when people start questioning why something offends their sensibilities and tastes, they start to connect dots and see that maybe things aren’t quite right.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

He was a sweet and kind Georgia Southern University student.  He understood the value and importance of human beings.  He understood evil and unfairness.

However, he truly believed that there must be a point at which human beings become distinct enough and awake enough to actually matter.  He declared, “I need to do more research to find out when reason, awareness, and consciousness begin, more than just the automatic process that kicks in gear at fertilization.  Otherwise I can’t tell you when I think we should have limits.”

Um…what?  Exactly who gave him the authority to decide who lives and who dies, based on of his future “research”?  Planned Parenthood?  President Obama?  No, not quite, but close.  Lucifer is the one who gave this young man his false authority.  After all, what he said is very reminiscent of what Satan said about the tree of knowledge of good and evil: “…when you eat [the fruit], your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gen 3:5, RSV-CE).  With a little bit of research you will be able to determine who lives and who dies.  You will be able to set the limits.

It’s a clever lie believed by the recent godless generations.  If there is no God to answer to, then man, admittedly the highest ranking creature in the material world, is the arbiter of good and evil, even life and death — even among his own kind.  The current culture empowers (coddles) young people until they are spoiled rotten and completely fooled into thinking they are the masters of the universe.  If they eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they can determine who lives and who dies.

A quiet campus, but a productive GAP.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

Columbus State University yielded several gems during GAP.  Here are just a few:

Horror brought to light.  A mother with two sons came to our display.  “Everything that is in my head is what I see in these pictures.  Thank you for doing this.”  She said she couldn’t conceive a third child and would love to adopt.

Potentially on chopping block.  She was a young woman born to a 16 year old mother 20 years prior — that could have ended very badly for both her and her mother if the abortion industry had anything to do with it.  She knew all the facts, including the one that said that human life begins at fertilization.  She was very pro-life and glad that we were there!

Shades of gray to black and white.  A male student was conflicted at first.  “It’s a reality. I wish it were not.  The human condition is more gray than white and black,” he asserted.  But after looking at the pictures for a while, he was more inclined to see abortion as a black and white issue.  Imagine thinking that slavery was a “gray” issue.  But of course, at the time, many people saw it that way.

Staggering numbers. A female student on the softball team told us: “I am pro-life but I had no idea about the numbers.  I am glad you are here.  If I can do something I want to.”  Gratitude and a call to action!

Decades of pain. A female faculty member told us, “I’m so glad you are here.  Folks don’t know what they are doing.  Fifty-year-old friends of mine still hurt.  It goes much deeper than people realize.”  And that is what we are trying to show them.

Spread the truth.  One young man asked, “Can I have a brochure? I want to show my bio-ethics professor.”  The pictures are like the ripples in a pond.  They spread by way of friends, co-workers, professors, and family.

Hypocritical country.  A male student told the ABC news affiliate during GAP, “It makes me sick to think that even though these images are out there — and I’m sure there’s plenty of other people who have seen them before — that it’s still allowed.  We stop genocides overseas, we stop genocides everywhere else, but we allow one right here.  It’s a little scary.”  Amen.

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

Young women hearing the lies, learning the truth, and heeding the call to action.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

She looked at the photos intently.  A bright and inquisitive young woman, she was one of four children — all now happy, healthy adults.  However, all four had been slated for execution before they were born.  After prenatal tests, the doctors strongly encouraged her parents to abort them due to the risk of miscarriage or birth defects.  Because their parents would not listen, the world is blessed with these four people.

Speaking of prenatal testing…

He said the human genome is so weak, we need to cull inferior genetic stock in order to survive as a species.  Where have we heard that before?  YIKES!!!

He said we should use prenatal testing with extreme prejudice to find people with defects and “delete” them in the womb.  He would have been glad to wipe out his classmate and her siblings (and possibly their mother and father) because of inaccurate tests.  This young man even said that if he had a birth defect, he would chose to be aborted rather than burden the world.

Hitler would have been proud, but the young man insisted his ideas were somehow not the stuff of Nazi fantasies.

Listening in…

Although his mind was made up, I continued to facilitate the conversation because three of his fellow students stood listening, and I wanted them to hear the insanity of his argument.  They appeared uncomfortable with his “purify the master race” ideas, as well they should.

After the young man left, I asked if they had questions.  Looking rather relieved that this guy had gone, they asked the usual hard-case questions, such as life-of-the-mother and rape.  After hearing my answers, they wanted to know more.  Specifically, they wanted to know what could they do!  Two them signed up for the new campus pro-life organization.  A third asked for contact information for the local crisis pregnancy center, so she could volunteer for them.

This is a frequent scenario.  We use our discussion with one student to reach many more who are listening in.

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

The pictures are an immediate call to action. Will you respond?

by Jacqueline Hawkins

“Where’s the sign-up sheet?  I need to do something!”  He strode toward the GAP display at Georgia Southern U and asked to sign up for the new pro-life club we are starting.  He had watched abortion videos the night before.  “This is horrible.  I have to do something,” he said resolutely as he wrote down his contact information.  Almost as quickly as he came, he left with a firm determination to do more.

Initially, I was pleased, because I thought him to be a pro-lifer now moved to action.  I imagined that his pro-life commitment had been galvanized by the pictures, much as mine had been years ago.

But it was better than that.

I soon learned that just the day before, he had been a committed pro-abort!  But after seeing GAP and speaking with our staff, the photos weighed heavily on his pro-abortion mind.  He went home and watched an actual abortion online (probably a CBR video).  Now he wanted to join our movement!

The pictures work.  They can change a life forever.  Let us pray that God sustains the zeal in this young man.  Let us pray that God will do a mighty work in his life.

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

Lincoln Brandenburg crosses the cultural divide to deliver a basic truth about human rights.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

One of the intriguing aspects of GAP is speaking with students from foreign lands.  Few have seen free speech like we do it.  When we brought GAP to Tennessee Tech University, our team spoke with several students from the Middle East.

CBR staffer Lincoln Brandenburg saw a young Middle Eastern man staring at the GAP signs, so he walked over and asked what the man thought.  Lincoln pointed to the pictures and asked, “Is it moral to have a child decapitated and dismembered like this?”

The young man didn’t think abortion was a good thing but emphasized that “it should still be the woman’s choice; we can’t force her not to.”  To him, it was a simple matter of not violating the rights of others, whether of not we agree with their decisions.

Lincoln and the young man discussed the humanity of the pre-born child and it’s implications.  Brandenburg pointed out that laws against hiring a hitman to kill one’s bothersome spouse also a man’s “rights.”  But such actions are innately at odds with the foundational right, and that is the right to live.  Without that basic human right, all other rights are meaningless.

If, as science confirms, the preborn child is human in the same way that her mother is human, then doesn’t decapitating and dismembering her violate her human rights?

As the men spoke, Lincoln frequently pointed back to the pictures of the abortion victims.  Before heading to class, the student shook his hand and told him: “You’ve really made me change my mind.  I realize that there’s more to this issue than I originally thought.”

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

Men and women gain strength from receiving truth at Fayetteville State University.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

Our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) always makes a special impact on students.  For some, it is a baby saved.  For others, it is hope and healing that comes only from confession and repentance.

Another baby saved.  “This is so ironic that you are talking to me, that this exhibit is here, and that you have asked me about this.  This is a divine appointment!  I am in this situation right now.  My girlfriend is pregnant and we go back and forth on what to do.  Thank you.”  Nuff said.

Manning up.  When asked about his thoughts, a young man replied, “Well I did this (abortion), so it’s hard to look at.  But I have to deal with it…”  Here is a young man confessing and taking responsibility for his actions.

Hope and healing.  A young woman also realized the gravity of her actions.  After speaking with volunteer Marie Bastone for awhile, she confirmed that she was post-abortive.  At the time, she felt abortion was the only way.  Her father is a very pro-life minister and she was embarrassed to be pregnant.  However, after seeing GAP, she realized that she had rushed into abortion without thinking.  She was starting to accept what she had done.  Here is a strong woman honestly facing herself and her actions.  It’s the first step to healing.

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

As long as free speech rights exist, university officials cannot censor our message.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

“No!” the female college professor said firmly when Bill and Jeanette Schultz offered her literature.  She did have a question.  Not surprisingly, her one question turned into a series of challenges with rude interruptions to any reply.  After Jeanette advised her that a conversation would not be possible if she continued to interrupt, she finally asked: “Why were you not here last year?”

Without an interruption Bill replied, “We should have been here last year and will make up for it by coming back next year and in future years.”

“You are not welcome at my university!” she retorted with strong indignation.

To that Bill responded, “Madam, this university belongs to you and the many open minded and gifted students who have visited with us.  Even now, students are continuing to express an interest in our truthful message.  We will be back for them!”

Without a single word, she abruptly turned and marched away, passing alongside the “All Black Lives Matter” display as several university student continued their dialogue with CBR volunteers.

In the leftist den of confusion that is the modern campus, some professors apparently believe that they own the school.  Sadly, in many ways, they do.  Together promote left-wing propaganda and punish nonconformity whenever they can.  However when GAP shows up and exposes the facts for all to see, it becomes much harder for professors to lie to their students.  Their monopoly over the debate is broken, and they don’t like it.  Not one little bit.

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

GAP teaches respect for the dignity of all human persons.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

“I’m gay, so this doesn’t affect me.”  So said a female student at Western Kentucky University (WKU).

CBR volunteer Marie Bastone responded that abortion affects everyone – it’s the most fundamental of all issues.  Marie told her that she came from the union of male and female.  If her biological mother hadn’t nurtured her in her womb, she wouldn’t be here.  Both the young woman and the developing child have the right to fundamental human rights and legal protections.

We often encounter students with same sex attraction (SSA) during GAP. Sometimes they are ambivalent about the issue, like the WKU student.  They are indifferent about prenatal injustice, believing that they themselves are not affected.  Other students with SSA are committed pro-aborts and join protests against GAP.

People with SSA often demand rights that don’t exist, such as the “right” to marry someone of the same sex, yet all the while denying the fundamental right to live for our youngest citizens.  We point out that disconnect.

Yes, of course homosexuality is a sin and and Christians we must stand against sin.  It is also deadly, self-destructive behavior and we must obey God’s command to “hold back those staggering toward slaughter” (Proverbs 24:11-12).  But we also respect the dignity of all human persons, and that includes people enslaved by grave sin.

.

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

Pictures instill fear in Christians, but change hearts and minds.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

“I am a Christian and a Baptist,” the Columbia State University co-ed said with righteous indignation.  “This display is wrong! … This doesn’t help!  We know what abortion is!  Dead babies?  NO!  Don’t show that!”

This young woman may have honestly believed that showing such pictures is wrong.  She may have thought people already know what abortion is.  But we think her reaction was mostly fear … fear of verbal reprisals against her and other Christians, perhaps.  The fear of rejection has prompted many pro-life Christians to cower under tables, hide out in CRU meetings, etc.  [We love Campus Crusade for Christ, but if the shoe fits …]

After some time she finally said, “Well I respect you and know you want to help.  I just wish you wouldn’t do it this way.”

We pray for Christians on campus to find their courage … and then find their way.  The world needs Christians to stand up and be counted.

Two other young women illustrate why our courage is so important.

They stared intently at the pictures.  One of them pointed to a 10-week abortion photo and asked CBR’s Maggie Egger, “That circular part there, is that the heart?”  Maggie replied, “I don’t know actually.  It could be the heart or it could be the stomach or something else, it’s hard to tell.”  The other girl chimed in, “But they do have a heart at that point, right?”  Maggie answered in the affirmative.  The two nodded and continued to study the picture for a few more minutes.  Then as they slowly walked away, one said, “I mean, that’s a baby!”  The other replied solemnly, “It’s a baby…It’s a baby.”

The pictures work.  When more Christians use them courageously, they will work more places, more often.  Please stand up and make your voice heard by supporting Pro Life on Campus.

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

Complacent or not, many saw the photos

by Jacqueline Hawkins

Fayetteville State University (FSU), a historically black institution, was a very calm school.  While there was definitely a good response in some that you can read about here, many students were quite indifferent.  There were no protesters and very little cursing.

Only a few students opposed our message, and they were not at all vocal.  A girl passed out popsicles to her friends and fraternities step-danced for their peers.

CBR Maryland Director Samantha Linnemann noted that “the most surprising thing for our entire team was the total apathy and indifference of the majority of students.  Many students merely sat or stood talking with friends, seemingly oblivious to the true horror and tragedy of abortion glaring right in front of them. They were totally indifferent about the deadly toll abortion has on their community.”

It was all reminiscent of the Eloi people in H. G. Wells’ classic The Time Machine.  The Eloi were childlike humans who lazed about without curiosity or discipline.  They had no need for intellect or strength.  It was more convenient not to work, so they didn’t.  But all was not well.  The Morlocks attacked and ate them at night.  Despite this danger, however, they did nothing.

It almost seemed that some FSU students nonchalantly accept abortion, even though it threatens the African American race.  It is far more convenient to do nothing about it, so they do nothing.

Even a young man who claimed that he cared for his future children — so much that he would never subject them to growing up in a poor, single-mother home — was perfectly fine with decapitating and dismembering those same children.  He essentially implied that he would abandon his own child, if she were inconvenient.  Better to kill the child than work to provide her with a good life.

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