“No abortion. No exceptions.”  It’s a common statement among pro-lifers. At face value, it makes sense. Or does it?

Exceptions to what, exactly?  When people say the word “abortion,” not everyone means the same thing. Before Roe v. Wade, abortion meant any termination of pregnancy accompanied by or resulting in the death of the embryo or fetus, which would include miscarriage and stillbirth.

Since Roe, the term “abortion” has come to be understood by most people as induced abortions only, thus excluding miscarriage and stillbirth. There is no distinction between procedures performed to save a woman’s life and those done only for convenience. All are abortions.

Many pro-lifers, however, insist that an abortion necessary to save a woman’s life is not an abortion. Perhaps it makes them feel more bold. Regardless of why it is said, saying “no exceptions” is confusing and disingenuous. We must be clear about what we mean, and it’s important that we use correct definitions.  Otherwise, we will be misunderstood, at great cost to our own credibility and our cause.

The general public understands that the treatment of an ectopic pregnancy is, by definition, an abortion. Whatever other words you might assign to it, that procedure is the immediate cause of the child’s death.  Therefore, the procedure necessary to save the mother’s life is an abortion.

When many states drafted laws restricting abortion in the wake of Dobbs, the focus became what, if any, exceptions would be allowed.  These debates quickly devolved into false accusations that pro-lifers wanted to ban medical care for miscarriages and let women die from ectopic pregnancies.  Nothing could be further from the truth, but we saw many pro-lifers talking past our opponents because they were unwilling to use the correct definition of abortion, and therefore clouding the definition of exception.

Our new sign quotes almost verbatim from Tennessee House Bill 883, which states that abortion is not criminal if the termination of pregnancy “was necessary to prevent the death of the pregnant woman or to prevent serious risk of substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.”  TN HB883 goes on to explain that threats of suicide or self-harm or any reason relating to mental health do not qualify.

So, how would this policy be applied?  Here are three commonly raised scenarios:

• If the complication arises early in pregnancy (e.g. an ectopic pregnancy), unfortunately, nothing can be done to save the child’s life. If no action is taken, both mother and child die. The only pro-life response is to save the life you can.
• If the complication arises later in pregnancy (after about 24 weeks), the mother can deliver prematurely, and appropriate efforts will be made to save the child.
• If the mother has uterine cancer, she may act heroically to carry the baby until the age of viability, even if the growing cancer imperils her own life.  However, such a sacrifice cannot be required by law.  She must be allowed any medical intervention necessary to save her own life.

Medical professionals must act in good faith when making medical judgments.  Even if laws with exceptions were not properly applied, however, we would still oppose a legal solution that denies women legitimate life-saving medical care.

Pro-abortion advocates wish to label our side as uncaring toward pregnant mothers with serious medical problems. By clarifying the life of the mother exception, we affirm the value of both mother and child.

Click here to learn more about our very first Capitol GAP at the Tennessee Legislature in Nashville. Below is the letter we hand delivered to all the legislators that day.

When the Tennessee General Assembly opened its 2024 session, CBR was there to greet lawmakers with a timely message: Planned Parenthood (PP) kills more children than guns do.

Recently in Tennessee, PP has been sermonizing on issues that have little to do with abortion, birth control, or even parenthood. For example, PP has cited bans on drag shows for kids and “gender-affirming care” for children as “lowlights” for the 2023 General Assembly. (Thank you, Tennessee!) Another so-called “lowlight” was failure to pass “meaningful gun control legislation.”

So why would PP, who kills children as their primary “service,” then turn around and claim the mantle of protecting children from gun violence? Because they can’t make money killing children in Tennessee anymore, and they have little support in the legislature, so they need to ally with other causes to make themselves appear relevant.

They are not going to just go away, so our goal was to expose their hypocrisy as we reminded lawmakers that abortion decapitates and dismembers little children.

First, we stood outside the lawmakers’ only entrance to the Capitol parking garage, thereby reaching all of them as they arrived for the first day of session. Next, we took our signs to the Capitol entrance to engage pedestrian visitors as they arrived to observe the proceedings. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we hand-delivered a letter (See next week’s email to get the full text) to all 132 representatives and senators in their offices.

Many pro-life lawmakers said they were encouraged and thankful for our presence. One female legislator even said, “I sponsored pro-life legislation in 2019. I had no idea Roe would be overturned so soon. I appreciate you being here.” A well-dressed young man smiled as he told us, “I was all ready to dislike your signs, but you guys actually have it right!”

The positive response from Tennessee legislators is a strong rebuttal to pro-lifers who refuse to expose abortion for fear it might reduce our influence with lawmakers. In Nashville, we showed that the opposite is true.

This was our first Capitol GAP, but we pray it won’t be our last. If you want to see this at your own state capitol, please email us at CBRSoutheast@CBRinfo.org.

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!

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.

Taylor is a 19-year-old Knoxville native. She is entering her senior year at the University of Tennessee, pursuing a degree in journalism and electronic media. Her long-term goals include having and homeschooling many children while working part-time in the pro-life movement.

Taylor is a devout Catholic. Even though she grew up in the Church, she didn’t hear much about abortion until she was 14. By the time she was 16, Taylor felt called to defending the unborn. Taylor’s core belief is that life is precious from fertilization to natural death and should therefore be protected legally and honored morally.

One of Taylor’s proudest accomplishments is the completion of her Stars and Stripes Award, the highest level award a girl can earn in American Heritage Girls (AHG). AHG is an organization devoted to “building women of integrity through service to God, family, community, and country.” To receive this award, Taylor planned, implemented, and lead a 100-hour service project for Tennessee Right to Life, improving their prayer garden next to Planned Parenthood. She added a sign, a new statue, a literature/prayer box, lighting for the walkway, and other sources of color to the garden.

After this internship, Taylor intends to volunteer (or work part-time) with CBR while she finishes school. She hopes to continue working in communications and education in the pro-life movement, using her degree to help make abortion illegal and unthinkable.

We are tickled that Taylor has joined us this summer and look forward to seeing all she accomplishes in the future!

Ilyssa is a senior intern, returning to CBR for a second year. She just graduated with her bachelor’s in Anthropology from Cleveland State University (CSU) and is planning on getting a master’s degree from CSU next year.

CSU’s leftist campus made Ilyssa realize that many of her peers were misinformed about abortion. The skills she learned and the people she met while working for CBR last summer gave her the confidence and courage to start a pro-life club at her school in hopes of informing her classmates on the issue. The Club, CSU Advocates for Life, has done several events including tabling, a pro-life training academy (thank you, Fletcher!), and the Genocide Awareness Project. If you want to keep up with their activism, their Instagram handle is @csu_advocatesforlife.

“Pro-life students thanked us for being on campus, pro-aborts verbally attacked us, and those in the middle asked us questions. CBR’s display really made an impact,” Ilyssa said. She is excited to continue to bring truth to her campus next fall.

Ilyssa returned to CBR because she appreciates the effectiveness of our methods and our dedication to protecting humans and raising pro-life Christian leaders. “At our first GAP of the summer, hearing and seeing the reactions of the people we are reaching, whether pro-abortion or pro-life, really affirms the importance of what CBR does and my decision to keep working with them,” Ilyssa explained.

We are so pleased to have Ilyssa back with us!

by Brad Martel

I first learned of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform on Valentine’s Day 2011. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was the keynote speaker at their benefit dinner, and I went to hear him. “The sanctity of human life,” Huckabee said, “transcends all other political issues.” I agreed with him, and I was glad to discover this organization that works to end the killing of unborn children.  CBR does this work not just with words, but with pictures that undeniably expose abortion for the evil that it truly is.

However, this event got me examining myself. Did I treat abortion like it transcends all other issues? In all the time that I had been pro-life, what had I ever done about it?  Beyond voting for pro-life politicians every year or two, I had to admit I’d done nothing.  But here was an opportunity to make a difference! So, I became a CBR supporter.  I chose to make a monthly donation that, while small, would be significant over time.

Then the newsletters started to arrive. Each time, I wanted to prepare myself to see the graphic pictures, so I soon learned to procrastinate instead of opening them right away. How awful to see the abortion victims again!  How awful that this even happens!  But I did open the newsletters.  I did see the pictures, and I read the stories.  Stories of young people responding to CBR’s campus projects, some with shock, some with sadness, and some with denial or worse. I appreciated the courage and persistence of the CBR team, and their willingness to spend whole days with the awful pictures that I could only promptly return to the envelope after reading the stories.

After a few years I learned to manage my aversion to the photos and looked forward to the newsletters.  I remained impressed with CBR’s encounters on college campuses and the reactions of the passersby, ranging from sympathetic to hostile to sometimes positively loopy.  I began to wonder what it would be like to serve alongside this group, to see what it’s like, and maybe even have some of these conversations myself.

In 2018 I reached out to CBR with a simple email.  Volunteer coordinator Jane Bullington invited me to a Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) in April of that year and promised me: “You will never be the same!”  Then came the hard part; I had to prepare.  I looked up CBR’s website, AbortionNo.org, and as the abortion video played on the home page, I found myself leaning back in my chair as if to shield myself from the real-life horror story.  I looked over the abortion victim photos.  I read Gregg Cunningham’s “Why Abortion is Genocide,” and learned how to compare abortion to slavery and other genocides.

I did not know what to expect on my first day of GAP at the University of Tennessee.  I had never met any of the staff before. I thought that perhaps, with the graphic photos and such a sobering message, I would be meeting a somber, melancholy group of people.  I was relieved to find that, though quite serious about the mission, these people have joy!  I came to understand this attitude in part as a sense of satisfaction in supporting the important work.  “There’s something special,” staffer Mik’aela Raymond said one day, “about doing something hard for God.”

CBR paired me with staff members and experienced volunteers so that I could learn on-the-job how to talk to students about abortion.  They taught me with both their example and with useful tips that they would share after our conversations.  I learned over time that I could do this, even by myself! Having gained some confidence, I wanted to learn more.  I read Stephanie Gray’s book, “Love Unleashes Life,” which urges us to focus first on the person standing before us, their background, and their needs.  I also read “Healing the Hurt that Won’t Heal,” Karen Ellison’s thoughtful book about the grief that abortion brings and how God can heal those wounds.

I volunteer with CBR a few times a year now, and though I have plenty more to learn, I am comfortable now defending the pro-life position to strangers.  I have met dozens of students at these events; some supportive, some against, and some who just don’t know where they stand.  I have had thoughtful conversations and some not so thoughtful.  I have been ridiculed and yelled at with cursing and swearing.  Not often, but it happens.  But none of the negative feedback matters.  What matters are the times that I have led a student to set aside the slogans and really think about the unborn child as a human being.

And even when those conversations are lacking, I remind myself that it’s the abortion victim photos and not our conversations that carry the bulk of our pro-life message.  The images affect all who see them, whether they stop to talk or not.  Each day that I leave GAP it is with a sense of satisfaction that my contribution helps others to choose life.

I cannot identify a specific moment when I felt a calling or experienced a revelation that told me I should volunteer with CBR.  I agree with what Lincoln Brandenburg said recently during his interview on The Pro-Life Guys Podcast: “Don’t wait for feelings of passion… step out in obedience.” Although I had no previous experience with pro-life activism, and I have a full-time job that affords me only occasional availability, I can make a difference for the unborn children of America.  I would encourage anyone with a heart for the unborn to volunteer with CBR.  “You will never be the same.”

Brad Martel is an engineer and lives in Knoxville, Tennessee with his wife.  They have three grown children. 

Annie Whaley, our youngest 2020 Summer Intern, had been apprehensive about talking to strangers about abortion. Thanks to the training and mentoring she received, Annie was able to overcome that fear. She shared, “Doing [pro-life] activism is something I wanted to do, but I never really pictured myself doing it. But it pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me realize it’s not about me…it’s about sharing the truth.”

To hear more about Annie’s powerful experience as a CBR Intern, check out the video below.

We’re still accepting applications for our 2021 Internship, until February 28th! (The internship runs from May 17 to August 6 in Knoxville, Tennessee.) For more information and to submit an application, click here.

Already active in the pro-life movement, Britt Huddleston was a little skeptical that using abortion victim images would really make that much of a difference. Looking back, she said “I was definitely converted that first time we did activism…It got to the heart of the issue…You can’t deny the reality of abortion, that it’s killing a person, when you’re sitting there looking at it.”

To hear more about Britt’s powerful experience as a CBR Intern, check out the video below.

We’re still accepting applications for our 2021 Internship, until February 28th! (The internship runs from May 17 to August 6 in Knoxville, Tennessee.) For more information and to submit an application, click here.

Heidi Whaley had always been pro-life, but thought of abortion as a “distant problem” for which she had no personal responsibility. During CBR’s Summer Intern Program, Heidi’s view changed. “Through this experience, I’ve come to view abortion for what it really is: a bloody, ghastly war. I haven’t been asked to help fight in this war, I’ve been called by God.”

To hear more about Heidi’s powerful experience as a CBR Intern, check out the video below.

We’re still accepting applications for our 2021 Internship, until February 28th! (The internship runs from May 17 to August 6 in Knoxville, Tennessee.) For more information and to submit an application, click here.

When asked what she would say to fellow pro-life Christians, 2020 Intern Maggie Groover had this to say: “Why are you being silent? We know that this is going on. It’s not a secret. How can you ignore this any longer? It’s our responsibility to stand up.” 

To hear more about Maggie’s powerful experience as a CBR Intern, check out the video below. 

We are still accepting applications for our 2021 Internship, until February 28th! (The internship runs from May 17 to August 6 in Knoxville, Tennessee.) For more information and to submit an application, click here.