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.

Students for Life President Anna Maher explains how genocide results when a group of people are denied rights of personhood.

Our long-awaited GAP at George Mason University (GMU) finally arrived!  We were hosted by the GMU Students for Life, who are doing great work on that campus.  During the day, we spoke with many students who changed their minds as a result of seeing abortion pictures and hearing good arguments.

Sasha told me that our pictures made her realize that abortion was wrong in the late first trimester, but what about the first few weeks?  Sasha is 24 years old.  I asked her if she would still be Sasha at age 54?  “Yes.”  Was she Sasha at age 4?  “Yes.”  Was she Sasha at 4 months in the womb? “Yes.”  What about 4 days in the womb?  “You’ve changed my mind.  It would be wrong to kill me at any time.”

Abortion photos help students see what "choice" really means.

CBR organized a Choice Chain at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) last week.  Jane Bullington and Renee Weber from Knoxville met up with Mick and Edie Hunt from Asheville at the Borchauck Plaza on the ETSU campus for a day of pro-life outreach.  Hand-held “Choice” signs show passersby what “choice” really means (a dead baby) and draw a crowd.  We handed out hundreds of our “Unmasking Choice” brochures and spoke with students all day long.

It was a beautiful day; students continually crossed the Plaza.  Some saw and quickly turned their heads.  They were trying to ignore the reality of abortion, but it didn’t work … a glance is enough.  Others wanted to talk.  No matter how big or small the exhibit, the debate is always the same.

Chelsey was so upset, she whimpered that she is pro-life, has not had an abortion, but wanted us to know that we were “doing this the wrong way, in case no one has ever told you.”  (If Chelsey only knew!)  Chelsey is studying to be a counselor and she is sure abortion photos will traumatize women … that women will not be able to recover from seeing them.  She didn’t seem to realize that women won’t recover from the abortion unless something compels them to repentance.  Chelsey may not have had an abortion herself, but it was apparent that someone in her life has been personally affected by abortion.

Three young women were passionate about educating their fellow students and gave us their contact information, so we may help them continue the battle on campus … including more Choice Chains and the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP).

A class was coming across the lawn when the teacher spotted the signs.  They were high achievers, very polite, and very interested in what we were doing.

Jane speaks to high school honor students; the photo tells a story her words never could.

Jay Watts explains how to defend the preborn by "trotting out the toddler."

The Pro Life Training Academy (PLTA) trains you to articulate and respectfully defend the pro-life position.  Today, we are at George Mason University (GMU).  Tomorrow, we’ll be in Richmond, on the campus of the University of Richmond.  Here’s our schedule for the coming week:

• March 31 – Pro Life Training Academy (PLTA), Fairfax
• April 1 – PLTA, Richmond
• April 2-3 – Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), George Mason University (GMU)
• April 4-5 – GAP, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)
• April 9 – Choice Chain, University of Richmond (private school)

Featured PLTA speaker is Jay Watts, the VP of Communications at the Life Training Institute (LTI).  As a former pro-choice atheist, Jay is uniquely prepared to show you how to deal with people like … well … his former self.

Let us know when you want to bring the PLTA to your city!

On the road again!  We’ve been in Virginia the past week, meeting with University officials and activists alike, gearing up for the continuation of our huge I-95 Spring GAP Tour!

Earlier, we took GAP to 4 schools in Florida.  Next week, we’ll be at George Mason University and Virginia Commonwealth University in Virginia.  After that, we’ll be in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Maine.  As interstate highways go, there is none more influential than I-95; it connects Washgington, DC with some of the most important swing states, including Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maine!

The Students for Life of America (SFLA) is hosting a webcast tonight.   We got this e-mail from SFLA Executive Director Kristan Hawkins:

Pro-Life Friends,

The Obama Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services have launched a massive effort to mandate that all Americans pay for abortion-causing drugs.

The new mandate, which was released last month, will violate our civil liberties and free exercise of religion by forcing every American and every U.S. employer, regardless of religion or conscience, to pay for abortion-causing drugs, like Ella, in health insurance plans.

Just 2 weeks ago, President Obama’s Secretary for the Health and Human Services Department, Kathleen Sebelius, admitting during a Congressional hearing that this Mandate is needed because, “reducing pregnancies will cut health care costs.”

Put bluntly, this mandate, due to take effect this summer, will violate the very principles our nation was founded on – your freedom of religion and conscience!

What could be next?  A one-child per family policy like China or involuntary euthanasia like Europe?  Secret forced sterilizations like those administered in the 1920’s?  The madness needs to end!

This Obama, Abortion Drug Mandate must be STOPPED!

http://www.studentsforlife.org/freedom

Learn what’s at stake — and discover how YOU can help to stop this Obama, Abortion Drug Mandate by joining a one-time-only LIVE webcast event this Tuesday, March 13, at 9 PM Eastern (6 PM Pacific, 7 PM Mountain, 8 PM Central.)

The live event will be approximately 25 minutes long. There’s no charge to participate. If you have access to the Internet — even with a dial-up connection — you can listen in on the live webcast audio and submit questions.

During this nationwide event, you will discover:

• The shocking facts about the Obama, Abortion Drug Mandate that has been forced on the American people, without even a vote in Congress…
• The devastating implications of the Mandate — facts the abortion industry doesn’t want Americans to hear…
• Why respected leaders, national organizations, and pro-life people are joining together in record numbers to challenge this attempted power-grab…
• The exact action steps YOU can take to make a difference at this crucial moment…
• … And much more!

Register for the webcast at: http://www.studentsforlife.org/freedom

In an historic display of unity, pro-life and pro-family organizations are joining together for the “Where’s the Freedom?” Webcast. During the event you will hear from nationally known and respected leaders including:

• U.S. Senator Rand Paul
• Kristan Hawkins, Students for Life of America
• U.S. Congressman Jeff Fortenberry
• Tom McClusky, Family Research Council Action
• Helen Alavare, Law Professor at George Mason University
• David Bereit, 40 Days for Life
• …and others!

The announcement of this important webcast is being sent out to thousands of pro-lifers across America, and there is limited space available for this live event, so you are strongly encouraged to register now!

To get on the webcast, go to: http://www.studentsforlife.org/freedom

For Life,

Kristan Hawkins
Executive Director
Students for Life of America

We are thrilled at the work of Deeper Still, a post-abortion healing ministry based here in Knoxville that reaches out to hurting women, not only in Knoxville and East Tennessee, but anywhere in the world.  Post-abortive women from Deeper Still are frequent volunteers at our GAP displays.

I attended Deeper Still’s fundraising dinner last Tuesday night, and one of the speakers was Judy Townsend.  I have known Judy and her husband Jeff for a couple of years.  In fact, Jeff’s company organized our hugely successful event last year that featured Gov. Mike Huckabee as the keynote speaker.

It was our GAP event on Market Square in Downtown Knoxville that captured Jeff’s attention and led him to offer his help in organizing the dinner for us.   Deeper Still had joined us at this GAP event to let hurting women know that healing from abortion is available.

What I didn’t know (until just last Tuesday night) is that this same GAP event captured Judy’s attention and led her to seek healing for her past abortion.  She found this healing through the work of Deeper Still.

Here are her remarks:

I had my abortion in 1985 when I was 19 years old.  I had joined the USAF, and I was just beginning my own independent life.  I had gone back home after my basic training and had become pregnant by the guy I had been seeing just before I entered the air force.  I was completely shocked and scared and couldn’t believe this was actually happening to me.

I didn’t tell anyone except my mother, and she said to me “just have an abortion and it will all be over soon.”  But it would be anything but “over soon.”  I had the abortion in a clinic after one of my shifts.  I remember being so afraid and sick to my stomach.  The details of what happened that day are blurry because I have buried them so deep for over 26 years.

It wasn’t until I attend the Deeper Still retreat that I came to understand why I was so bound by shame, guilt, and self-hatred.  I asked myself,  “How could abortion cause so much pain when society tells me that it’s my choice and it’s all ok?”  Yet, in my heart I knew the truth was that my actions were murderous.

I lived my entire adult life in a shroud of secrecy and shame concerning my abortion.  I denied myself relationship with children, including my own daughter who was born a year later.  I held her at a distance because I didn’t believe I deserved to be her mother.  This caused a great deal of strain in our relationship.  All the while, I kept my secret.  In fact, I buried it so deep, that I was denying to myself that the event even happened.  That’s how strong and deceiving denial can be!  But I trudged on through life and never told anyone.

I accepted the Lord as my Savior on May 31, 2000 and, for the first time in my life, I felt so much joy and comfort.  But still, I could not believe that I was worthy of His love and blessing.  I believed that He forgave me for my abortion, but that He was still very disappointed in me.  I even thought that when I would see Jesus face to face, He would tell me that there was a certain place in heaven reserved for people like me that had had abortions.  I would not allow myself to fully embrace His grace and forgiveness.

I could never bring myself to tell my husband Jeff about my abortion.  Even though he was the one person in my life with whom I was the most intimate, I still felt I could not cross that barrier of shame in order to bring him into my “secret sin.”

In 2008, Jeff began to work for a ministry that helped women facing crisis pregnancies.  I would cringe inside and shake every time I was in earshot of any of the conversations about abortion.  I would say things like, “I feel so sorry for these poor girls. If only they knew how important life is.”  But then I would feel like a hypocrite for even saying that.

Our move to Knoxville seemed to coincide with the Lord’s timing for me to finally deal with my abortion.  One day, while we were walking around Market Square, we came upon a display that showed images of aborted babies along with images of other forms of holocaust.

I was confronted with these awful images starring me in the face.  I was mad, angry and disgusted.  I couldn’t even let myself look at them.  On the other hand, my husband wanted to take a closer look and talk to the people displaying them.  We obviously were looking at them from very different vantage points.

The Lord used that experience to surface the things that I would never have allowed myself to face on my own.  But He also didn’t just leave me there in my silent torment.

It was shortly after that when Jeff and I met Karen Ellison and some of the Deeper Still ladies.  As they shared with us about Deeper Still, I remember instantly feeling like I would love this ministry.  I already loved these ladies.

In the weeks that followed, some other painful things surfaced that rattled my cage enough to make me finally e-mail Karen, tell her my story, and ask her if I could come to one of the Deeper Still retreats.  She of course said, “Yes, you must come!”

I had 7 more months before the retreat would be here and the Lord used that time to prepare my heart in so many ways.  But the enemy also worked overtime during those months to try to discourage me and talk me out of it.

I also knew that it was time to tell my husband my story, and when I did, he was so full of grace and compassion for me and he wholeheartedly blessed me to go on this retreat.

The week before the retreat, I asked Karen if I could possibly just attend one day of the retreat and leave early on Sunday morning.  But she encouraged me to attend the entire retreat.  I thought to myself, “Uh, oh.  This isn’t going to be a superficial meeting with ‘church women’.”  I knew deep inside that this was going to be important and I was scared to death.

Somehow the Lord guided me there.  I remember telling myself, “I’ll just drive into the parking lot and check things out; if it looks scary then I can just leave.”  I parked the car and the next thing I knew, this beautiful, blonde, bubbly, smiling woman came toward me.  I thought “Oh, no!  Here she comes!  I can’t leave now.”  That was Jenna Collins.  She was so kind as she greeted me and she made me feel so welcomed.  I knew there was no turning back now and I am forever grateful.  Almost immediately, I found myself weeping and weeping.  I looked around and I discovered that was that I was not the only one crying.  We all were.

The Deeper Still team was a conduit of the love of Christ for me that weekend.  I had an encounter that I will never forget.  My self-imposed walls of separation were abolished and I found myself seeing and accepting the true love of Jesus.  I understood so much more fully the enormity of His sacrifice for me.  I understood that my abortion was a violent sinful act, but that Jesus was bigger than my sin.  His sacrifice covered it all and my debt was PAID IN FULL!

I am now walking in freedom that I never thought possible and I’m ready to walk out the destiny that He has ordained for me.  Praise His Name!

Please forward this announcement to every pro-life college student you know!

Want to learn what it takes to work in the pro-life movement full-time?  Want to find out where you best fit into the pro-life movement?  Want to work to save the unborn for an entire summer?

Be a 2012 Missionary for Life!

Apply now to be selected for a competitive, 9-week rotating pro-life internship this summer!

Nowhere else will you get the one-of-a-kind experience of meeting pro-life and conservative leaders, learning how the pro-life grassroots movement works, and seeing Congress in action!

Selected candidates will start their rotating internship in Manassas, VA in June and finish in August.

Candidates will work for 3 weeks in each of the following offices: Students for Life of America headquarters, another national pro-life organization, and a pro-life Congressional office on Capitol Hill.

As a Missionary for Life, your housing will be provided. Missionaries will stay with selected host families in the D.C. area.

To apply,

• Submit your resume
• Send a short paragraph on why you want to be selected as a 2012 Missionary for Life
• Tell us if you will be able to bring a car (as some host families do not live near public transportation)
• Applications are due March 18, 2012!

Apply now!

What past Missionaries said about the SFLA Missionary for Life Program:

“This experience has given me not only knowledge of the workings of the pro-life movement but as well contacts within the movement.  Networking is key and I feel that the people I have connected with are people that can aide me in being successful in my future pro-life work.”  (Emily Espinola, Franciscan University)

“Spending this summer as a Missionary for Life intern has equipped me with the knowledge, resources, and the inspiration necessary to make me twice as effective as a student leader. Having gained a more comprehensive understanding of the pro-life movement, I now know all the different angles from which I can approach the issue on my campus and am now streaming with new ideas of how I will help bring about a culture of life on my campus.” (Steven McNulty, Clarion University)

“Thanks to my experiences this summer with SFLA, I will now spend a lifetime devoting time to the pro-life movement.  I’ve had the opportunity to work with some of the most devoted pro-life activists in the nation, and they have truly inspired me to work tirelessly for the unborn.” (Jennifer Kacerosky, University of Florida)

Sandra Fluke wants us to pay for her contraceptives.  Amanda Clayton won $500,000 and bought a new house and a new car, but she still wants us to pay for her food.  She said she has a right to public assistance, “I have no income, and I have bills to pay. I have two houses.”

At the nearby Great Smoky Mountains National Park, we are told not to feed the bears, because it breeds dependency.  They end up with the habit of coming to humans for food, and then they forget how to take care of themselves.  They can appear friendly at first, but when you don’t give them what they want, they become hostile and dangerous.  The greater the dependency, the more aggressive they become.

Among humans, we call it Leftist Dependency Syndrome (LDS).

Of course, giving free stuff to Sandra Fluke and Amanda Clayton is small potatoes.  The real bear we should quit feeding is Big Government.

Nicole Cooley is Silent No More on the steps of the US Supreme Court. See video below.

Nicole Cooley testified about her story of rape and abortion on the steps of the US Supreme Court building at the 2012 March for Life.  Nicole is the Virginia Project Director for the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR).

A video of Nicole’s remarks is shown below.  Here is the text:

I am here today because I deeply regret the abortion I had four weeks after being raped.  There is no good reason to have an abortion.  All the logical reasons fail to keep your heart from breaking when it’s over.

If, like me, you were raped, and you think you can’t bear nine months of pregnancy, I can tell you from experience the seventeen years of regret have been worse.  I realized too late that my baby was a gift from a loving God who wanted to give me a purpose for my pain.

I want women facing this decision to know you can carry to term; you can choose the adoptive parents, and set your own terms, if you wish.  You can live without the tears, the regret, and the nights of despair – or worse.

The abortion clinic I went to provided no verbal counseling and instead gave me a handful of papers with words I couldn’t read through my tears and shaking.  The anesthesiologist told me, “It will be over soon.”  She was wrong.   The abortion was the beginning of the real nightmare for me.

I had no idea how the abortion would affect me.  The abortion made healing from the rape infinitely more difficult by compounding the trauma.  Before the abortion I cried daily.  Afterwards, I shut down emotionally.

The rape and abortion made my life a living hell.  I had nightmares beginning the night of the rape.  Countless nights, I have woken up crying.  The anguished tears I have cried are unlike any other despair I’ve ever experienced, including the death of close family members.

The rape and abortion crushed my spirit.  Abortion robbed me not only of my joy, but also the essence of who I am by making me turn against my own child.

Since the rape and abortion, it has been very difficult for me to trust men.  I am only married today because God sent me an incredibly gentle and patient man.  I have difficulty trusting doctors.  Annual exams are often stressful and painful.  The subsequent births of my sons and daughter with my husband have been very difficult because of an unnatural fear of pregnancy and childbirth.

Abortion is not the answer for rape.  It never was.  But God is the answer for the pain.  My faith in Jesus Christ has not only healed me, but given me the courage to speak out and provided a purpose to all that I have suffered.  This is why I choose to be Silent No More!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0qtwb1e4E0

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgc1uF0KKtM

Great quote today by Dick Morris:

My head is for Romney, because he has the best chance of winning,

My heart is for Santorm, because of his purity,

My gut is for Gingrich, because he’s Newt, and

My feet are uncommitted.

Morris is a big homer … he tells you what the home fans want to hear … but he is smart.

A week and a half ago, the U of North Florida (UNF) Spinnaker (student newpaper) printed an op-ed piece critical of the GAP project.  A few days later, I offered a rebuttal, which was printed in its entirety in the most recent issue.  Awesome!  Next to my letter was another pro-life op-ed piece, this one by another Spinnaker editor.  Hurray for The Spinnaker!

I was pleased that The Spinnaker printed my letter.  They also appended to my letter some final comments of their own, essentially a rebuttal to some of my points.  No problem; we welcome debate.  But I did want to respond, so I sent them this e-mail over the weekend:

Dear Spinnaker Editors,

I just wanted to sincerely thank you for printing my letter in your February 29, 2012 edition, along with another column from the pro-life side of the debate. I do appreciate you allowing commentary from both sides of the debate on our Genocide Awareness Project. Even if we disagree on key points, you were fair to print both sides.

I did want to respond to your comments that appeared at the end of my editorial in the paper. Not trying to be argumentative, but I thought I should address some of the points you raised.

Think of it as a friendly chat over coffee. In fact, I’ve attached a cup of coffee. From several hundred miles away, e-mail is the best I can do. Please feel free to print it out on your printer and share a cup with each member of the staff! You’ll note that it’s a bit flat, but still steamy. Try that with the US Postal Service!

Anyway, you said that your reference to “bloody babies” made no link to abortion victims, just to the photos the GAP displayed. I can’t think of any bloody babies we displayed other than abortion victims. Most people don’t think about abortion victims as “bloody babies”, and that is exactly why we want them to be seen, because that is exactly what they are.

As to the differences between the miscarried fetus, the aborted fetus, and the fetus in the womb, they are very different. The aborted fetus has generally been torn into pieces. In fact, one part of the abortion procedure is to reassemble the pieces to make sure that no part of the fetus has been left inside the uterus, which could create a serious infection. On the other hand, the miscarried fetus is generally not torn apart, although it can happen, depending on how the baby is removed. Miscarriages can occur spontaneously, which normally results in an intact embryo/fetus. If they find the baby dead and have to induce labor, that also can result in an intact fetus. At least it did for ours, who died at 19 weeks. We had another that died earlier in pregnancy, and the removal did (I was told) damage the body beyond any recognition or recovery.

Regarding living babies in the womb, obviously they have not been torn apart and therefore look nothing like the aborted babies we displayed.

You say that you did not describe a fetus as “just a blob of tissue.” Perhaps you didn’t explicitly make that claim, but when you advocate a debate about abortion in which the facts of abortion are hidden, you invite people to believe the myths that the abortion industry has advanced, including the myth that the unborn child is just a blob of tissue. It isn’t necessary for you to claim that the fetus is a blob of tissue, because for so many, that is the default assumption. That’s why it is up to us to prove otherwise. Pictures are, for most of our audience, the most effective proof we have.

Finally, you said that you didn’t encourage readers to be pro- or anti-abortion. Perhaps not explicitly, but the effect of your message is still pro-abortion because you don’t point people to the most important issue … whether or not the pre-born child is a human being whose life we must respect in the same way that we respect the life of a born child. We are more than willing to have a debate about our strategy and tactics, but the debate over abortion really centers around the questions of (1) who the pre-born child is, and (2) how must he be valued.

You were skeptical of our comparison of abortion to genocide. Obviously, abortion is nothing like genocide … IF. If pre-born children are not living human beings, then abortion does not kill humans and there are no relevant similarities between abortion and genocide. But if pre-born children are living human beings – science tells us they are – then abortion kills 1.2 million living humans every year in the US. If not genocide, what else would we call it?

UN General Assembly Resolution 96, adopted in 1946, describes genocide as “a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups, as homicide is the denial of the right to live of individual human beings …” Resolution 96 goes on to say it is a crime “whether committed on religious, racial, political or any other grounds …” (emphasis added). With abortion, the “entire human group” denied the right of existence is unwanted, pre-born children.

If it is wrong for whiter people to kill darker people for something they can’t control (the color of their skin), how can it be OK for older people to kill younger people for something they can’t control (their age)?

Blessings to all of you,
Fletcher

.

The Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR) has launched a post-card campaign that puts the truth of abortion into Canadian mail-boxes and homes.  Thousands of people in Calgary have received large post-cards bearing photos of abortion, and there are more to come.  This was the lead story on the local TV station!  See all of the CCBR postcards here.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “America will never reject racism until America sees racism.”  His niece, Dr. Alveda King, now says, “America will never reject abortion until America sees abortion.  That’s why we show it to them.

Help help America whareject abortion; please click here here and be as generous as you can.  Please don’t turn away.  We have invitations to bring our campus outreach project to major universities, but we cannot accept those invitations unless we can raise $18,000 this week!  Please help, because a baby’s life is at stake.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnb6AHQr0ho

Front side of one of the postcards from the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

Back side of same postcard.

Americans United for Life (AUL) has launched this educational campaign to help people understand the manipulative and deceptive policies in the pending healthcare law that are forcing both an abortion mandate and an abortion-inducing drug mandate on all Americans — regardless of their personal beliefs.  In a public relations bait-and-switch tactic, the administration pretends that this is about contraception.  But that’s a con—this issue is about mandating abortion-causing drugs.  Be sure to click here to sign up for updates on this issue from AUL.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_QZFHHUmms