Can you believe we have never taken GAP to Wild and Wonderful West Virginia? After traveling their famed Country Roads, we found ourselves at Marshall University. The Herd, as their students are known, was quite unwelcoming and had few rational responses. However, we truly saw 1 Peter 2:15 in action: “For such is the will of God, that by doing right you may silence the ignorance of foolish men.” Many hearts were softened, if not completely changed, that day.

Hypocrisy at its finest. After agreeing that late term abortion is morally wrong, one student claimed it was still a woman’s right to choose. Another took the same view seconds after declaring that targeting gay babies in the womb is wrong.

Sharing the Gospel of Life. A young Christian student agreed with our stance on abortion but said we should only preach the Gospel to change minds. What would’ve happened if we used her methods to stop the racial segregation in the 1960s?

No regrets. It’s always sad to see women flaunting their abortions, claiming to have no regrets. The only thing we can do is pray for these women and hope the display touches their hearts.

Next week we’ll share even more stories from Marshall!

Not the point.  One protestor’s sign said “How can I be old enough to be a mother but not old enough to have an abortion?”  Our images show the truth about abortion; it is child killing in the womb.  The age of the mother does not determine the humanity of the child.

Hope in our youth. Two young men were standing near our signs, discussing amongst themselves. Jane overheard one say, “Because I am not in a situation where I can afford to take responsibility for a child, I plan to wait.”

Student to student.  Dan said he was against abortion, but we were “doing it wrong” by showing abortion images.  His friend Ellen had a different view.  She had had an abortion and was lied to; she was told her baby was a blob of tissue.  After learning the truth about abortion, she felt betrayed and regretted her abortion.  She told Dan that we were actually “doing it right” in showing the truth to others who were undoubtedly being lied to as well.  Amen.

Enemies of the Left. In his book Siege, Mark Crutcher says that this is not our war; it is a war between the pro-aborts and the pre-born children. We, the pro-lifers, are an army fighting for those who can’t fight for themselves. We were reminded of this while at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte when students held signs that said “F*** those kids!” They must make the poor children their enemies to justify murdering them.

Possessed or triggered?  One woman yelled at GAP staffers without allowing them to answer.  When asked if we could respond, she yelled louder, until she got tired and left.  Some may say she was possessed, others say she’s just triggered.

Old and useless. An older professor was yelling into a megaphone, encouraging students to go vote. Jane, tired of her egging on the kids, walked over and kindly said, “You know these students won’t take care of you when you need them; you’ll be old and useless, like me.” That shut her up.

We’ve taken GAP to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte many times over the past 20+ years. This campus illustrates how our culture has become more and more hateful. Still, the Light shines in the dark.

The danger of opinion on campus. Pro-life students often tell us they feel unsafe around the pro-abortion mob. One student had to be escorted off campus by our staff after being surrounded by a gang of angry pro-aborts. When he tried to leave, they followed him, and campus police did nothing to ensure his protection. We invited him to stay with us until the mob dissipated.

The aggressive truth. “This is really aggressive,” said one student while looking at our signs, “but you know what? It’s the truth.” She had planned on giving us her information and heading to class, but she decided to stick around for a few hours. At one point, she even jumped into a conversation with a student about the pregnancy resource center where she volunteers. Pro-life students are always refreshing.

The folks of Appalachian State University always have a broad spectrum of responses when they see GAP. Here are just a couple from our most recent visit.

No time for truth.  “I won’t accept anything from your 7-year-old embryology book,” yelled one pro-abort, as if human development has changed during the past seven years.   We told her to go to the library and find a recent version to compare it to.  Her response?  “I’m not doing your job for you!  I don’t have time for that!”  After yelling at us for five hours straight, you’d think she would take some time to get her facts straight.

Some just get it.  During handheld GAP on a busy highway in Boone, NC, one man saw our sign about past genocides.  “I was in Rwanda when it happened.  The river was red with the blood from all the bodies that filled it,” he said.  “I was there to help feed people while they hacked each other to pieces with two-dollar machetes from China.”  Needless to say, we didn’t have to explain the signs to him.  He understood genocide.

Just over the state line from ETSU is Appalachian State University.  Many children live today because of our numerous visits to App State over the years. Here are some interactions from our most recent visit.

Gore meets GAP.  Not surprisingly, we were met with more pushback than praise.  Pro-aborts continually yelled obscenities at our team.  A group of them held signs with absurd statements such as “I like my government like I like my coffee—not in my vagina.”  One held a sign that said, “I eat dead babies.”  Sick.

When profanity is your only argument.  While some pro-abort protestors got creative with their signs, most had common pro-abortion slogans.  One said,  “F*** YOU.”  Hmm.  That’s an argument we never considered. We’ll have to go reconsider our entire worldview. 

Here is the last in our series on our recent visit to East Tennessee State University. We thoroughly enjoyed our time there. We hope that you have also enjoyed hearing our stories. You can read the first two installments here and here.

Older and wiser. One student observed that the pro-abortion students protesting were “all so young,” but that CBR staff were older and “older people have wisdom.” This appearance of maturity, along with the abortion images themselves, caused several students to break away from the mob and seek dialogue. If being called “old” means we can better expose abortion, then we’ll take it!

More proof that abortion hurts women. A Nigerian mother of three said, “It’s hard to look at the pictures. These kids are selfish. They do not understand.” She told us about when she became pregnant and her father forced her to abort. “I know I am forgiven by God, but I have never forgotten,” she said, “It is a great sadness.”

Oxymoron. The teaching of Jesus is one Truth, but the doctrines of demons are many, diverse, confusing, and self-contradictory. (1 Timothy 4:1)

One male yelled “I agree with you! We shouldn’t have a choice! We should abort all the babies!” We asked what good that would do. “I don’t know,” he responded, “I’ll leave that problem to the next generation.”

Lemme get this straight. The next generation, the one we kill, can tell us why it’s good they are dead. Riiiiiight.

The prodigal granddaughter returns. One student expressed her supposed hatred for the Church and self-identified as a “positive-outlook nihilist.” After a long conversation, she admitted she missed her Christian grandparents. They hadn’t talked recently because of her non-Christian lifestyle. Jane encouraged her to read the Bible to find Christ, and to give her grandma a call. Two hours later, the student returned to happily report the hour-long conversation she had just had with her grandma. Miracle of miracles, she even asked her grandmother to take her to church.

Stay tuned for our last reflections on ETSU next week.

The amazing Turning Point USA student group sponsored us at ETSU and they gave us so much hope for the future!

A campus divided. We were blessed to have a large contingent of fearless helpers. However, evil was also present in full force as students screamed falsehoods and accusations. Instead of responding to their absurdity outright, a family of GAP volunteers began singing worship music. Of course, that only made the mob angrier.

Safety hazards. One hateful student told volunteer Patty that he wished we would all die that night. As you might imagine, pro-life students felt threatened by this. One wrote us a note saying she wanted to speak with us but was afraid for her own safety

Twenty going on two. Some pro-aborts threw tantrums. They stomped up to the barricades, clenching their fists, screaming at the top of their lungs, “Get off our campus!” Again and again. Sometimes those terrible twos turn into terrible twenties!

Understanding pro-aborts. Still, God does work in the hearts of men. Some of the students broke away from the mob and found themselves in conversation with us. “En masse, they scream. In groups of two or three, they listen thoughtfully,” noted one volunteer.

Stay tuned for more from ETSU next week.

Did you know that we show abortion victim images to the public around Knoxville on a regular basis? We do this through our Reproductive Choice Campaign (RCC). The RCC is simply driving our big box truck with abortion images on both sides and back through heavily trafficked areas around town.

On the first day of classes at UT-Knoxville, our truck driver, John Stair, was ready to hit the road! A few times that day, John was stuck in heavy traffic right in the middle of campus. It was the perfect opportunity for thousands of students to see the horror of abortion. Later this semester, we plan to do our Genocide Awareness Project at UTK, so these students will have plenty more where that came from!

When a couple approached volunteer Tony at Cleveland State University this spring, he had no idea the amazing thing that was about to happen. 

They stopped in front of the Genocide Awareness Project and said to Tony, “We have an abortion appointment scheduled. What can you say to change our minds?”

Tony responded “If these pictures don’t change your minds, what about the realization that you will be the parents of a dead child that you paid to have killed? Can you live with that truth for the rest of your life?”

The couple were quiet as they contemplated the pictures in front of them and Tony’s bold words. After a little while, they left saying that they would not abort their child. 

Praise Jesus for this young family spared!

They’ve called themselves by many names over the years…Tigers…War Eagles…Plainsmen. But regardless of label, Auburn students were some of the most thoughtful we’ve encountered recently. And it sure was encouraging to us. No matter the type of response we receive, we know the soil is tilled, seeds are planted, and the truth takes root.

The pictures work … again. Gabe said, “I think you’re doing this work exactly as it should be done.  Put up pictures and let them work. It is so hard these days to have a reasonable conversation.”

Pictures don’t work?  Jennifer, a Christian student, didn’t agree. “My marketing background says this method does not work for this generation. It only makes them mad and they won’t have a calm, informed conversation with you.”

If Jennifer had looked around, she would have seen dozens of newly-informed students calmly learning how abortion is genocide. Like the great philosopher Yogi Berra said, “You can observe a lot just by watching.”

Yeah, they work. Alex, a chemical engineering student said, “Those pictures make me realize that abortion is killing a child. I used to think that it was just a woman’s choice.” That’s why we came!

Activating the converted. The pictures neutralize the opposition, convert the neutral, activate the converted, and energize the active. Benjamin, a pro-life student said, “Your pictures and answers make me believe I need to be active defending preborn children.” 

“You say it best when you say nothing at all.” Jane offered a brochure to a young man, which he declined. She asked if he wanted to talk. “I’d rather not,” he answered. As his chin began quivering, he walked away, obviously moved. Pray for courage and perhaps healing for this young man.

Courageous Students. We were invited by Auburn Students for Life and greatly assisted by enthusiastic Turning Point USA students. They even took some of our “Choice” signs for a pro-abortion rally later that day! We hope to work with these courageous students again soon.

It was lively in Chapel Hill, as always!

Failure of Christian leadership. “They don’t show you this,” she said. “They say it’s just a clump of cells! They’re lying! That’s a baby! This is really hard to look at.  It makes me angry.” Lilly is a Christian student, but had never seen abortion before. Her complaint was against professors who lied to her, but maybe she should confront church leaders who also hid the truth from her.

Powerful arguments? For more than two decades, we’ve asked pro-aborts to justify decapitating and dismembering little human beings. They can’t, but they gave it their best shot. Their signs and chants were not convincing:

•  Whose campus?  Our campus!

•  Go home!

•  My body, my choice!

•  If you don’t want an abortion, don’t have one!

•  You’ve taken away our right to be safe!

As they packed to leave, one of them, referring to us, remarked to another, “They really don’t have an argument.” Riiiiiiight.

Counterproductive. Tripp laughed. “This is awesome!” he said, pointing to the pro-aborts protesting GAP. “They think they’re hiding the message, but they’re just drawing more attention to it!” He was right. And we love it when a plan comes together.

Quiet support. Many students support our work, but fear reprisals. Jane told one of them, “Take this brochure and, under cover of darkness, give it to someone who is on the fence.” He took it.

Death wish. Please pray for these dear children who tell us they are so miserable that they wish they had never been born. We hear that often. We try to share the Gospel; some listen and some do not.

Thank you! Kathy said, “Thank you. This makes me so sad,” as tears came to her eyes. We thank you, our financial partners, for sending us to Kathy and others at UNC, because we can’t go unless you send us.

During our last visit to the U of Tennessee, we were greeted by a dozen women whose tops consisted entirely of small but strategically placed squares of duct tape. We can only imagine how much it hurt to peel those off. OUCH! 

Yes, they were pretty nasty. The level of hate is quite astonishing, but understandable. These children have been taught to hate their country, hate people who don’t agree with them, and, in some cases, even hate their own bodies.   They appear to have learned that lesson well.

Still, we were encouraged by a steady stream of students who stopped and thanked us for being there. Even on campuses that seem completely overcome with darkness, we always seem to find those few who are lights amidst that darkness.

Inspiring faith. Debbie Picarello was stationed near GAP representing Deeper Still, a post-abortion healing ministry and was able to reach many students who desperately needed it.

Julie was 19 when she aborted at 5 weeks.  She was sure God knew she wasn’t “ready.”  But now she is comforted by a little girl in her dreams.  The girl appears to be 3 years old.  Debbie told her many post-abortive women have dreams of their children in heaven.

Julie was not ready to come out of denial, but she did say, “Your faith is inspiring me today.”

Praying for courage to speak. Melody was almost aborted. Her dad took her mother to the clinic for a consultation. But when her mother came back the next day, sidewalk counselors spoke with her and took her across the street to the Hope Resource Center. This was Aug 18, 2000. Now both Melody and her mom are Christ followers. Melody realizes she has a special story to tell and is praying for the courage to tell it.

The following was written by our 2023 Summer Intern Taylor Breeden.

Before the summer internship, I didn’t have a solid opinion on using graphic imagery to expose abortion. I had researched abortion and seen pictures, but I always felt icky at the thought of placing those images in the public square.

Now I do have a solid opinion: I very much dislike it. Let me explain.

CBR’s activism methods can be overwhelming. It’s difficult to feel like you’re doing good by showing something so horrible. I have found that nobody likes the abortion victim images; pro-lifers, pro-aborts, CBR employees, and passersby alike. Nobody feels completely comfortable with images of a dead baby – and they shouldn’t.

The whole point of our work is to expose the truth about abortion. And the truth is, it’s disgusting, so we should all be absolutely horrified when faced with it.

In A Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated that “we… are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with.” This statement completely changed my mind set on abortion graphics. Before, I thought it was just as disgusting to show the horror of abortion as it was to commit an abortion. I figured it only had a negative impact on the movement, making people turn away from the topic all together.

Once I read Dr. King’s words, I understood that we weren’t making people uncomfortable; abortion was.

After releasing the burden of guilt, CBR’s methods made perfect sense to me. I’ve even come to see it as a necessity in the pro-life movement. So, while I dislike showing graphic images of abortion victims to the public, I do it, because it must be done.