A young man describes the inhumanities of his own culture.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

With the massive floods of people passing by the signs at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK), the “gem yield” was encouraging.

Pro-aborts actually help
GAP at UT is always fun … by that we mean froth with protest.  The protesters set up just across the sidewalk, which actually pushed the passersby over toward our display as they walked to and from class.  We love it when a plan comes together!

GAP activates the converted
Pro-life students came out of the woodwork to thank us and even help.  Pro-life senior Federico Di Luzio was so impressed that he signed up for the Pro-Life Collegians, attended the meeting that night, and showed up the next morning to help.  Brandon Hambrick was there from the start, with his gentle but strong presence.  Solid as a rock in his Christian faith, he was an example to his male peers.

Sage philosopher
A philosophy teacher was approached by a female student who asked, “I’m holding a petri dish containing an embryo in one hand, and a viable fetus in the other.  Which should I drop?”
The philosopher answered with a question, “Before you stands a man and a woman.  Whom should you murder?”
“Neither,” replied the student.  Dr. Kress answered, “Neither will I murder either of whom is in your hands.”

Phone-a-friend
“Wow. I was pro-choice but I can’t look at this picture without changing my mind. This is a human being.”  The young man phoned three friends and they came to the display. Each one came pro-choice, but each one left saying he had a lot to think about.

Gendercide in Bangladesh
A student reported, “I have never seen these comparisons and they interest me. In Bangladesh, abortion is illegal but I know men force abortions for gender reasons. Men want a son.”

Which is more respectful?
A student asked if our methods were respectful of the dead. CBR’s Jackie Hawkins asked which was less respectful (a) hiding the slaughter of millions while the country cheers and celebrates their demise, or (b) showing their plight so we can mourn their loss and prevent others from suffering the same fate?

Reasonable pro-aborts
Five pro-aborts came to Debbie at the Deeper Still table and told her that while they weren’t on our side, they found that the twerking, condom-pushing protesters were “too aggressive and acting stupid.  They should be willing to talk to you.”

Planting seeds of truth and reason.

by Tony Walker

Through GAP at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville (UTK), we have an opportunity to stimulate dialogue.  Many of those people at first oppose the pictures.  But they are willing to talk if I patiently wait for an opportunity, approach them with a gentle attitude, try to answer their questions and statements with honest and truthful information, and thank them for being willing to be there and take a stand.

Many are openly opposed, but by talking, they give me opportunity to plant seeds of truth and reason that begin to grow a little right then and there.

The opposition will argue that the unborn is not a “living human being.”  But we ask if it is “alive” (not dead or inanimate), and they admit it is alive.  Then we ask if it is “human” (not dog or apple), and they admit it is human.  Then we ask if it is a “being” (not just a human skin or blood cell of the mother), and they admit it is not part of the mother’s body.  They are left admitting the unborn is a “living human being.”

Now what they have left is the question of personhood.  They look at pictures of abuse and murder of Blacks, Indians, Jews, and unborn babies who were denied rights of personhood. They were called less than human, so it was OK to abuse and kill them.  The pictures are powerful and help connect the dots between historical and ongoing inhumanity.

I am thankful to be able to be a part of this graphic outcry.  It would not be possible without the gifts and participation of many workers and givers. I also thank the pro-aborts for being there, thinking and talking about this atrocity.  They bring more attention to the pictures and spark more interest in our message.  That brings out the reporters, who then take pictures and video and share it with many more.

After reading that, don’t you want to get in on the action?  Contact CBR and see how you can be a part of the next GAP trip!

Tony Walker is a CBR volunteer from Tennessee.

Jane Bullington loading up a young woman with materials for her heart-touching homework.

In it for the money?
“You don’t believe this crap; you just want to provoke someone to hit you so you can sue,” a young man shouted.

Professorial dictatorship
“Professors cut down our grades for questioning or contradicting them.  It is good to see this out here,” a young man told Jane Bullington.

Consistent to the point of silliness
“I truly believe it is not a baby until it is born,” the young woman said.  Jane replied, “What do you see when you look at a friend’s ultrasound and the something is yawning and stretching?”
“It is not a baby.”
Maybe it’s a cat.

Awesome homework fodder
“I have a pro-life presentation in philosophy next week and I need a good argument.”  Jane sent the young woman packing with loads of reading materials.  Her presentation will make a difference.

Not easy, but it’s right
“I am 26 years old and have a child of my own.  We have taken in 4 siblings from foster care too.  It is not easy but it is right,” she told Jane.

On the clock
Kathy, a sociology TA who claimed to be a professor, cussed at volunteer Debbie Picarello, saying we are shaming women.  She admitted to being post-abortive and did not believe that GAP was helping women.  The conversation was laced with “F you” from the woman who was most likely being paid to be there.  A male student was horrified by her behavior.

Making a stand on both fronts
Hally, a Christian student, said she was convicted about being out at the display.  Her first thoughts had been about self-preservation but realized God wanted her there.  She took a class taught by the Sociology TA who showed a pro-homosexuality film in class.  Hally was publicly ridiculed by the teacher and the students for sharing a perspective outside what the professor had presented.

Struggling with the past
Volunteer Christy McKinney spoke to a student and mom of three.  She was 31 weeks pregnant with her 3rd.  Her 2nd child was 7.  Her 1st was aborted.  She had never seen the pictures and stopped to look at them.  She was struck at how developed the child was in the 8-week abortion and looked at it for awhile.  Her parents wanted the abortion.  Looking back, she believes it was the “right choice for her.”  While she said those words, Christy could tell that she was struggling to make herself believe it.

A couple share wisdom from pain with CBR’s Jane Bullington and Jacqueline Hawkins.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

Despite the mayonnaise a pro-abort student smeared over one of our signs, there were some real gems that appeared throughout the two days we brought GAP to North Carolina State University.

Chastity and purity.  A young black woman told Jane she and her boyfriend have mutually agreed their bodies belong to the Lord, and their physical relationship will comprise only hand-holding until marriage.  She has turned down many Christian young men as dating partners because they could not see anything wrong with kissing and whatever that led to.

Hard, but softened by friends.  A male and female student were sitting near the display.  Jane watched them for a couple of minutes and thought she saw them praying.  Jane walked over and asked if they had questions or comments.  She asked if they had, indeed, been praying for us.  “Yes, we were.  We are here to spread Jesus on our campus and we wanted to pray for you guys.”  The young woman’s last comment was, “Being a Christian is the hardest thing I have ever done.”  It is, but it is made easier by praying friends.

No choices for her.  “I am a single mom. I have a 13-year-old and a 2-year-old.  When I got pregnant 3 years ago, as an educated, upwardly mobile black woman with tenure on this campus, I got no support for my decision to keep my baby.  Two different faculty members asked me, ‘Can I take you to get it taken care of?’ and ‘What are you going to do with it?’  There was no ‘choice’ for me unless my choice was theirs as well.”

Spared from gendercide.  A student from India told the story of his very blessed mother.  “My mom grew up in a rural village in India where baby girls were thrown down into a well in order to kill them.  My mom was spared because our family had a little more money apparently.  She used to play by that well.  She didn’t know until she was an adult who was inside.  Years later, an Indian man, educated in America where he also made a lot of money, returned to that small village and built a school just for girls.  Times are changing in rural India but it is slow.”  He pointed to the pictures and said, “This is horrible as well.”

Grab-n-go info.  “So what if the woman is raped?” asked a male student.  CBR volunteer acknowledged the horror of rape and gave our standard answer.  “OK, what if the woman’s life is in danger?”  Patti answered with our script about having two patients [mother and child] that we may or may not be able to save.  “Got it! Thanks”  He kept moving.  No argument!  No questioning my sources!  No extreme examples and exceptions!  He made Patti’s day!

Wisdom through pain.  Jane and I spoke to a very nice married couple when they came by during their lunch break.  They thanked us for being there.  “People need to see this,” the husband said.  He was a librarian at the NC State library.  The wife had an abortion years ago, after her daughter was diagnosed with a disease.  Her daughter would have been in her late teens by now.  Now the couple has trouble conceiving.  The wife sagely asserted that you never know what the future holds.  You need to treasure the children you are blessed with now, regardless of your situation, because you may not be able to have more in the future.  This is especially true after an abortion.  We directed the wife to the Deeper Still table to learn more about post abortion counseling and retreats.  They were good people that God will hopefully bless with more children one day.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

Black students seem to find me (behind the barricade, on the left).  Not sure why!

by Jacqueline Hawkins

I have written about the intersection of race and pro-life activism (here and here).  Because I am a “black sheep” of the black community, I am often confronted with responses that my counterparts don’t experience.

Sometimes black students treat me differently.  Some might feel more comfortable talking to me — or unleashing their wrath, as the case may be.  Perhaps some take liberties with me they can’t take with others.  The treatment at UNC Greensboro was especially intense.

Token black girl.  Some black girls accused me of being the token black person on the team.  They argued that this somehow made my presence invalid.  They even said I should be offended that my white counterparts would have me participate in GAP.  (Is there anything black people shouldn’t be offended by?)  I said I have two degrees in the predominantly white field of agriculture.  I asked if it would have been better to drop out of college because my field of study didn’t have enough black folks.  They didn’t have much of an answer.

BET PSA.  “I don’t feel like my voice is being heard!” a black female student shouted at the top of her lungs.  I felt like I was listening to a BET public service announcement during an election year.  Of course, this could have been said by anyone, black or white — I heard the same thing on MTV.  Speaking of catchy PSAs of the millenial generation, another black girl said, “You don’t have a right to make us feel uncomfortable!”  I need a safe space; are there any no-stupid zones?

Guilt Backfired.  Some black students told me, “You should be standing up for the choices of black women!”  I replied, “I rather stand up for the black children marked for slaughter.”  They didn’t have much of a response to that one either.

Return to the school yard.  In the late afternoon, right before we broke down, some black students came to me and insisted that this method doesn’t work.  They told me that no one cares.  I made a sweeping gesture to the huge crowd of students, most of whom had been there since noon.  I said all this attention only brings more and more attention.  People do indeed care.  They persisted.  I told them about Martin Luther King and how our process was modeled off of his actions.  Boy, they didn’t like that; they were attacked by loud, forceful belly laughs.  Reminded me of middle school.  “Whatever, Martin Luther,” they jibed, eyes rolling like marbles.  They left as they continued to laugh and mock me.

Making demands.  As we were breaking down, the belly-laughter students came back and demanded I talk to them.  When I told them I had to help break down they scoffed and rolled their eyes, insisting I could talk to them but just didn’t want to.  Again, I was reminded of middle school, when the black kids would make demands of me and get upset when I didn’t give in.  I politely assured them that we would talk again when CBR came back to UNCG.  To that they said: “We don’t want you back!”  In turn I replied, “Don’t worry, we’ll be back.”  I winked at them to seal the deal.

Just a reminder, I can only keep my promise with your help.  Please do help me go back.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

At UNC Greensboro, a young woman told Deeper Still and GAP volunteer Debbie Picarello that she was a Christian who believed God gave her a “choice.”  In her mind, God was fine with whatever she wanted to do with her own body, even if it meant destroying her baby’s body.

She was failing the “choice” test, the test of life and death.

Debbie pulled out the ultimate life “cheat sheet,” the Bible.  This is pretty good: In the most important test we will ever take, the test of life and death, God gave us the answers!  Debbie showed her the answers she needed to know:

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.  I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful.”  (Psalm 139:13,14)

In other words, God made us.  He put us together Himself.

“For you are bought with a great price.  Glorify and bear God in your body.”  (1 Cor 6:20.)

Our bodies are not our own; they belong to God.  This is especially true for Christians purchased by the Blood of the Lamb.

“Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil …  I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.  Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live.”  (Duet 30:15;19)

The choice should be clear.

This was not what the young woman wanted to hear.  She told Debbie she felt judged.  Debbie assured her that she was not judging her, but was giving her the Word of the very God she claimed to worship.  Her belief, that she could do whatever she wanted with her own body and the body of her child, was wrong.  Her assertions directly contradicted the Bible.

It was indeed her choice to follow the Bible or not.  But it was clear how God saw our choices.  There are right choices and wrong choices.  As followers of Christ, our choices are intended to be conformed to His likeness so that the whole world can know him.  Pro-abortion Christians aren’t just dangerous for themselves and their children; they are dangerous for everyone on the planet.

God gives us the answers to the test, so that we can correct our course and pass with flying colors.

Understanding what Debbie was saying, the young woman shook Debbie’s hand and thanked her for speaking with her.

This is so important.  Our most important outreach is not to the pagan world; we are taking truth to confused Christians led astray by complacent church leaders who work harder than Planned Parenthood to cover up the truth.  Over and over again, your support is the difference between life and death.  When you support CBR, you choose life.

Jackie Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and regular FAB contributor.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

We don’t know his name … so we’ll just call him Egg Boy (not to be confused with Humpty Dumpty).  At NC State, Egg Boy tried to champion the pro-abortion cause with a raw egg.

“I tell you, chemically speaking, there is no difference between this 2-week-old chicken fetus and a 2-week-old human fetus,” he declared resolutely, again and again.

In his hand was an unfertilized chicken egg (not even a chick-in-a-shell), so it was hard to figure out just what his vehement, triumphantly-stated argument was.

So I finally had to tell him and his approving friends, “Sir, at the end of the day, that chicken fetus will grow up, have it’s head chopped off, turned into chicken tenders, and served at the Chick-fil-A right over there.  Meanwhile, the human fetus will grow up, become a student at NC State, and eat the former chicken fetus-turned-tenders.  Does that answer your question?”

With that, Mr. Egg Boy scratched his head and looked dubiously at his visual aid.  “I don’t know … I’m not really sure why I have this anymore …”  At least he was honest.

Egg Boy was stumped.  But, if at first you don’t succeed, …

So Egg Boy took his visual aid and tried again.  He was so confident that his new angle would deliver a glorious victory, he brought his own camera(phone) man.  He would be a YouTube star!

Holding up the egg, he asked CBR volunteer Patti Shanley, “Can you eat this human fetus?”

“That’s not a human fetus; that’s a chicken egg.”  Patti is pretty smart for a pro-lifer.

“How do you know this isn’t a fetus?  Wouldn’t you have to open it up and kill it to find out?”  The phone was brought closer and closer, to record the overwhelming domination of this intellectual giant over the mentally-deficient pro-life bigot.

“Seriously?  You’re a student at NC State and you are asking me if this chicken egg could possibly be a human fetus?  Is that the best you have?  I’m disappointed.”

“But, but, couldn’t this be a fetus?” he insisted.

“No, it couldn’t, but I think you should take it to the agriculture school and ask someone over there.  I’d love to see the look on that professor’s face when you ask.”

Foiled again!  “Stop recording!” Egg Boy commanded.

With that, he slinked away.  We actually saw Egg Boy the next day.  He rode by on his skateboard … no egg and no arguments.

He is actually smarter than many of his peers.  He at least knew his argument had been beaten.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

The leftist media agrees … CBR is changing the nature of the abortion debate.

As part of a series on the pro-life advances across Europe, NBC News devoted an entire article to the growing use of abortion pictures.  They wrote,

“Graphic pictures of aborted fetuses, prayer vigils and protesters.  It’s no coincidence that the anti-abortion movement looks the same from London to Dublin to Warsaw.”

The other side knows the times, they are a-changin’.  Pro-abort activist Goretti Horgan of Northern Ireland said it this way:

“We knew that they were being supported by the U.S. because of their tactics — they were very, very aggressive whereas the anti-abortion people before that had been very respectable.”

By aggressive, she means “effective”.  By respectable, she means “easy to ignore”.

The article credits Gregg Cunningham of CBR as the driving force behind this strategic advance.  NBC’s article created a fantastic platform in which Cunningham and leaders of European pro-life organizations could discuss the history of social reform and the reasoning behind our strategy and tactics.  It also gives an overview of the scope of CBR’s reach, stating that,

“Pro-abortion activists, providers and seekers in Finland, Sweden, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Ireland, England and beyond have been confronted with the same photos of dismembered fetuses as American women from Austin to Buffalo.”

NBC News agrees … because you support CBR, the times, they are a-changin’.

At UNC Greensboro, reactions ranged from furious, to calm, to … kind of weird.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

As you can read here, the response to GAP at UNC Greensboro was quite animated.  CBR Project Director Lincoln Brandenburg said that many of the students were like hyenas descending upon a scrap of meat.  Between the bloodthirsty vitriol and the stealth appreciation, there was a wide range of reactions.

The man who almost wasn’t
Based on his expression and the way he spoke, it was obvious he wasn’t out for blood like his schoolmates in the crowd.  He made neutral inquiries concerning the life of the mother.  I gently answered his question, mentioning cases such as toxemia and ectopic pregnancies.  I made sure to stress to him and those listening that saving the life of the mother did not involve Planned Parenthood and ripping children apart.  It was a matter of administering medical treatment to BOTH patients.  Unfortunately, in the case of ectopic pregnancy, saving the child is impossible, given current medical technologies.  Satisfied with my answer, he then told me he was almost an ectopic pregnancy.  He had implanted very close to the fallopian tube.  I told him just how happy I was he had survived and was there to speak with me.  He thanked me and disappeared into the crowd.

Maternal instinct
A young woman walked by, just as Bill offered a pamphlet.  “I’m pregnant!  I don’t want to see this!” she exclaimed.  She was determined but not antagonistic.  She didn’t want to see pictures of what she could have had done to her own child.  “I’m not doing this!  I’m keeping my baby!”  This young woman already had a healthy level of maternal instinct.  The pictures will help her to encourage the same instincts in her friends and family.

Best argument on campus
The grand prize for best pro-abortion argument goes to the young man who came to within 6 inches of Jane Bullington’s face and shouted, “You are STUPID.”  Jane stood toe-to-toe and eye-to-eye with this learned scholar until he backed off and went to make his prize-winning argument with someone else.

Enlightened pro-abort musings
At the height of the rowdiness, four young women from a protest group came over to Jane Bullington to talk.  They had the usual lack of knowledge that facilitated the usual objections.  But because they were somewhat open to what Jane had to say, they were able to learn a few things they hadn’t known before.  At the end, one girl mused, “It is sad that we don’t have discussions when we have difference of opinions.  We shouldn’t just try to shout people down when we could talk to them.”  Amen to that.

Selling out for consistency
A young black man walked up and asked pointedly, “Why?  Why are you doing this?” After answering him, he reasoned that since people are going to have abortions anyway, there was no reason to try to stop them.  I applied his argument to slavery.  “Would you want them legalize slavery because people are going to traffic humans anyway?”  He shrugged nonchalantly, musing that when push comes to shove, legalizing crimes that already happen wouldn’t be such a bad thing, even if it meant he got shipped off to the nearest cotton field.

Post-liberal dictatorship?
A male student was a pro-abort, but he was by no means pleased with his fellow students. As they demanded GAP leave campus, he exploded.  “F*** all of you!  As liberals, if we can’t defend free speech of those who disagree with us, then liberalism is dead!”  He stormed off continuing to curse at the protesters,  “Are we trying to live in a post-liberal dictatorship?”  Umm, yeah.  We kind of are.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

Hard-core pro-aborts, when they have no argument, try to change the subject.  Stubborn people are not our target audience, so we aren’t dismayed when they deny the evidence in front of them.  Our target audience is people in the middle who (a) are still open-minded and (b) have a functioning conscience.

At UNC Greensboro, some students complained that we cited sources older than 2010.  Our information about embryology was too old, they said.  Science changes, they said.

Hmmm.  You mean they don’t make babies like they used to?  Really?

Suppose you can’t find a recent publication proving (again) that gravity is real — and you can’t, because nobody would publish a paper proving something we’ve known for centuries — what does that mean?  Maybe pigs can fly?

These same scholars took issue with the definition of genocide we cite, because they claimed the definition has been altered for political reasons.  In this case, they undermined their own argument, because we cite UN Resolution 96, adopted in 1946.  Having no enforcement provisions, Resolution 96 defined genocide as targeting any group of people for destruction.

The 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, however, includes enforcement provisions and thus was limited, for political reasons, to only those genocides committed against national, ethnical, racial, or religious groups.  Genocides against social and political groups, for example, were excluded because the Soviet Union feared Stalin’s mass murders might be considered genocidal if broader language were adopted.  (The Study of Mass Murder and Genocide, Robert Gellately and Ben Kiernan, in The Specter of Genocide: Mass Murder in Historical Perspective, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 18)

Some tried to claim that our sign referencing honor killing was invalid because it did not include a photo of each and every group of women subjected to that particular atrocity.  Desperate people say absurd things.

This often happens with GAP.  They have no argument to support decapitating and dismembering little human beings, so they try to change the subject.  If one logical fallacy won’t work, they try another.

In the end, it doesn’t matter.  They only help us, because they give us a chance to juxtapose our good arguments with their logical fallacies.  Our target audience, the mushy middle, gets to hear and compare.

And with time, we’ll pick off even some of the hard-core pro-aborts.  As long as they hang around, they absorb the hard evidence.  Some of them contact us later and tell us how the seeds we planted eventually sprouted and grew.  Julie was a committed pro-abort when we first met her at the University of North Florida, but she told us 3 years later that she had changed her mind.  “The pictures followed me home,” she said.

Deeper Still’s Debbie Picarello at UNC Greensboro.

by Debbie Picarello

When I set up the Deeper Still post-abortion counseling table near the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), students always ask if I am part of GAP.  They are often angry about the abortion photos and don’t want to speak with GAP volunteers.

I always give the long answer, “I am here with Deeper Still, which is a post abortion healing ministry.  We offer free healing retreats for men and women.  Yes, men hurt from abortion too.  And (pointing to the pictures) we are hurting because we have done that to our children.”

I am also repeatedly asked about the pictures angering or upsetting post-abortive women.  I explain how being upset at the pictures is a telltale sign that something is still wrong.  I point out that healing and counseling is a emotional and messy process.  I always encourage hurting people to seek help.  I say to women and men that if the pictures still cause them extreme distress, it’s a sign they still need healing.  When asked if these pictures “trigger” me now, I say they do not.  That is a product of healing.  They are hard to look at, but not triggering.

The Fall 2015 GAP tour was especially evangelistic.  I was repeatedly asked about Deeper Still being Christian.  I say that the only lasting healing from the wounds of abortion come through Jesus Christ alone.  Over and over again, I have shared miraculous stories of healing and deliverance from the Lord Jesus at these campuses.

Are you a post-abortive person who has found healing?  We need you!  Come with us and reach out to students in a way that only you can.

Debbie Picarello is a post-abortion counselor with Deeper Still, an international post-abortion counseling ministry based in Knoxville.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

UNC Greensboro, I suspect I was hearing a fish story.  You know the kind.  The fish just gets bigger and bigger and bigger as the story unfolds.

Unfortunately for the teller of this tale, I had experience with the subject matter, so I wasn’t so easily impressed.

An irate girl brought up the case of child poverty, the oft-repeated circumstance of a mother too poor to take care of her offspring.  The obvious answer to poverty is to kill the youngest (i.e., the most invisible) child, right?

I trotted out the toddler, which means I presented a hypothetical 2-year old and asked if poverty would justify killing the toddler.  She avoided the question, stating that she could never take care of a baby because she was poor.

As someone who has lived in relative (not absolute) poverty, I questioned her statement, trying to get a feel what degree of poverty she was experiencing, so I could frame an appropriate response.  “Of course I’m poor!” she said.  “We’re all poor!  We’re poor college students!”

Hmm.  Poor college students.  Was she talking about the college students who drive late-model cars and spend hundreds of dollars each semester on alcohol?

I explained how poverty is a bad justification for killing a child.  Again she attempted to change the subject, “My family is poor! We have debt!”

Ah, the fish has gotten bigger.

I told her that she seemed to be doing pretty well for herself.  She was alive, well-fed, going to an expensive college.  Then I got personal, “As a card-carrying poor person, I don’t take kindly to people telling me that I’d be better off dead.”  To that she exclaimed, “I was homeless!”

Ah, homeless.  She went from a poor college student, to the daughter of parents with debt, to climbing her way out of homelessness.

And yet, despite being homeless at one point or another (maybe), she hated pregnancy resource centers because, “they push anti-choice propaganda!”  Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Was she telling the truth?  If she was truly climbing her way out of homelessness, she was condemning those like her simply because they didn’t have much wealth.  Had she forgotten where she came from so quickly?  Was she really so blinded by her success and potential to succeed that she would callously sentence poor children to death?  Did she not realize that she was stealing their opportunity to follow her example and carve out a life for themselves like she was doing?  Did she not grasp that we poor people, past, present, and future, need to stick together and help each other out?

Or was she telling a tall tale to get her point across?  Was she simply ignorant of the fact that poverty, particularly American poverty, isn’t so bad that those living in it are better off dead?  Was she completely unaware that, in many cases, poverty has helped people build character, mental and emotional stamina, and unique life skills (rags to riches, anyone?)?  Was she, dare I say, a privileged young woman who looked down upon those without and easily sentenced them to death because helping them took too much work?

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

While debate rages in the background, young women learn about compassion and support from volunteer Debbie Picarello.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

Trust women.  It’s her choice.  Support women.

These are the slogans.  But they only seem to apply when a woman chooses to abort her child.  Women who embrace unplanned motherhood need not apply for trust and support from the left.

At the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, with all of the angry student yelling about women’s rights and supporting women’s decisions, a female senior was not impressed.  In fact, she was downright sad and her downcast expression prompted Jane to speak with her.  The young woman was 15 weeks pregnant.  The baby was unplanned and she was unmarried.

Thankfully she was in a long term relationship with the father of the baby.  They were keeping the child and would ask for support from friends and family.  Looking at the crowd of angry protesters, she said, “I am not married; I am in school; I am broke.  But I don’t get any help from my peers; I just get questions about why I don’t ‘get rid of this problem.’  They don’t support my choice to keep this baby; they want me to be selfish and weak like they are.  It makes me so sad.”

This double standard was this young woman’s reality.  Where was her support?  Where was her trust?  Granted, there are pregnancy resource centers to help families like hers, but those are staffed by pro-lifers.  What about her pro-choice peers?  Where were these people who reject the label “pro-abort” but bask in the glory of the term “pro-choice” because they want women to make their own choices, even if it’s not abortion.  It probably sounds good in their heads but when it comes to real life, they quickly become 100% pro-abort and unplanned mothers who keep their children suffer for it.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

Students gather in front of the signs to see the photos, read the messages, and ask their questions.  Although UNC is more intolerant than most places, there are many students who were willing to engage with open minds.

Nothing could be finer than a GAP in Carolina!

At UNC Chapel Hill, we were hosted by the Carolina Students for Life (CSFL), one of the many campus pro-life organizations we’ve had a hand in starting over the years.

We set up at our usual location on Polk Place, in the heart of the campus.  Thousands of students passed by during every class change.

UNC Chapel Hill is a real bastion of intolerance and hate.  Several students vandalized the warning signs we normally place on approach routes to the display.  Because these signs are really a courtesy to students who may not wish to see genocide photos, we had to wonder if these vandals hated us, or did they just want to make sure everyone saw our display?  Not too sure about that.  Anyway, …

We had huge crowds both days. On Day 1, a street preacher stationed himself across the sidewalk from the GAP display and spoke about abortion, relativism, and salvation, to an ever-growing crowd of protesting students.  While the preacher was not a part of our operation, he used a lot of our debate techniques and talking points in his preaching.  The preacher, the protesters, and the crowds of students which gathered, all focused even more attention on our pictures.

For me, the highlight of the trip was this note left on the free speech board:

My mom was raped.  She didn’t want to have me.  I was almost aborted.  My grandmother saved my life.  When I was born, my mother was grateful.  She then loved me well.

That pretty well says it all.

On Day 2, as we prepared to leave, the protesters blasted us with “music” performed by a woman-hating “artist” who blurted out “f— you, b—-” over and over again.  The pro-aborts who blasted this rant obviously did not value or even respect women, even though most were themselves women.  So often, following Satan leads to to some form of self-loathing behavior.  Fascinating.  Instructive.

Media:

• Anti-abortion group compares abortion to genocide in Polk Place
• Letter: Anti-abortioners have no claim to genocide
• Letter: ​Abortion protesters spoke false narratives
• Letter: Anti-abortionist had no place on campus
• Letter: ​Chapel Hill’s anger is sometimes laughable

Students study the photos at UNC Charlotte.

GAP at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) is always a special treat for me,  having lived there briefly about 30 years ago.  Both UNCC and the city have grown tremendously; the change is really something to behold.

Like many urban universities, UNCC seems to have a lot of students who actually work as well as go to school.  People with productive jobs are not as susceptible to left-wing kookery.  We had many pleasant encounters with thoughtful students.

On the other hand, one man jumped the barricades to vandalize one of our signs.  He was arrested and is currently facing charges in criminal court.  We got some awesome video.

More to come.

Another former fetus speaks out.  This message was left on our free speech board, which invites students to write comments about GAP and abortion.