GAP at University of Cincinnati

Day 1 at the University of Cincinnati was awesome, as always.  We encountered a steady stream of students willing to ask the typical questions and thoughtfully consider the case against abortion.  Time after time, students told us, “That really makes sense” and “I can see your point.”

This will be our last GAP for the 2011-2013 academic year, and I have to telly ou that the cupboard is empty.  I already have invitations for the Fall, but can I keep them.  Only you can decide.  When you support us, we can visit the largest and most influential universities.  Say YES to pro-life students by supporting their work … Click here.

CBR Volunteer Bryan McKinney speaks to a group of students.

Day 1 of the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) at Ohio State University (OSU) is in the books!  Great day with awesome opportunities to share the pro-life message.  Several students told us that they could not rebut our arguments and would seriously consider changing their minds.

One international student said he wanted to go back to his homeland and change minds there  (name of country withheld intentionally).

Many pro-life students and faculty members approached us and thanked us for coming!

Awesome day!  More to come!

I recently participated in a “Dialogue and Difference”  event at George Mason University.  This is a regular program designed to stimulate discussion on the issues of the day, sponsored by the GMU School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution.  Coming on the heals of the Sandra Fluke controversy, this event would focus on “Reproductive Rights.”

I must have done OK, because one of the attendees told GMU Students for Life President Anna Maher, “At first I thought, ‘How dare they get a man to talk about reproductive rights?’  But then I found myself agreeing with everything he said.”

After an opening statement by me and the other member of the panel, we were asked all the standard abortion questions.  It was a thoughtful crowed, not given to fits of rage.  This event has a rule against visual aids, so I was unable to show abortion video in my opening remarks.  No worries on that point, because we would be doing GAP at GMU a week later!  My opening remarks follow:

Opening Statement

Introduction.  Thank you for your interest in this topic, and for the opportunity to speak with you now and answer your questions later this hour. We often talk about being on “sides” in the ongoing debate about abortion, and we do have different perspectives. But I’d like to hope that we are all on the same side; all of us here tonight want to live justly with respect to our fellow man. We disagree about who constitutes our fellow man and who does not.

Let me start out by encouraging you never to believe anything I tell you. You can’t know if either of us has his facts straight or not, unless you check it out for yourself. You can’t know if I’ve left out important facts. My conclusions might be flawed. Even if I have plausible arguments, perhaps the other “side” has decisive ones. You must do your own research and ask hard questions of both sides.

Pro-Choice?  First, let’s talk about the word “choice.”  The debate about abortion is often framed as a debate over “choice.” Some on the other side even call us “anti-choice.” That’s very clever, because, speaking for myself, I am generally more pro-choice than most abortion advocates.

For example, I believe you should have the choice whether to use contraception or not.  My employer does not take a position on the morality of contraceptives, but I don’t know any pro-lifer who endorses legal restrictions on access to contraception, as long as it does not kill another human being. And, if you want to buy contraceptives for your neighbor, you should certainly have that right. But unlike most on the extreme left, I believe Big Government shouldn’t force you to buy contraceptives (or abortions) for your neighbors if you don’t want to.

Many on the far left believe that if you are in medical school or nursing school, you should be forced to participate in abortions as a condition of getting your medical degree. Your should have no conscience protections. How is that “pro-choice”?

Unlike many on the left, I think you should be able to choose what kind of medical insurance you buy and sell. Unlike the current Administration, I believe Big Government should not decide whether you can buy the blue pill or the red pill. (Or, for that matter, what kind of light bulb you can buy.) How is any of that “pro-choice”?

Limiting choice.  But all choices have limits. The way I learned it down on the farm, your right to swing your fist ends where somebody else’s nose begins. When your choices involve the death, harm, or risk of harm to another human being, then that is one circumstance in which Government, acting on behalf of civilized society, should step in to protect the weaker from the stronger. That’s why we have laws against murder, rape, fraud, speeding, dumping toxic waste, etc.

And if anybody can prove that the preborn child is not a living human being, but something less than human, then I’m more pro-choice than anybody here.

Who is the preborn child?  There is no justification for restricting access to abortions … and a lot of what I will say tonight will make no sense at all … if the preborn child is anything less than a living human being. If anybody can prove that the preborn child is not a living human being, then I’ll happily withdraw.

But in fact, the humanity of the preborn child is not a matter of claim. Scientists, respected medical textbooks, and even abortion advocates like Peter Singer acknowledge that an individual human life begins at conception.

Current controversy not about contraception, but about abortion and who will pay for it.  Another tactic that you should be aware of is that of talking about access to contraception, as if that were in jeopardy, when the real goal is to secure government funding for abortion. This is really about abortion, who will pay for it, and what kind of profits can be made.

Nobody, that I know of, has advanced a policy proposal that would make contraception illegal, except for those methods that are not really contraceptives at all, but are, in fact, abortifacients.

Yes, there are some whose personal religious views preclude the use of contraception. There are others who simply think it’s not a good idea to use them. Others believe it is good to use them, but are concerned about creating a society with too few children. Many cultures in Europe are literally dying.  But contraception is a matter of personal morality that is best left to the discretion of the individual citizen.  [Note: CBR takes no position on contraception because it is a theological matter, as opposed to abortion, which is a matter of social justice because it kills an innocent human being. CBR opposes the use of contraceptives that can act as abortifacients.]

Your money means windfall profits for the abortion industry.  Make no mistake. When you hear the word “contraception” in the current debate, it really means “abortion”. Contraception is already cheap and easily available in the free market, as little as $10 per month. That’s not worth a fight. The fight is over abortion. If access to government funding for “contraception” can be enshrined in law, then the abortion industry needs only to find a sympathetic judge to declare that abortion is simply another form of “contraception”, equally eligible for Government funding.

Many on the Left are simply ideologically committed to the notion that Big Government should take money from the rest of us to pay for abortions. Their motivations are political and personal. But for others, the motivation is greed. As soon as Big Government is paying for abortions, you can count on the price to increase dramatically. On my blog, I’ve shown how the passage of ObamaCare could increase Planned Parenthood’s abortion revenues from around $137 million to about $1.7 billion (with a b), and ultimately could easily reach more than 3.5 billion. The profit motive is strong, to say the least.

We have the power, so  you pay.  For decades, the Left has said, “You don’t like abortions? Don’t have one.” Clever, but now we know it was disingenuous as well, because now that they wield the power of Big Government, they say, “You don’t like abortions? No matter, you will pay for them, whether you like it or not.”

Seeing is understand.  To understand what I mean when I say the word abortion, you need to see it. I can’t show it to you now, but I would encourage you to go to www.AbortionNo.org and watch the video on the home page. That’s AbortionNo.org. AbortionNo.org. You won’t like what you see.

Marie Bastone is one of our favorite GAP volunteers. Here she is at the University of Massachusetts.

Marie Bastone, one of our favorite GAP volunteers, e-mailed me about her experience at UConn and UMass.

I had a stimulating & challenging 4 days with GAP.  UConn s were out vigorously protesting the display with some students coming quietly to say that appreciated that we were there.  The next 2 days at UMass at Lowell almost made the gang at UConn look like lambs.

On the morning of Day 2 at UMass, one Asian student very, very respectfully and humbly came to say that he was a pro-life,  pre-med major who volunteered at a nursing and pediatric clinic.  He said he had thought hard about the pictures and their message and took it home with him the previous night.   This morning,  asking his peers to listen to what he had to say, he got down on his knees and begged us to please take down the pictures, because they had hurt one female student who had been sexually assaulted.  The kids cheered.

In response, Frank Diorio got down on his knees and beautifully and eloquently begged this young man to consider how the pictures save lives.  This student listened with his head down, eyes closed and nodded quietly …

I can almost hear Frank telling this young man how a second assault (abortion) can never undo the first one.  Many women who are raped and then abort will tell you that they now regret their abortions, and that healing from the abortion was more difficult than healing from the rape.  This is because they had no control over the rape, but the abortion was an act of barbarity that they themselves consented to.  Marie went on …

I myself had some serious exchanges with students.  The funny thing is that the ones who were most hostile and resistant were the ones who kept coming back, both days and both morning and afternoon.  There was some intense emotional shouting and rage.  It was interesting, and, as always, a privilege.

Actually, Marie, the privilege is ours.  We can’t wait to do it with you.  For those who can’t come do this in person, why not help another way?  Would you be willing to support this work at $100/month, $50/month, or $25/month?  Whatever you can do will make a huge difference in the lives of mothers and children.

CBR volunteer April Pearson explains how perpetrators of injustice always frame their arguments in the language of "choice."

CBR’s Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) made it’s first appearance at the University of Missouri (Mizzou) last week.  Story here.

Students for Life member Teresa Fricke explained why they wanted us to bring GAP to Mizzou:

The reason we are doing this [on] campus is because on a given day, there could be 140 pregnant women who are on the border [about] whether to abort their baby or not, according to the numbers we have seen.

CBR volunteer April Pearson describes a conversation with a couple who could face that question at any time:

The couple both agreed that they would consider abortion if they found out tomorrow that they were expecting.  After discussing abortion with them for a long time, the young man told me, “I don’t know if I agree with everything here, but you’ve definitely changed my mind.  I think I’d want us to adopt now instead of abort.”  His girlfriend said, “I’ve always seen this kind of thing (pro-life viewpoint/activism) as pushy, but this has been really different.  You’ve made me think a lot, and I’ve appreciated talking with you.” 

MU student Brianna Blackmon supported the message of GAP:

I believe the comparison between the abortion and KKK and Nazi Germany is valid because murder is murder.

 Medical student Robby Jones disagreed, according to The Maneater, the student newspaper:

MU medical student Robby Jones said he hates the pro-abortion rights and anti-abortion rights dichotomy in the first place, but said he is pro-abortion rights because people in desperate situations will seek abortions whether they are medically accessible or not.

Using that logic, if somebody is desperate to get his cotton picked, then slavery should be legal.  Not only should it be legal for the guy with the unpicked-cotton crisis, but for anybody.

Abortion pictures pierce through denial about basic facts, and thereby open the way for Kate Kennamer to have a rational dialogue with passersby. Rational dialogue is impossible when people deny the basic fact that every abortion is an act of violence that kills a baby. (Note: this caption was corrected on 5/16 because one of the students in the photo has commented below, and as best we can tell, he was NOT willing to have a rational dialogue on this occasion. We routinely have civil discourse with people who are pro-choice, so apparently we jumped to the wrong conclusion in this case. FAB regrets the error.)

Earlier this month, 4 CBR staff and volunteers spent the day at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK) with hand-held “Choice” signs.  “Choice” signs are 3-ft-by-4-ft, light-weight, hand-held signs that depict aborted babies in the first trimester.  These signs simply show students what “choice” really is.

CBR volunteer Debbie Picarello spoke with a male graduate student who said his mother had 2 abortions before giving birth to him and his living brother.  He learned of her abortions a year ago.  He believes much of the dysfunctionality his mother has displayed toward him and his brother was a product of her abortion-wounded heart.

His own father is also the father of one of the aborted children, and their marriage is not a good one.  One of the symptoms of an abortion-wounded heart is relational difficulties. 

A pro-life male student wondered how effective graphic pictures are.  Debbie explained the historical significance of images, that reformers have been effective when they used images to expose the humanity of the victims and the inhumanity of the crime.  Debbie doesn’t ‘like’ these pictures, but she could talk about how effective they have been.  He seemed more open to the need for the pictures.

A male student said, “Eww, a hand!” as he walked by.  Several students, both male and female proclaimed loudly, “Those are disgusting!”  Yes, that’s the point.

We got lots of encouragement.  Quite a few students, both male and female, either thanked us for being out there, or gave a thumbs up as they were walking by.  Many students took our Unmasking Choice handout.  Many others gazed intently at the pictures as they walked by.  Mission accomplished!

Most universities have spaces where citizens can hold signs and speak with students, even without an invitation.  In this case, we were invited by the UTK Collegians for Life.  The president of Collegians for Life is Clint Kennamer.  Clint became pro-life when he first saw abortion at our GAP display at the University of North Florida (UNF) in 2009.  Clint was at UNF because he came with his wife Kate, who was a CBR staff member at the time.  Now, Clint leads pro-life activism at UTK and Kate still volunteers for CBR projects!  Yes, the pictures work!

Folks, if you want to have a GREAT day, get a couple of your own Choice signs and visit your local college.  You will be teaching powerful truth that people are desperate to know.

Because of her own personal story of abortion and forgiveness, Debbie Picarello is able to share hope and healing.

A crowd gathers at the University of Massachusetts as Bryan McKinney (blue baseball cap) explains how the systematic killing of 1.2 million unwanted preborn children every year amounts to genocide.

The Spring 2012 I-95 Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) tour made its final stop last week at the University of Massachusetts (UMass).  We are indebted to Bill Cotter of Operation Rescue: Boston for filing this report:

Students wandered by all day, with a dozen to as many as fifty students gathered at any one time to look at the posters and debate with the GAP staffers.

Reason was in recession while conditioned reflex responses abounded: “What about rape?” “What if the woman lives in poverty?” “It’s not genocide!” “Perverts!”

Sometimes it bordered on the hysterical. “It’s not 24 weeks!” shrieked one woman in response to a poster of a 24-week abortion. Meaning what? That an older (or younger) abortion would not be OK? Why? Why not?

While the insults and hyper-emotional defenses of abortion suggest a society on its last legs (which may be true) they may also be symptoms of people being redeemed. The strength of the GAP exhibit can be summed up in one word: truth.  And truth is more than facts.  Truth is a Person … a victorious, conquered-sin-and-death Person … who has been known to incite shrieks and hysteria in people afflicted with Darkness.

When the exhibit is long gone from the campus, and emotions have quieted, the images will remain burned into the minds of observers, relentlessly bringing to light the self-evident truth about our national sin. The blessed ones will yield to that truth. The rest will remain at war.

Responding to an article by Ms. Erin McCann that appeared in The Maine Campus earlier this week, I left the following comment:

Ms. McCann’s piece actually illustrates some of the very points we make with our GAP display.

But before getting into that, I should mention that, of course, abortion is not genocide … if.  (Only two letters, but it’s a big word.)

If pre-born children are not living human beings, then abortion does not kill humans and there is no relevant similarity between abortion and genocide. But if pre-born children are living human beings — science tells us they are both alive and human — then abortion kills 1.2 million humans every year in the U.S. If not genocide, what else would we call it?

But back to Ms. McCann and her penchant to demonstrate the very behaviors we cited in the GAP display. If you examine historical episodes of genocide, you find that the perpetrators always frame their arguments in the language of choice. Stephen Douglas, when he debated Abraham Lincoln in 1858, said that the Southern states should have the right to choose whether to be slave states or free states. Individual slave owners were simply exercising their choice on whether to own slaves or not. You can almost them say, “You don’t like slavery, then don’t own one!” For those who perpetrated the Holocaust in Europe, they were simply exercising their choice to have a racially pure state.

Ms. McCann spoke of our Maine Director Leslie Sneddon as a “token.” She should realize that ad hominem attacks and name-calling are no substitutes for reasoned arguments. Yes, our staff is about half men and half women. It is unclear to me how the genders of various CBR staff and volunteers have anything at all to do with the important questions of (a) whether it is ever morally acceptable to kill human beings without justification and (b) what criteria will be used to decide which humans may be killed and which humans must be protected.

Ms. McCann is correct about one thing. She notes that, “Isn’t it interesting how the male can do whatever he pleases, but the female must live with the consequence? Only the female is left with the decision between ‘right and wrong.’” Sadly true. Reminds me of something Mark Crutcher often says, “Abortion is something done by men, to women, for the benefit of men.” So many males — I cannot use the term “men” to describe such people — want sex without responsibility. They use every trick in the book to get it. But when cancer-causing birth-control hormones are passed out, who gets to ingest those? When the worst symptoms of STDs show up, who bears that burden? When somebody gets pregnant, which one is it? It’s always the woman.

His response is often to threaten abandonment. It can be an overt threat or a thinly veiled one, such as, “It’s not my decision, it’s yours … Whatever you want to do.” In other words, “The decision … and especially the guilt that goes with it … are yours alone; I’m going to go hide somewhere until you get it taken care of.” (With testicles like that, you wonder how he could even make sperm.)

Feminist Susan B. Anthony had some words for him: “Guilty? Yes. No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; But oh, thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime!”

As it turns out, “free” sex ain’t so free, and it’s the woman who most often has to pay the price. The sad irony is that every bit of it flies under the banner of “women’s rights.”

GAP display and RCC truck at UConn. The RCC truck helps project the message to all corners of campus and into the surrounding community.

Our I-95 GAP tour continues this week in Connecticut and Massachusetts.  On Monday and Tuesday, we were at the University of Connecticut (UConn).  Kudos to CBR Maine Director Leslie Sneddon for setting up this phase of the tour and CBR Midwest Director Darius Hardwick for bringing the display and several volunteers.

Day 1 was uneventful, except for the normal pro-abortion angst that we were exposing their deeds.

But on Day 2, several protesters showed up and attempted to stop our team from setting up.  The UConn Administration refused to give in to thuggish behavior and required the protesters to move aside so that our space reservation could be honored.  All moved to adjacent space except two, and those two were arrested.  Story here and here and here (good video) and here and here and here.

Now, on to the University of Massachusetts!

Pro-abort protesters attempt to block GAP at UConn on Day 2.

GAP at the University of Maine

Lots of media coverage at the University of Maine (UM) and the University of Southern Maine (USM).

The Maine Campus:

• SWA addresses GSS to voice concern over planned protest
• Video: Anti-abortion group Genocide Awareness Project riles emotions at UMaine
• Editorial: GAP gore fest brings out worst for all involved
• Op-ed: GAP’s avowal of abortion as genocide utterly unfounded
• You hurt your own cause: An open letter to the Genocide Awareness Project
• Columnist: GAP’s hyperbolic crusade against women warrants only contempt

Bangor Daily News:

• Anti-abortion demonstrators, gay marriage opponents bring messages to University of Maine

WLBZ TV (Bangor)

• Students talk abortion at U-Maine

USM Free Press

• Anti-abortion group coming to Portland campus Wednesday and Thursday
• Anti-abortion display raises hackles on campus
• Kelley: Anti-abortion agitators ignite a different debate

WCSH TV (Portland)

• Abortion protest stirs strong emotions at USM (very well-done)

WGME TV (Portland)

• Anti-Abortion exhibit set up at USM

Portland Daily Sun

• Anti-abortion mural exhibit triggers USM student reaction
• Anti-abortion exhibit stirs emotions, elicits student reaction at USM
• USM students urge ‘compassion, civility’ in face of anti-abortion installation

Maggie Egger and Kristine Kruszelnicki get ready for the students to arrive. Abortion photos allow just a few people to have a huge impact.

Maggie Egger of Spiders for Life and Nicole Cooley of CBR organized a Choice Chain at the University of Richmond (UR) on Monday.

The abortion pictures are what the military calls a force multiplier.  They allow us to take a small amount of resources and create a huge effect.

One student tried the “famous violinist” argument on Nicole.  Of course, we are all veterans of the Pro Life Training Academy, so we know exactly how to answer that question.  Nicole pointed out that the famous violinist is not analogous to the preborn child because

• The violinist is not the offspring of the host.
• We all recognize that we have responsibilities to our own children that are greater than our responsibilities to a random stranger.  For example, we are required by law to support and care for our born children.

That seemed to be enough; the young man just turned and walked away.  Nicole could have added:

• The child is not an intruder.  He is exactly where he naturally belongs.
• Withholding support is not the same as dismembering, poisoning, and/or crushing.
• Except in the case of rape, the host actively participated in the act that created the pregnancy.

This being a private school, the normal First Amendment protections did not apply.  For example, CBR staff and volunteers were not permitted to speak to a UR student unless first approached.  However, when the UR students began chalking messages on the plaza (a common activity on college campuses), CBR volunteer Jonathan Darnel got his own chalk and started to respond.  It was just like our Free Speech Board.  The pro-aborts complained, but UR administrators allowed him to continue.

Media coverage here.

Jonathan Darnel awaits a ruling on whether he could continue chalking messages on the plaza. He had started to write a quote from Dr. Alveda King: "America will not reject abortion until America sees abortion."

The Good: George Mason University (GMU) earns an A for handling a number of competing interests in conjunction with our visit earlier this week.  The Bad: We are not happy that it has taken 8 months for Students for Life to become registered as a student group, so that they can enjoy the same rights as other groups on campus.  The Ugly: Because the Students for Life group wasn’t allowed to even discuss event planning for the past 8 months, a conflict was created that could have been avoided.

Organizing a Student Group.  At GMU, recognized student groups can do things that individuals and non-recognized groups can’t do, such as reserve space, host events, etc.  It’s a big deal.  Recognition requires that the students find a faculty sponsor (i.e., a university employee) to sanction their club.  If you can’t find a sponsor from the eligible pool of university employees, you have fewer rights (unless you are willing to challenge the system in court, which we would do if we had to).

Finding a leftist professor is easy.  Although liberals comprise only 20% of the American population, they are 72% of all college professors.  Finding a conservative professor is much harder, especially one that has tenure and isn’t job-scared.

This whole system can create a burden that would never survive a judicial review.  How could any attorney argue that the university doesn’t discriminate against conservative students, it’s the university employees (i.e., the faculty) who discriminate, and the university can’t be held accountable for the actions of their employees!  It would never fly, but how many students really understand how to fight back?

Because the Students for Life couldn’t get registered, they couldn’t even talk to event planning staff about planning GAP, reserving space, or anything else.  Finally, as the end of the school year approached, we were out of options.  We chose a date and notified GMU that we had been invited by students, registered or not, and we were determined to accept.

Space assigned. After receiving our letter, GMU assigned us a location on Central Johnson Plaza to erect the GAP display.  The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered and Questioning (LGBTQ) group had reserved East Johnson Plaza (a better space) for Pride Week 2012 activities, which is fine.  It is common for concurrent activities to share the East Plaza, but the LGBTQ group had reserved the entire East Plaza for their exclusive use, so we were offered the next-most desirable space, which was still visible to most passersby.  (See map below.)

However, the LGBTQ group was none too happy that the pro-life students had been granted space within view of East Plaza.  They needed only part of East Plaza for their activity, but they wanted everything in sight.  We absolutely respect the right of any student group to reserve space for whatever activity they would like to hold, but one group of students shouldn’t be able to reserve their own space and also reserve away everybody else’s rights.

First Amendment good for all. Meanwhile, the Patriots for Choice student group, who came out to protest GAP, were initially assigned space way down on the West Plaza, which might as well have been on another planet.  We lobbied for them to be granted better space.  For the First Amendment to mean anything, it belongs to all of us, so we must defend that freedom for even our fiercest foe.  Eventually, GMU officials allowed the pro-abortion students to move up to a better location.  In fact, they occupied space on the East Plaza, previously reserved by the LGBTQ group.  Seems they are allied in opposition to the pro-lifers.  We welcomed that move.

Sound. On Day 2, we would like to have set up our sound equipment for Open Mike.  This GAP kiosk allows anybody to pose a question to CBR and hear the answer.  Speakers amplify the sound for any crowd that might gather.  Unfortunately, amplified sound tends to disregard space reservations and just fly all over the place.  Being good citizens, we didn’t believe we could broadcast sound that might interfere with the prior reservation held by the LGBTQ group, so we decided not to do it.  We hope that we can return for an Open Mike session during a future Choice Chain event.

What the parties needed, reserved, wanted, and got.

GAP on the Mall at the University of Maine

GAP continues this week in the key state of Maine.  On April 9-10, GAP is at the University of Maine at Orono (UMO).  Coverage by UMO’s student newspaper, The Maine Campus.  Quote from the article:

Amanda Rivers, a second-year social work major, walked out of a morning class and saw the display.

“I’m so glad that they’re here,” she said.

Rivers said she always knew she was pro-life but didn’t understand the extent of her commitment to that mindset until she saw the photos, which she described as “graphic.”

“I came out of class and just did the walk around and honestly started crying,” she said.

Her views on abortion were cemented after she spoke with a GAP protester, and she said she doesn’t believe there are any circumstances in which abortion is a moral decision. She now describes herself as firmly anti-abortion.

“I am now. One-hundred percent,” she said.

She said she understands why the group of students gathered around Hardwick to argue with him. …

Full article here.  Please add your comments online!

George Mason hosts graphic abortion photo wall

Lots of media coverage at George Mason University (GMU) and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).

The Washington Post:

• George Mason hosts graphic abortion photo wall 

The Broadside at George Mason University:

• Abortion protest stirs controversy
• Freedom of speech only stretches so far

The Commonwealth Times at Virginia Commonwealth University:

• Graphic images draw criticism from students
• Anti-abortion protesters display, emanate negative values

WTVR-TV in Richmond:

• Students, group hold abortion rallies on VCU campus

.

A crowd gathers at George Mason University

We’re way behind in reporting on our continuing I-95 GAP tour!  It will take weeks to catch up!

The second day of GAP at George Mason University (GMU) was a huge success.  One GMU administrator told us that he had never seen so many people engaged in serious discussion as he observed on the Johnson Plaza in front of our GAP display.

Lily Bolourian, president of Patriots for Choice, was quoted in the paper as saying, “We believe that the whole notion that abortion is genocide is absolutely ludicrous.”  She is, of course, correct … if the preborn child is anything less than a living human being.  The problem for her side is that medical school textbooks, embryologists, and pro-choice philosophers all agree that the preborn child is a living human being.  That means we are killing 1.2 million human beings every year.  What else would she call it?

I had a productive (I think) discussion with Ms. Bolourian.  We actually share a lot in common.  We both want to live justly with our fellow man.   She is just confused about who her fellow man is.  We shouldn’t be too harsh in our judgment on that point; George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and even George Mason himself were similarly confused.  They excluded human beings on the basis of skin color.  Because if it, millions of people had their lives stolen from them.

When Ms. Bolourian brought up the breast cancer link, I was able to show her the latest compilation of studies that address the link.  It is true that some studies have failed to show this link to be statistically significant, but because of my background in experimental statistics (PhD minor), I could explain the difference between (a) failing to show that two populations are different at a statistically significant level and (b) actually proving that they are the same.  I was able to explain that if abortion increases a woman’s chance of breast cancer from an ambient level of 10% to an after-abortion level of 13%, we can estimate that 300,000 women have died from abortion-induced breast cancer since Roe v. Wade (source).

Ms. Bolourian thanked me for the kind of dialogue we were able to have.  She thought respectful dialogue to be a rare commodity between our two sides.  She said that’s why they encouraged their members not to engage with us.  I said, “You mean you told your people not to come and talk to me?”  She admitted that she had.  I replied, “Looks like you broke your own rule!”  We had to laugh as we parted ways.