Pictures work magic on the hearts and minds of passing motorists and their passengers.

Another day of exposing abortion in Nashville.  We were set up at the Marriott Opryland Hotel & Convention Center for Day 2, where it much colder than yesterday due to a cold breeze coming down from Canada.  In fact, we heard reports that it was so cold down at the State Capitol, the politicians had their hands in their own pockets.

At this location, we had no opportunities to engage people verbally, but we knew the pictures were working their magic.  We could see them working in the expressions of passing motorists and their passengers.

In fact, Georgia Project Director Lincoln Brandenburg reminded us just how effective the pictures could be with his story of a recent encounter with a member of the Georgia Tech Students for Life.  This active pro-lifer from Connecticut became pro-life at the tender age of 12, when she saw one of our truth trucks in the run-up to the 2004 elections.  She recalled that her mother complained about the picture on the truck, but it caused the youngster to become a life-long (so far) pro-life activist.  The pictures do work.

CAP signs on display at Marriott Opryland Hotel & Convention Center.

The Corporate Accountability Project (CAP) at Marriott/Opryland was a huge success on Day 1.  Our team of volunteers displayed signs for about 6 hours, as scheduled, from about noon until dark.  They were very enthusiastic about the experience, and most promised to return again to help as the picketing continues over the next 4 days.

We reached thousands of people, especially those lined up at the traffic light, waiting to turn left into the Opryland complex.  Several people in the turn lane took pictures as they waited for the light to change.  Friday is a huge day, because so many people arrive for their weekend stays.  In this case, people were also arriving for the National Religious Broadcasters (NRB) Convention.

We got many thumbs-up from passersby, but only one or two “flying buzzards.”  (The difference between thumbs-up and the other finger is what we call the “digital divide.”)

Our presence was covered by WZTV-17, the local Fox affiliate.  Their concluding remark was the biggest laugh-line of the day (if you are into macabre humor); they identified Planned Parenthood as an agency that “provides services to expectant parents.”  Who writes this stuff?  (Oh, yeah, Planned Parenthood writes it.)

CAP signs were visible to thousands of motorists entering and passing the Marriott Opryland Hotel & Convention Center.

CBR Corporate Accountability Project at Marriott Dana Point, California

Date:  February 27, 2013

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) will display large abortion photos at the entrance to the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center, now part of the Marriott International hotel network, beginning March 1–5, 2013, during the National Religious Broadcasters Convention.

Marriott International has admitted in writing that it permits its own hotels and those of Marriott franchisees to donate to Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider.  Marriott has also acknowledged in writing that Marriott money has been donated to Planned Parenthood, but refuses to ban this inhumane practice.

The Marriott hotel network consists of many corporations that collectively form a single, integrated, business entity.   CBR’s anti-abortion pickets will become a regular presence at the Opryland Resort & Convention Center until Marriott International prohibits Planned Parenthood donations from any of its Marriott hotels or those of its Marriott franchisees.

The first time a corporation donates to Planned Parenthood, that corporation becomes, by definition, a Planned Parenthood corporate donor.  That donor status places that corporation on a Planned Parenthood donor boycott list.  Corporations on that boycott list are subject to picketing.  Every Planned Parenthood corporate donor, however, qualifies for removal from the donor boycott list by simply promising to never give again.  Marriott International explicitly refuses to make that promise.  They will, therefore, be picketed until they change their minds.  Marriott guests are entitled to know that Marriott International permits its hotels and the hotels of its franchisees to donate some percentage of their room rates to organizations which kill babies.

CBR staff and volunteers will maintain a lawful presence at the entrance to this property in the same manner in which CBR will soon display identical aborted baby photos at Marriott properties across the country and around the world.  Many Marriott guests at other locations have thanked CBR for exposing Marriott’s refusal to prohibit Marriott hotels from supporting Planned Parenthood.  Many have assured CBR that they would not return as guests until Marriott International reforms its socially irresponsible philanthropic policy.  A simple management directive would serve this purpose with regard to its own hotels.  A similar prohibition could be imposed by a letter to franchisees, announcing that donations to Planned Parenthood will henceforth be regarded as tarnishing the Marriott brand, in violation of Marriott franchise agreements.

More information regarding this project may be obtained by contacting Fletcher Armstrong, PhD, at P.O. Box 20115, Knoxville, TN 37940, or by phone at 865-776-1312, or by email at fletcher@CBRinfo.org.  Inquiries may also be directed to Gregg Cunningham, at P.O. Box 219, Lake Forest, CA 92609, or by phone at 714-240-6976, or by email at CBR@CBRinfo.org.

Abortion photos let HKonJ marchers see for themselves that “No evil is ever necessary. Evil is a choice.”

Thousands gathered at the annual Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) rally and march in Raleigh, North Carolina, on February 9.  Rev. William Barber, President of the North Carolina NAACP, admonished the ralliers, “No evil is ever necessary.  Evil is a choice.”  Link to story here.

CBR’s Brooke McGowan was there to show marchers just how evil “choice” could be.  She was armed with a set of CBR’s “Choice” signs and hundreds of our “Choice” cards, which she handed out to the marchers.  (See video below.)

Videographer Chuck Suter called it the “coolest pro-life street action ever”:

CBR volunteer, supporter, and presumed woman-hater Ruby Nicdao shows pro-aborts and passersby what is being chosen. (photo from GAYRVA.com)

Annually, a consortium of pro-life and pro-family organizations from across the Commonwealth of Virginia hold a Rally for Life near the Capitol.  This year, however, the actual purpose for the Rally was revealed when CBR Virginia brought a set of “Choice” signs (3-ft by 4-ft abortion photos) to display at the event.  CBR Project Director Nicole Cooley positioned her team where they could be seen by three different audiences: Rally attendees, pro-abortion protesters, and passersby.

“I don’t know what is more inspiring, listenting to the speakers at the Rally or watching your witness to the pro-aborts.”

After setting up “Choice” signs, the CBR team was joined by a number of Rally attenedees who had brought their own signs to the event.

Also nearby was a group of 30 pro-aborts had come to protest the Rally.  Their signs were the usual silly stuff, e.g., [Virginia Attorney General Ken] Cuccinelli “hates women,” etc.  However, on this day, their wrath against pro-lifers was muted to a great extent, compared to previous outbursts.  Three reasons:

1. the pictures of abortion,
2. the sight of two CBR ladies wearing sweatshirts that said “I regreat my abortion,” and
3. the presence of a CBR security videographer who was filming the CBR team at all times, making it clear that any pro-abort initiating a violent confrontation against peaceful pro-lifers would be held accountable for unlawful acts.

One of the Rally attendees walked over to Nicole and remarked, “I don’t know what is more inspiring, listenting to the speakers at the Rally or watching your witness to the pro-aborts.”

Nicole was quoted by GAYRVA.com: “I was raped when I was 23 years old and chose to have an abortion and found out the hard way that abortion doesn’t help anyone, least of all rape victims, overcome assault. It just compounded the trauma for me and made healing from both events much more difficult.”

Link to GAYRVA.com story here.

To support pro-life activism in Virginia, click here and select either of these options:

• Virginia Projects (SE-NWC) (Nicole Cooley), or
• Virginia Projects (SE-MTE) (Maggie Egger)

CBR Choice Cards fit in your billfold and are always ready to help you show anybody what abortion is and does.  It might be a friend, a relative, or even the guy sitting next to you on the plane!

We are printing 30,000 “Choice” cards to hand out at the March for Life in DC.  We need help passing them out.  We are willing to pay your group a stipend to get it done.

The purpose of the cards is twofold:

1. Give pro-lifers a tool they can use to explain abortion to their friends, neighbors, acquaintances … even the people sitting next to them on the plane.  Photos make it clear what abortion is and does.  Words are not enough.
2. Encourage pro-lifers to learn more about our life-saving work by visiting our website and/or watching the video linked to the QR code on the front of the card.

You won’t get rich handing out cards, but it is a worthy project and we are glad to provide a stipend to help your group with travel expenses.  We probably need about 10 people, beginning at about 10:00 am and continuing until all the cards are handed out.  If you are attending one of the student rallies that precede the March, that would be a great crowd to work, so we could meet you with the cards earlier in the day.

Can your group help us?  Please contact us here or call us at 865-609-9033.

Donna Hebert’s dopted 8-year-old offers passerby a pro-life tract.

They say you can tell a lot about people by the company they keep … and the enemies they make.  Actually, Jesus said it before “they” did.  He said

Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.  (Matthew 5:11-12)

Kudos to CBR Maine Director Leslie Sneddon for passing this test with flying colors.  Story here.  Leslie and other pro-lifers are a regular presence outside a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Portland, Maine.  As a result, a neighboring restaurant owner is in a panic.

This story clearly demonstrates that abortion photos and other pro-life activities can disrupt business-as-usual and thus are an effective tool for anathematizing abortion clinics and any commercial businesses who support baby-killing.

Westmont College students Aaron Singer, Ryan Hall, and Seth Gruber.

Here’s a story in World Magazine about CBR’s very own Seth Gruber at Westmont College.  Seth is a student at Westmont College and an intern at CBR.

The U.S. Constitution guarantees the activists the right to set up the [Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) abortion photo] billboards at public schools. But almost every private Christian college has turned them down.
***
Gruber’s had more conversations about abortion in the last 10 days than he had in the last two and a half years. And more people have offered to stand with him.

Related stories:

• FAB: Student defies “Christian” college, shows abortion
• Seth’s Blog: A Reflection of the First Display on Campus
• Seth’s Blog: Men and the Abortion Issue
• Christianity Today: Westmont College Tussles With Pro-Life Student
• FAB: Liberty University GAP/RCC – Day 1
• CBR’s Open Letter to Liberty University
• World Magazine: Link here to subscribe

Centerfold photo in The Sunday Times of London reached a circulation of more than 1 million readers in the UK.  (Click on photo for a better view.)

Great photo in The Sunday Times of London!  This photo of aborted babies was visible to more than 1 million readers!

Link here to article We Will Shock You.  (You will need to pay a subscription fee to see the entire article.)

Notable quotations from the article:

The pictures are stomach-turningly gruesome, the dismembered figure clearly human — tiny fingers and toes visible in a mess of blood.
***
By far the most radical group in this country is Abort67, who I joined in Reading. They formed at the start of the year with guidance and resources from one of the loudest and most controversial voices on the American pro-life scene: the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR).
***
The group’s founder, Gregg Cunningham, 65, has been involved in the pro-life movement in America for most of his adult life. In the last four years, Cunningham and the CBR have started to spread their reach abroad. This summer he was in Britain supporting Abort67 and giving talks in churches — his fourth visit to the UK this year.
The CBR does not fund Abort67, but it is providing thegroup’s activists with resources, graphic images and a great deal of guidance. Since the start of the year, the group has recruited around 50 volunteers who regularly protest outside clinics in Brighton, Reading, Taunton and London. They claim they have several thousand supporters and counting.
Their protests are having the most dramatic effect in liberal Brighton.
***
The most serious impact has been on the women attending the clinic. One 21-year-old sports coach, who has asked to withhold her name for fear of repercussions, goes there for weekly post-abortion counselling.
“Sometimes it’s just one person with a banner; sometimes there are 20 of them with their children,” she says. “I’ve seen people burst into tears and say they don’t want to go through with it,” she says.
***
[CBR-UK Director Andy] Stephenson is a father of three and, like most of Abort67, a committed evangelical Christian. He is slight, with a dark beard, earnest eyes and an apologetic air; an unlikely crusader, perhaps, but an unrepentant one. “The atmosphere in the UK is changing,” he says. “The abortion lobby has had it easy for too long with no accountability, no consequences and very little meaningful opposition — but there is a new generation of pro-lifers emerging and disillusioned, battle-weary pro-lifers being reinvigorated because theyhave seen the fruits of what groups like ours are achieving with very little resources.”

The article closed with this threat of violence from pro-aborts who are apparently not used to seeing effective pro-life activism:

Brighton Pro-Choice met the week after the trial to plan more radical action against Abort67. One member warned: “If the police won’t stop them, we will have to.”

RCC Director John Stair and North Carolina Director Brooke McGowan expose Komen’s support of abortion in full view of the starting line. Komen balloons and pom-poms only draw attention to our presence.

Note: Posting revised November 7 to reflect new information regarding assaults on CBR staff and possible Komen harassment.

We took our message of life to the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Knoxville on October 27.  As you may be aware, Komen gives grants of nearly $1 million dollars annually to Planned Parenthood (PP), the nation’s largest abortion provider.

We were a small group of folks, enough to hold a couple of warning signs, several abortion photos, and a large sign asking the Komen Foundation to quit funding PP.  We’ll be more numerous next year, Lord willing.

CBR is just like an STD.  You get in bed with Planned Parenthood, you get us.

“Choice” signs along race course. Note parental warning sign in foreground. Some of the “Choice” signs are out of view of the camera, but rest assured they were visible to Race participants.

We didn’t interfere with their event, but our act of good faith was not reciprocated.  Several of the Komen volunteers were apparently instructed to block our signs with shakers, balloons, and the occasional body.  They succeeded only in drawing more attention to our huge pink sign (upper right photo).  We appreciate it.

One guy tried to stare me down.  Most amusing.  One young man challenged me on the fact that the Knoxville Komen affiliate doesn’t support PP.  I told him it didn’t matter where babies were being killed, they were just as dead.

I didn’t get to use the sound-byte I had prepared especially for the occasion: “CBR is just like an STD.  You get in bed with Planned Parenthood, you get us.”  Maybe next year.

As usual, we had notified the Knoxville Police Department of our intention to picket this event (link here).  They were obviously briefed to leave us alone (as long as we respected the law and did not interfere with the rights of others), which they did.

When the Race was about to begin, we deployed several signs along the route.  Komen volunteers followed our staff across the street and again attempted to shield our signs.  But again, they only succeeded in drawing attention to our message.  One woman screamed at CBR Advisory Board member Kathy Proctor that we didn’t have our facts straight, that the local group kept all their donations local, and that Komen only gave money to PP for mammograms.  She was not interested in the fact that PP does not perform mammograms.  She apparently did not hear the PA announcer say that only 75% of donations support local work.

Several Race participants ran over to yell at us.  One man ran up and screamed at about our f***ing signs and that we had no right to be there.  Another person hit one sign and tried to pull it down.  One woman said she was a Christian and she thanked us for being there.  Another said she was a Christian and was crying and yelling at us to go away.  Someone tried to hit CBR staffer Brooke McGowan on the back of her knee in an attempt to buckle her knee and make her fall.

Next year, we will bring additional volunteers with video cameras to film any criminal misconduct against CBR staff or property.  We will prosecute any criminal act to the fullest extent of the law.

Support the fight against breast cancer.  There are other organizations who fight breast cancer and do not fund abortion providers.  Georgia Right to Life recommends the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

Abortion and Breast Cancer.  Of course, the Komen Foundation’s support for Planned Parenthood is enough to warrant our presense at their fundraising events, but we also noted the very real possibility that abortion itself (indirectly funded by the Komen Foundation) causes breast cancer. FAB has noted previously that (1) there is an undeniable statistical relationship between abortion and breast cancer, and (2) the existence of a causal link between abortion and breast cancer is still a matter of debate. (Earlier this week, this article reported a new study that showed abortion to cause a 55% increase in cancer risk among Chinese women, independent of all confounding factors.)

We will leave the debate about causality to medical professionals, but we will point out that there are many in the medical community who believe there is more evidence for the link than against it.  Dr. Angela Lanfranchi, professor of surgery at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and Dr. Joel Brind, professor of human biology and endocrinology at Baruch College of the city of New York, are among those who believe that abortion increases risk of breast cancer, independent of other factors.

The ambient cancer risk among women is about 10%. If abortion increases cancer risk from 10% to only 13% (a 30% increase), we could estimate that more than 300,000 women have died from abortion-related cancer since Roe (source), which is about 8,000 women per year.

Fletcher explains how the history of social reform proves that pictures work.

FAB is coming to you today from Macon, Georgia, where CBR is co-sponsoring a pro-life student leadership training conference.  Pro-life students have come from all over Georgia and Alabama for a day of leadership training and networking.  I’m here with Lincoln Brandenburg, our new project director in Georgia.

As one of the speakers for this conference, your humble correspondent addressed the students on the history of social reform and how that history can guide us as pro-lifers.  We are not the first social reform movement, and we can learn a great deal from successful reformers like William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, the abolitionists in America, Lewis Hine, and Dr. Martin Luther King.

I’ll be participating in a round-table later today.

Thank you for making it possible for CBR to sponor this conference.  You are training the next pro-life generation.  Help us do more of this: click here.

… What are they saying?

Great new video out today!

www.WomenSpeakForThemselves.com

Andy Stephenson

Pro-life and freedom of speech advocates are celebrating a huge victory in the UK.  CBR UK directors Andy Stephenson and Kathryn Sloane have been cleared of all charges related to displaying abortion photos outside an abortion clinic an Brighton.  Best story here.  Other notable stories here and here.

In staging the arrest of the two pro-lifers, Brighton police actively fished for complaints from passersby.  They were operating under the legal theory that speech becomes alarming, distressing, etc., and therefore illegal under the Public Order Act, whenever anybody complains about it.

After the trial, Andy Stephenson commented, “What the police have been doing in shutting us down has had a chilling effect on free speech.  Hopefully this will have a chilling effect on the police now to hold back on their over-enthusiastic, over-reaching arm of the law.”

The Court’s written opinion was expected at 2:00 pm Tuesday.  Stay tuned to FAB for updates.

Your support will help keep this truck on the road, saving babies and encouraging pro-life voters.

We have less than 9 weeks to get pro-lifers out to vote in 4 key states!

Every dollar you invest in our voter education project is instantly matched, all the way up to $75,000!  You give $50, our matching donor gives $50 more.  You give $5,000, our matching donor gives $5,000 more.  For your support, here’s what you get:

• Immediate 100% return on investment.  Will your 401-K do as well?
• Save babies’ lives.  Pictures of abortion save lives.  Happy mothers have told us so, over and over again.
• Get pro-lifers out to vote!  If we don’t, we could lose all the pro-life gains we have made since 2010.  And we could lose much, much more.

The pro-abortion health care bill, commonly called ObamaCare, will transfer billions of your tax dollars to the abortion industry.  That’s “billions” with a “b”.  If we fail to stop this insanity, our children and grandchildren will pay the price.  The ones who live will pay with their taxes; the others will pay with their lives.

I’m asking you to make your voice heard by supporting this important project.

Remember, every dollar you invest in this critical project is instantly matched, all the way up to $75,000!  So be sure to designate your gift for “Other” and type in “KSI”.  Or just send us an e-mail and we’ll take care of it.  Let’s raise $10,000 by the end of this week!

The trucks are in place; the rest is up to you.  Please support KSI now, for we urgently need your help.

KSI truth truck is fully visible to I-4 traffic near Orlando, Florida. Other truth trucks are operating in Virginia, Iowa, and Colorado.

The Key State Initiative (KSI), our pro-life voter education project, is on the road in 4 states!  More on KSI here and here.  While the media focus on pocketbook issues, we are sending a pro-life message all the way to Washington!   We haven’t forgotten the daily carnage, and we won’t let them forget, either!

Here is an encouraging word from Tom Herring, Co-Director of the Anti-Choice Project.  He drove one of our KSI truth trucks for a week!

Driving a CBR truck in Iowa was one of the most fulfilling pro-life activities I’ve ever done.  I wish I could do it 40 hours a week.  …  The enormous graphic display on the side of box-body truck is perhaps the best way to expose the violent act of abortion.

The gaping-mouth stares of teenagers – seeing abortion for the first time – were the most rewarding to me.  Most of our youth have consciences which are still functioning.  …  The likelihood of those teens choosing abortion, or choosing abortion advocates to represent them in government, has been radically diminished.

Thank you, Tom!

Make your voice heard!  Truck fuel is very expensive.  Truck repairs aren’t cheap, either.  Travel costs are up.  We’ve been on the road for 7 weeks; only 9 more to go!  But we need your help.  Unless we hear from you soon, we’ll have to park the trucks and wait.  Yuck!  We hate to wait because babies are dying and Election Day is coming fast.  So please support KSI right now!

One great  bit of great news:  Every dollar you invest in this critical project is instantly matched, all the way up to $75,000!  So be sure to designate your gift for “Other” and type in “KSI”.  Or just send us an e-mail and we’ll take care of it.  Let’s raise $10,000 by the end of this week!

The trucks are in place; the rest is up to you.  Please support KSI now, for we urgently need your help.