“You all are a bunch of racists for comparing abortion to slavery!”

The accusation is almost comical.  We hear it all the time from students who have no better argument for decapitating and dismembering little human beings.

But of course, we didn’t invent the comparison.  Long before there was a CBR, Jesse Jackson compared abortion to racial injustice.  He must have been a racist.

As it turns out, Republican presidential candidate and retired neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson has also equated abortion with slavery.  He must be a racist, too!

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by Nicole W. Cooley

At the Shenandoah Valley Soap Box Derby, a complete stranger asked, “Did you go to Tennessee?”

He seemed really excited about my orange Tennessee hat.  I hated to disappoint him, but “No, my boss did.”

Furrowed eyebrows.

I continued, “I am a pro-life activist.  We travel all over the country with our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), and I always get a hat from each campus.”

Who knew a simple baseball cap could spark a conversation about abortion with a complete stranger?

… he carefully dismantled each [fallacy] in a patient way, not acting superior, but as if he were merely suggesting another way to look at it.

I’ve been a collector all my life.  I collected Longaberger baskets for years.  I still buy a new basket on occasion, but at over 200 baskets, I’m pretty satisfied there.

As a child, I collected rocks from the different places we lived.  We were a military family that traveled all over the world, so I have lots of rocks, including some neat limestone from England and large round rocks from a beach in Scotland.

But of all my collections, my current one is the most meaningful to me.  You see, every hat has a story.

At the University of Tennessee, I spoke at length with a student who used to be pro-life, but changed her mind in college.  Veteran pro-life apologist Mick Hunt took the lead.  I call him “the philosopher” because he’s great at talking with students who are wrestling with higher-level questions.  Her struggles centered around “bodily autonomy” arguments like the “famous violinist” who could be saved by an unwilling kidney donor.  We sat on the grassy knoll across from the display for over an hour.

Mick gently explained how a mother’s relationship to her own child is different from a person being forced to offer his kidney to a complete stranger.  I took note of his probing questions to specifically identify the fallacies in her thinking.  I also saw how he carefully dismantled each one in a patient way, not acting superior, but as if he were merely suggesting another way to look at it.

I’m not sure if that young lady is pro-life today or not. But, I do know she must have wrestled with the things we talked about for some time.  Most people are not solidly pro-life without having first wrestled a bit.

For most people, being pro-life or pro-abortion is a continuum; few are truly 100% pro-life or pro-abortion.  Most get hung up somewhere along the line because of those pesky “exceptions” to the rules.  They struggle with the idea of telling a rape victim she should carry to term or with preventing abortion in the case of fetal abnormalities.  That’s why GAP is such a great tool for college campuses.  We help students wrestle with the hard questions.  We challenge the status quo of their own opinions.  We put pebbles in their shoes and force them to think.

After watching Mick Hunt at work, I vowed to be ready next time.  I went home and studied the bodily autonomy arguments in depth.  At the next GAP, I would be ready to plant a few pebbles of my own.

Nicole Cooley is a CBR project director and a new FAB contributor.  This is the first in a series of “hat blogs” about memorable conversations gleaned from her experiences with GAP.

CBR’s Jackie Hawkins boldly showing the truth

by Kendra Wright

Sometimes people say we would be more effective if we “just passed out brochures.”  One student at East Carolina University (ECU) suggested we  “take it down a notch.”

Martin Luther King and William Wilberforce were not afraid to be bold …  and they didn’t conquer social injustice with informational brochures.  Several at ECU realized the effectiveness of our strategy and the need for boldness.

At ECU, one man stopped and faced the truth.  He exclaimed, “Wow, I had no idea this is what abortion was!  They are so tiny … and that is a hand!” He would not have known if we had not showed him.

Another student claimed that the display was “”too much.“” CBR’s Jane Bullington explained the history behind using pictures and how we focus on changing minds.  He said, “I see what you are doing and respect your right to do it.  If this had just been a brochure handed out, you and I wouldn’t be talking.”

A gentleman who regularly walks the ECU campus and prays scripture over it was so glad we were there.  He too had used abortion photos and had stood his ground when told to stop.  Other Christians and pro-lifers had told him to tamp it down, and he said NO!

CBR also says NO!  We will not stop giving the unborn a voice!

Kendra Wright is a CBR project director and a regular FAB contributor.

Becoming informed about abortion.

by Kendra Wright

When we showed abortion victim photos at Georgia Southern University, students wanted to know more.

One student cried out, “Please, somebody, tell me what this is all about!”  That is exactly what we want them to ask.  The pictures create opportunities to bring life-saving information to students who know very little about abortion.

Another student exclaimed, “I don’t know how abortions are done. Please tell me!”

Yet another wanted more information about the local pro-life pregnancy help center.

A biology student told us that she knew the facts about the preborn.  She said, “While this is hard to see, I am glad you are here.  People need to see and people need to know what the word means.”

That’s why you sent us … to give life-saving information to the people who need it most.  Please consider a generous investment in the lives of babies and moms.

Kendra Wright is a CBR project director and a regular FAB contributor.

Diana Jimenez speaks with a student at Cal State Long Beach.

The Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) returned to California State University Long Beach (CSULB) in April, hosted by the Catholic Newman Club.  What a rare thrill to work with a Christian group with the courage of their convictions!

Media coverage:

• CSULB Catholics bring pro-life advocates to campus
• Bio-Ethical Reform should not be allowed to display graphic photos for its anti-abortion campaign on campus
• Letter to the editor: Genocide Awareness Project
• Letter from the editor: the ‘Genocide Awareness Project’
• Letter to the editor: Ban the Abortion Fort

Notable responses:

“Our goal is to get them banned from campus because of how uncomfortable it makes people feel.” (Karina Sarabia, sophomore English major)  [Translation: “Messages and people who make me uncomfortable must be banned.”]

“Everyone has the right to demonstrate his or her beliefs, but … these pictures should not be displayed in the center of campus ever again.”  (Tuyen Dinh, junior journalism major)  [Translation: “The US Constitution is a living, breathing document, so we can make it mean whatever we want it to mean at the time.  My friends and I get to decide who has rights and who does not.”]

“[Their signs said], ‘Do not engage’ or ‘Want to help? Just walk away. Do not engage.’  Were they attempting to silence GAP because the pro-life side was actually making sense and was more compelling than theirs?”  (Meredith Amon, CSULB Sophomore)  [Answer:  Yes!]

“A university is a place for learning, so there is simply no excuse for the ignorance that was on display two weeks ago.”  (Ariana Sawyer, Opinions Editor)  [Translation: “Ignorance = any knowledge I wish to avoid.”]

“If the pictures are scarring and viewers are uncomfortable, wouldn’t your next thought be ‘why?’  Why the negative reactions?  There must be something disturbing about what is being photographed.  A picture is nothing but a neutral, unbiased portrayal of what is on the other side of the lens.”  (Dyanne Roper)

Not sure you can be open-minded and “fueled with the rage of a thousand suns” at the same time. Here is an open-minded student viewing the GAP display.

Interesting comments on our website during GAP at Tennessee Tech University (TTU).

Visitor, a 22-yr-old female, said that she was fueled with “the rage of a thousand suns about how closed-minded people can be.”  I wonder how open your mind must be in order to contain that much rage?

When I encounter closed-minded people, they are almost always on the political left.  Why is that?

Anyway, she went on to say that abortion is “a great option for people not ready for birth.”  Au contraire!  When I wasn’t ready for birth, the only safe option for me was to stay right where I was.

Moms: getting children ready for birth for thousands of years.

At Fayetteville State U, CBR Project Director Jackie Hawkins explains how abortion is the leading cause of death (and voter suppression) in the Black community.

We need the Black community.  Without them, we cannot win.  And who better to advocate against pervasive injustice?

That is why we were thrilled when the Life Education And Resource Center (LEARN) brought our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) to Fayetteville State University (FSU) in North Carolina, one of many historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) who need to see that all Black lives matter.  It was our first visit to this school.

See CBR’s new All Black Lives Matter signs and press release here.

“I saw so many being enlightened, some weeping, and others willfully joining our opening and closing prayers. The dialogue was transforming.”  (LEARN National Director Johnny Hunter)

One group of students said they even watched part of Maafa 21 in class, because of our presence on campus.

Media Coverage:

• “All Black Life Matters” project visits HSBC Fayetteville State College students
• LifeTalk:  Johnny Hunter interviewed on Life Dynamics
• Life Dynamics: Students react to All Black Lives Matter abortion display

“CBR has always been burdened by the fact that the abortion rate in the African American community remains tragically high. Black women account for 36% of all abortions despite constituting only 11% of the female population.”  (CBR Executive Director Gregg Cunningham)

For more details, read this letter from Gregg Cunningham explaining the All Black Lives Matter Initiative.

Kudos to CBR Maryland Operations Director Samantha Linnemann for making this event possible by bringing equipment and personnel to Fayetteville and managing the site.

CBR’s Kendra Wright explaining the pictures to a group of journalism students.

It was by far the best campus Christian organization we have ever encountered.  They are Ratio Christi and they don’t have time for the “pizza for Jesus” tomfoolery that wastes so much time in youth ministry today.  Young Christians are very weak because nobody is preparing them to take a stand.  But Ratio Christi is different; their unofficial motto seems to be, “We’re trying to pick a fight!”  And they are good at it!

The fight we helped them pick was over child sacrifice at the U of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW).  Ratio Christi, along with College Republicans (CRs), invited us to bring our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) and Pro Life Training Academy (PLTA) to UNCW for the very first time.  By God’s grace and your support, we made quite a splash.

Our display location was along the Chancellor’s Walk, which is the primary walkway to get from anywhere at UNCW to just about anywhere else.

Campus newspaper coverage of GAP:

• The Ever-Growing Controversy: Pro-choice or Pro-life? (published about a month before GAP)
• Genocide Awareness Project comes to UNCW
• Controversial Comparison of Genocide and Abortion

Local news coverage of GAP:

• Two UNCW student organizations bring controversial display to campus
• Controversial display has people talking at UNCW

Lightning was an issue both days on campus.  For our GAP displays, CBR has adopted the NCAA protocols for outdoor athletic events (although our staff and volunteers are normally much less exposed than the typical baseball center fielder).  We vacate the site whenever lightning is detected within a 6-mile radius (less than 30 seconds between lightning flash and sound of thunder), and stay in a sheltered location for 30 minutes beyond the last such strike.

Patti Shanley of Raleigh, North Carolina traveled with us to Michigan for a week of GAP.

This was our first trip to Grand Valley State University (GVSU).  The GVSU Students for Life did an awesome job of hosting both GAP and our Pro-Life Training Academy (PLTA).

The Quote of the Week came from one of the students who actually came out to protest against GAP:

You saved my future children.  I would have aborted them.  Now I won’t because I know what it looks like.

Media coverage:

• GVSU Lanthorn: Anti-abortion demonstration ignites debate
• Editorial: Civil Conversation
• Letter to the Editor
• Lanthorn response to letter to the editor
• WZZM-TV: Pro-life students host graphic display on GVSU campus

They get snow in Michigan, but that won’t stop us!

On the first day of GAP at Oakland University (OU), Christina Lo Piccolo wrote on her Facebook page:

The cost of my student group hosting the Genocide Awareness Project:  $5,000

The look on my professor’s face when he asked if I saw the disgusting display outside and I told him I helped organize it:  PRICELESS!

What a thrill to work with young heroes like Christina!  The thrill is even sweeter because our trip was paid for by student fee money, just like last year!  Students for Life collaborated with a dozen other campus groups to pay our expenses out of their respective student fee allocations.

But the best part of the week came at the very end, when Christina again posted on Facebook:

This past week was life-changing to say the least.  I was able to participate in 3 days of the Genocide Awareness Project to educate students about abortion.  Hearts were changed and students were motivated to take action.  I can hardly wait to graduate and continue this work as a full-time career.  “Y’all” are like family to me, and working beside you feels like home.

Did she say “Y’all”?  How bout dat.  We get to do GAP and learn a Yankee how to tawk!  It don’t get no better-n-at.

Seriously, we’ll never end abortion if we don’t get folks like Christina to join the battle full-time.  The other side has made killing babies a full-time profession, but we’ve made saving them a part-time hobby.  We can’t do anything without volunteers and financial supporters like you, but we absolutely need more like Christina to do this full-time.  Such a victory is well worth the trip to Michigan!

Thank you for making this possible with your gifts and prayers.

CBR’s Kendra Wright reinforces the abortion photos with logical arguments.

For the first time ever, CBR hit Georgia Southern University (GSU) hard with the reality of abortion.  Faculty, police, press, and students alike couldn’t deny what abortion does to a human being.  Nearly a dozen students said they will organize a pro-life group to continue the work.  Pray that they will!

One administrator said her own daughter had been born at 24 weeks; she said her baby, “looked like the picture on your poster.”  She was startled by the contrasting photo of a dead 24-week-old baby, killed by a late-term abortionist.

One of the most encouraging responses: “Where’s the sign-up sheet?  I have to do something! This is horrible.”

Campus police were a constant presence.  One officer debated with a couple Liberty students and did his best to defend choice.  It was an unusual but welcome bonus.  The officers, doing their job and standing near the display, allowed us to do ours and influence them with the pictures and our words.

We even had media before GAP:

• Police: Graphic images of abortion to be seen on Statesboro streets (story on truth trucks)
• Anti-abortion group: Graphic images to be displayed on Georgia Southern campus

A reporter from the Statesboro Herald interviewed several CBR members, students, and GSU staff.  (If you can get the Statesboro Herald website to work,) You can read his article here:

• Graphic images and the First Amendment

One student said, “Disgusting!  How can people do that?”  Another commented, “I know the facts and while this is hard to see, I am glad you are here.  People need to know what the word [abortion] means.”

One of the most encouraging responses: “Where’s the sign-up sheet?  I have to do something!  This is horrible.”  Indeed.

Ruby Nicdao

by Ruby Nicdao

We overlook flippant comments, because it is critical to engage people with opposing or dismissive views and help them reason.

As one couple walked hand-in-hand past our display, I offered a brochure and asked what they thought.  The guy answered, “I’m an art student, so I’m indifferent to this.”  His girlfriend smiled at the retort.

Ignoring his dismissive attitude, I asked, “Okay, so what do you think of our artistic layout?  Do you agree with our comparisons?”

He responded, “Yes, I would agree with the comparison.”  He pointed to the dismembered baby’s hands and feet wrapped around the top of a quarter (an obvious national symbol) and remarked, “That looks like America stands behind abortion.”  Even though he was saying it in jest, there was truth in what he was saying.

I pressed further, “Okay, I know you are being facetious, but do you think the the pre-born is a human life?”  He said he did, but that he is not a female and this was not his choice to make.

I pushed further, “If this were a toddler and her mother tried to kill this toddler, would you stand up for this child?”  He said he would.  [This is a variant of the trot out the toddler argument.]

I continued, “Okay.  So if your girlfriend became pregnant and she wanted an abortion—and you just admitted that the pre-born is a human life—would you stand up and speak up for your child?”

He then said, “Yes, yes.  I guess I would.”

This one man’s shift of attitude won’t change the world tomorrow, but he did begin to think of abortion as a serious human injustice.  He saw the need to stand up for one child about to be killed, especially if it were his own.

Ruby Nicdao is a CBR Project Director in Virginia and is a frequent FAB contributor.

Virginia Project Director Maggie Egger explains how abortion decapitates and dismembers little human beings.

by Maggie Egger

Abortion photos don’t just make converts; they educate and energize people who are already pro-life.

At Radford University, a young man approached me and asked, “Are you the people I’m supposed to interview?”

“I don’t know,” I replied.  “We’ve had a good number of people interview us for their classes.”

“OK, great!  I must be in the right place!”  As he pulled out a notepad, he said, “I’m Catholic.  So I’m, ya know, pro-life.”

I told him I was excited to hear that, but from the way he said it, I could tell he was not strongly committed.  It seemed like he was raised in a pro-life house, but he didn’t necessarily buy all of it.

“Jacob” began to ask questions about the display, e.g., what was our purpose in being there, what kind of reactions did we get, what did we think of the protesters, etc.  He appeared to believe that the preborn are human beings, but he didn’t know much about abortion in general.  He knew the answer to “What is the preborn?” but he didn’t yet fully understand the answer to “What is abortion and what does it do?”

Then he asked me why we compared abortion to genocide.  Before talking about personhood, dehumanization, and all of that, I simply said,

“A lot of people say that our comparing abortion to genocide is ludicrous and offensive.  And you know what?  They’re absolutely right, if the preborn are not human beings, in the same way that you and I are human beings.  If they are not human beings, then (a) abortion doesn’t kill them, (b) abortion is no different from getting a tooth pulled, and (c) any comparison with genocide is absolutely insane.  But, as you and I both know (because science tells us), that every human life begins at fertilization.  So, abortion kills 1.2 million human beings every year in the U.S. alone.  I don’t know any word for that, other than genocide.”

“Wait, what?  How many abortions a year?”

“1.2 million.”

His eyes grew wide in disbelief.  He shook his head.  “Wow!  Yeah, you’re right.  That’s what it is … a genocide!”

We walked around the rest of the display so he could see all the different pictures, and he asked a few more questions.  When we finished he said, “Thank you so much for taking the time to explain all this to me. I’ve learned a lot.”

Yes, he had learned a lot.  And that knowledge left him more committed to the pro-life position.  That’s why you send us.  There are many more like Jacob, so please send us more places, more often.  And ask your Christian friends to do the same.

Maggie Egger is a CBR Project Director in Virginia and was the Project Manager for CBR’s recent GAP visit to the Commonwealth.

Rio Hondo College welcomes GAP to campus.  (Click on photo to enlarge; see yellow sign in background.)

When we expose abortion, two things happen.  People who have aborted feel the pain of knowing, but babies are saved because of knowing.

“I might be pregnant now and I’ve been thinking about having an abortion.”

CBR was at Rio Hondo College in November when a 32-year-old student approached our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP).  She had aborted her child some years ago and now lives with regret.  She is married but unable to conceive.  She told volunteer “Carol” that she thinks she is being punished by God for having aborted her only child.  Carol sought to encourage her by telling her how God works in our lives and by bringing up the possibility of adoption.

“Rhonda,” the wife/girlfriend of a campus security guard, asked Carol about people’s response to GAP.  As they talked, Carol shared her own testimony of having aborted, the deep regret, and how it has affected her life.   Then Rhonda told her own situation to Carol, “I might be pregnant now and I’ve been thinking about having an abortion.”

Carol told her about the student who aborted and now cannot have children.  Rhonda had never thought of that possible consequence.  She was worried about the economics of raising a child, citing a $400,000 figure she had read.  Carol helped her understand that those numbers do not reflect most people’s needs; Carol had been raised without her parents having much money, but there was always love in the home.  At the end of the conversation Rhonda said, “I don’t think I’ll have that abortion now.”

Three women came up to CBR’s Lois Cunningham and one asked what Lois would tell a woman who was contemplating abortion.  Lois told her we would (1) show the abortion pictures to educate her, (2) be sure the woman has adequate support in her life, including supportive family and friends, if at all possible, and (3) take her to a pregnancy help center/clinic for services.  The lead woman than told Lois that she has a friend who is pregnant and planning to abort, but she was now going to show her friend our photo brochure and tell her about pregnancy help clinics.

These are only two of the babies who may have been saved as a result of CBR’s presence on campus.  If you will help us, we are committed to showing students the truth about abortion so we can spare them and their children from the brutality of abortion.

Debbie Picarello, who is post-abortive herself, reaches out to pro-choice protesters. She can offer hope and healing in ways the rest of us never could.

With tears in her eyes, she said, “I interned all summer with the political arm of Planned Parenthood (PP).  People called me a baby-killer all summer.”

She had been well-indoctrinated by PP—clean, safe, regulated, counseling, psychological help offered, ultrasounds given, etc.

“We save lives,” she claimed.

She was speaking with CBR’s Jane Bullington, standing in front of the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) at James Madison University (JMU).

Jane kept reminding her, “Abortion kills a human being.”  She hated that.

“It is not a human.  What if it is not wanted?”  (As if being “wanted” makes one  human.)

“You can’t ask the mom to work at McDonald’s so she can have a kid and go to college; that is too demeaning.”  (As if hard work is “demeaning.”)

[This reminded us of the Middle Tennessee State University student who said his mother was unmarried and waiting tables when she got pregnant with him.  But she got serious about her life and went back to school.  Eventually, she would become head nurse at a hospital and make close to $100,000 a year.  It was a strong counter-example to the poverty myth.  He went on to say that if she had aborted him, she would still be waiting tables.  Anyway, back to JMU.]

Her most astounding statement was this: “Women have evolved and our bodies are not designed to carry and deliver these babies anymore. They are too big for our small pelvic bones.”

Lemme get this straight.  PP’s buddies on the Left say it took millions of years for the human body to “evolve.”  Now, in only two generations, the female reproductive system has further “evolved” into something dysfunctional?  Why?  Because of evolutionary pressures?  From what?  Radical feminism?  Has PP become that ridiculous?

Believing lies has consequences.

She began to cry uncontrollably and kept saying abortion does not kill babies.  Jane now knew she was post-abortive.  She was seeing, for the first time, the monstrous lies she had told herself and others.  She was horrified.

It was horrifying to us, also.  We were too late to save her oldest child(ren), but we pray the truth will save her younger ones.

We also pray she will repent of telling abortion industry lies and tell the truth from now on, to others as well as to herself.  We pray God will use this painful experience to save many babies and moms.