A UNC student studies the GAP display

by Mick Hunt

In an earlier post, I gave examples of “pro-choice” meanness at UNC.  But there’s more to the story.   In spite of the intolerance we witnessed among the hard-core leftists, there were many thoughtful students with open minds whose responses encourage us to continue in this difficult work.  Here are a few stories and comments you will enjoy:

 A young man protested in front of our GAP display.  He said that he was strongly pro-choice, although he would not want his girlfriend or wife to have an abortion.  After a lengthy dialogue with one of our volunteers, he looked at the pictures for about 20 minutes, saying very little.  Then he said, “You have some compelling arguments.  Although I’m pro-choice, that doesn’t mean I always will be.  You’ve dissected this complex issue and made it very difficult for me to be pro-choice.”

 A campus groundskeeper said that even though he was pro-choice, our display had an impact on him.  After hearing why we compare abortion to other forms of genocide, he said he still didn’t agree.  However, we had gotten him to think about it.

 A young man said he didn’t get the genocide comparison because abortion isn’t based on race or nationality.  We explained to him how the Cambodian genocide was based on level of education.  He said, “Thank you.  I guess I had a very narrow view of what genocide is.”

 Two young men wanted to talk and learn about abortion and our display.  Afterward one said, “Thank you for a calm conversation.  These emotional issues so often end in ad hominem attacks.”

 Katie was taught by her mother at a young age that if she ever got pregnant before she finished college, and was not married, she would have to have an abortion.  She looked sadly at the display, almost crying.  She said, “Before seeing your display, if I had gotten pregnant, I would have had an abortion.  I never really thought what abortion did to a baby or even if it really was a baby.  But no more.  Now I know the truth.  I have a post-abortive friend and I am going back to talk with her and provide resources to move her toward healing.”

And lastly, a woman sent the following letter to CBR headquarters:

Dear Genocide Awareness Project,

From 2005-2009 I was a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  On multiple occasions I saw your anti-abortion presentation and was shocked to see the dismembered little bodies.  I was pro-choice when I was in college, mostly out of selfishness and lack of knowledge about the development of a fetus.  I am now officially pro-life after having my first daughter and finally realizing WHAT is going on when a baby is developing in the womb.  My SIX WEEK baby had a HEART BEAT … and we are allowed to kill them?

I will not give you my whole story, I just wanted to take a moment to thank you for what you do.  I am sure that you get much more argumentative and accusatory feedback than positive feedback.  Please let me tell you that when I hear my baby’s heartbeat (and I tracked her growth) I remembered your posters on campus and finally understood what you were fighting for. … I’m only sorry it took me so long.

THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU DO.  Your project made a difference in my life.

E. W.

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Mick (Meredith Eugene) Hunt is a regular FAB contributor.  He has helped organize more than 50 Genocide Awareness Projects (GAPs) all over the Southeast and elsewhere.

Julie and Emily Ascik, Co-Presidents of Carolina Students for Life.  (They both are wearing glasses. Click to enlarge.)

by Mick Hunt

The Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) changes lives among our audience—students, staff, and faculty of our nation’s largest public universities.  And it also changes the pro-life student leaders who host the project, by making them stronger.

In an earlier post, I gave examples of “pro-choice” meanness at UNC, including an account written by CBR Project Director Edie Benchabbat, who described how some UNC students attempted to dehumanize a pro-life student leader, one of the co-presidents of Carolina Students for Life, and how she felt bullied.  Edie also reflected on how we encourage pro-life students for the long term. She wrote about the UNC incident:

Now I look at our role in a different way.  So many pro-life students and adults felt intimidated by the pro abortion-choicers and whispered as they walked by, “Thank you!”  We bring a strength to our students.  We give them the foundation to stand up for the unborn.  They may go out alone sometimes, but I think the level of their impact and the level of confidence in coming face-to-face with evil is stronger with us.  I see us as spiritual, physical, and emotional bodyguards so the pro-life students will blossom into strong advocates for the pre-born children.

And if you think the pro-life UNC student leaders were discouraged by the ill treatment they received, consider what Julie and Emily Ascik, the co-presidents of Carolina Students for Life, wrote after GAP in their letter recommending the project for other universities:

It really is scary and was scary for us to bring the GAP Project to our very liberal, very pro-choice campus.  But it was also probably very scary for Martin Luther King and William Wilberforce to speak up about their causes, especially towards the beginning when they were alone in their stance and when people were afraid their tactics would offend people.  Abortion IS horrible and seeing the pictures of it is horrible, but we must make sure other people know what is happening thousands of times daily in our society.  As William Wilberforce once said, “You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”

We actually rejoiced when some UNC students staged a counter-protest; it meant they were thinking about abortion.  Contrary to what most people think, having people talking about abortion, even if they are angry and insulting, is a good and productive thing to do.  Yes, it hurts when they say hate-filled and incorrect things to and about you, but as Gandhi once said, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

Next time, I’ll share some UNC stories about how GAP changed our audience.

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Mick (Meredith Eugene) Hunt is a regular FAB contributor.  He has helped organize more than 50 Genocide Awareness Projects (GAPs) all over the Southeast and elsewhere.

Written on our free speech board at Michigan State University: “Intense images … really forced me to think.”

The Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) created such an uproar at Michigan State University (MSU), the Students for Life (SFL) President Lisa Jankowski was elected Chairwoman of the College Republicans!  Congratulations to Lisa!  The CRs know what works, and they want it.

The tension surrounding GAP is not a negative we must overcome.  It is a positive we should embrace, for two reasons.  First, it is an indicator that people are uncomfortable when faced with the status quo.  Isn’t that how we want them to react?  Second, it is a facilitator of social change because it draws more attention, forcing people to think about abortion who would rather not.

I am not afraid of the word ‘tension.’ I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.  (Martin Luther King)

The pro-life students at MSU understood this.  SFL Vice President Vinny Szczerowski wrote

By bringing [GAP] to MSU, we achieved greater interest in our growing Students for Life organization.  The attention given to the uniqueness of this project gave our group a new reputation for being a strong advocate for pre-born children.  Though we were met with fierce criticism, the amount of additional support given to the project and our organization made the efforts all worthwhile.

Why do so many students embrace this project?  Because it works.  Szczerowski wrote

… students even completely changed their once-held pro-choice mentality and began to see what an atrocity abortion truly is.

In other words, GAP works.  People can see it.

Tension compels people to think about abortion, even if they would rather not.

Recently, John Stonestreet made some great points in his commentary A Time To Shock? over at BreakPoint.  He says that he used to be against the use of graphic abortion images, but now has “mostly” changed his mind.  He made several good points that will be familiar to most FAB readers.

However, we’d like to see him change his mind all the way.  We were confused as to what displays Mr. Stonestreet endorses and what displays he believes are off-limits.

His subtitle says: “Using Images of Abortion in the Public Square.”  But then he says: “Now let me be clear: I am completely against blindsiding people with images of aborted babies. It’s not only unfair; it can be a visual form of assault.”  How can we expose abortion in the public square without being accused of blindsiding or assaulting people who are in the public square and don’t want to see the photos?  Is it too much to ask them to look the other way?

He writes favorably about reformers who absolutely placed horrifying images into the paths of people who did not consent to see them (e.g., publishing the photo of Emmett Till in a newspaper, taking unsuspecting men and women into the odor cloud of a slave ship, publishing the photo of the Vietnamese girl on TV and in magazines).  In our case, the newspapers and TV are covering up the truth of the abortion injustice, so is it inappropriate for us to go to the public directly?

Are abortion photos off-limits except for academic settings, sermons in church, and speeches (generally attended only by people who are already pro-life)?  How can we show our fellow citizens the facts if they don’t attend our lectures or worship at our few-dozen churches where they will see the truth?

He cites Eric Metaxas saying we should show our fellow citizens the facts, but we should do so in “appropriate ways at appropriate times.”  What does that mean?  What is an inappropriate method or time to show our fellow citizens the truth?

When does showing abortion pictures become an assault?

Debbie Picarello set up a table for Deeper Still, a post-abortion counseling ministry, at Virginia Tech. She is able to reach many people who will not walk over to the GAP display itself.

She was a student at Virginia Tech.  She was 23, post-abortive, divorced, and has a toddler and a new boyfriend.  She joined the protest against GAP.  She has lived hard and experienced a lot.

She came from a Christian background and was pro-life until she aborted her first child and walked away from the faith.  She does not regret her abortion and is thankful she had it.  She wouldn’t look at the pictures while we talked.

After 45 minutes she finally said “Ok, I now get what you are saying about a woman’s autonomous body and the baby’s autonomous body.  They don’t share the same DNA and the baby is not a part of her body.  I am really struggling now.”  We gave her some literature about prenatal development.  She thanked us and said, “I am now interested in reading about this.”

Here is the question that keeps us awake at night …

What if her pro-life pastor had understood/cared enough about her salvation and her baby to show her the truth about abortion?

Why didn’t he show her an abortion video (e.g., Choice Blues) before she shed innocent blood and ran away from Jesus.

CBR Virginia Project Director Ruby Nicdao speaks with a student at George Mason University.

[This story was submitted by CBR Virginia Project Director Ruby Nicdao.]

As is usual for the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), some were hostile at George Mason University (GMU).  One called me a“moron” after I gave her one of our GAP brochures (How Can You Compare Abortion to Genocide).

I asked, “How am I a moron?”  She said she would come back later and tell me why.  A couple of hours later, she returned with a 2-page list of expenses necessary to raise a child and a number of photos of miscarried babies.  None of it addressed the question of whether it is OK to decapitate and dismember little human beings.  Nor the question of when, during a child’s development, it becomes no longer OK to kill that child.  Nor the question of what criterion should decide who can be killed and who must be protected.

Our discussion centered like most discussions I have with the students:  “Is the fetus in the womb human?  And if so, it is wrong to kill it?”

Hopefully, I planted enough seeds for her to finally see the light!  I also gave her the When Does Human Life Begin? handout, which provides references from medical textbooks, medical professionals, abortion advocates, and even abortionists themselves, all admitting life begins at fertilization.  For example, Dr. Arthur Morris, Jr. was an abortionist who said, “Life begins with fertilization and abortion is legalized destruction of life.” (Asheville Citizen-Times, April 4, 1976.)

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Julie Thomas draws a crowd at the University of North Carolina. She wears a shirt that says, “I regret my abortion. Ask me about it.”

Is GAP effective?  We hear it all the time.  Of course we can answer that question and we have.  But now let student pro-life leaders have their say:

“The Genocide Awareness Project has, once again, changed hearts and minds [and] proven its transformative power on our campus.”  (Anna Maher, Students for Life, George Mason University)

“The imprint GAP left on our campus had a magnitude of which I had never witnessed before.”  (Zach Hoopes, Advocates for Life, Virginia Tech)

“[GAP is more effective] than anything our student group has done in the past.”  (Teresa Pincus, Students for Life, North Carolina State)

“The large-scale influence on our campus was immeasurable.  We are constantly doing pro-life projects on our campus, but nothing as grand as GAP.  We reached more students in two days that we could have reached by tabling in the student center every day for two semesters.”  (Michelle Anderson, Students for Life, Oakland University)

“The impact that GAP had on the MSU campus will surely be felt for many years to come.”  (Vinny Szczerowski, Students for Life, Michigan State University)

“Bring the GAP display to your campus and make a big impact.” (Julie and Emily Ascik, Carolina Students for Life, U of North Carolina)

“We fully endorse GAP and we will continue to show graphic images in the future.” (Matthew Ramsey, Students for Life, University at Buffalo)

What more can I say, in addition to what these student pro-life leaders have already said?  We have now finished one of our most successful GAP campaigns ever, making stops at 7 major universities in 4 states, with a combined enrollment of more than 200,000 students.

In addition to reaching nearly a quarter million students with the real truth of abortion, we recruited at least one new full-time staff member and one intern who will join us this summer! Praise the Lord; His plan really did come together!

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting interesting stories of hearts won and minds changed here on my blog.  Stay tuned!

Financially, we still have a way to go.  The cost for the 6 GAPs in Virginia, North Carolina, and Michigan was $30,000.  We took a step of faith, and so far, we’ve raised $19,000.  Only $11,000 to go.  If you can help us close this financial gap, we can add two more schools to our Fall GAP campaign.  Let us know you stand behind this work, that you stand behind courageous pro-life students, and that you stand up for babies and moms.  Link here to be a financial partner.

Thanks so much for your faithful support.

A good location affords many opportunities to expose abortion and answer questions.

Michigan State University (MSU) was next up for CBR’s Genocide Awareness Project (GAP).

We were hosted at MSU by the Students for Life and their president, Lisa Jankowski.  What a blessing to help students like Lisa stand up for truth and justice in a hostile world!  You share in that blessing when you support CBR (click here).

CBR’s Pro-Life Training Academy prepared students to articulate and defend the pro-life position.

Media coverage:

• MSU Students for Life displays photos for anti-abortion campaign
• Students protest against MSU Students for Life poster display
• Letter: Pro-life protesters are misguided, need to consider reasons for abortions
• Editorial Cartoon
• Free speech should be celebrated on campus

More to come!

“Intense images … really forced me to think.”  (Message written on our Free Speech Board, near the GAP display.)

Michelle Anderson at Oakland University (on the right) is an  up-and-coming leader for the pro-life movement.

Next stop for this Spring’s massive Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) tour was Oakland University (OU) in Auburn Hills, Michigan, a northern suburb of Detroit.

Like most suburban universities, OU is relatively new (established 1957) and is growing by leaps and bounds.  Students are more likely to commute and less likely to be involved in student activism.  The OU Students for Life (SFL) are a refreshing exception to that rule.

Under the leadership of Michelle Anderson, the OU SFL has become a force on OU’s campus.  They have hosted a number of big events on campus, including an appearance by Rebecca Kiessling  and a major debate with the pro-abortion club.  And now, they have hosted GAP.

Media Coverage:

• Two-day project shocks campus, draws protest
• Graphic Image
• WARNING GRAPHIC: Genocide On Campus (see video at bottom of page)

More to come.

Abortion touches many people in surprising ways.  (Message written on our Free Speech Board, near the GAP display.)

Julie Thomas traveled from Atlanta to tell her story of abortion and healing.  Her shirt invites students to learn more, “I’ve had an abortion. Please ask me about it.”

North Carolina State University (NCSU) Students for Life (SFL) hosted the Pro-Life Training Academy (PLTA) and the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) earlier in April.

Teresa Pincus, President of NSCU SFL, is an effective leader and we expect great things from her in the years to come.

CBR Virginia Project Director Maggie Egger served as Site Manager for this and all of the GAPs this Spring.  We are thrilled to see Maggie and others young people stepping forward to lead the next generation of pro-lifers, the generation that will win!

Media coverage:

• Letter from Mick Hunt before GAP
• Response to Mick’s letter
• Abortion display provokes protest
• Genocide Awareness Project: A lost cause
• One last thought about the Genocide Awareness Project
• All the best intentions

Do not be discouraged at the tone of the items printed in the NC State student newspaper.  Remember what Mahatma Ghandi said:

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

They are fighting us.

More to come!

North Carolina Project Director Edie Benchabbat looks on as Frank Diorio of New Jersey explains how proponents of genocide always believe they are somehow making society better.

Anna Maher explains how proponents of genocide almost always dehumanize their victims.

Great start for GAP at George Mason University (GMU).  In fact, we spent 4 days at GMU, the Pro-Life Training Academy (PLTA) on Sunday (March 23), GAP on Monday and Wednesday and Choice Chains on Tuesday.

Abortion images are nothing new at GMU.  Anna Maher and GMU Students for Life display abortion photos on a regular basis.  More to come.

Until now, we in Tennessee have always believed that the best two things ever to come out of Alabama were (1) Dreamland Ribs and (2) I-59.*  But now you can add a third item to that list: Bama Students for Life (BSFL).

BSFL was recently awarded the Students for Life of America (SFLA) Student Group of the Year.  Perhaps their biggest project of the year was to host the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) last Spring.  The privilege of working with such a committed, intelligent group of young people was truly a gift from God.  BSFL’s media work was the best we have ever seen, and we learned quite a lot, just by watching them.

[We have noted that many of the student groups recognized by SFLA have hosted GAP or some other graphic image display.  We wonder if there is any connection?  But anyway …]

BSFL has created another firestorm on campus, this one making national news!  They went up against the University of Alabama (UA) … and they won!  Earlier this month, a UA official removed the BSFL’s pro-life display from a hallway display case after a few students claimed it was offensive.

What was offensive, you say?  Abortion photos from CBR.

But now FAB has learned that UA has apologized for removing the display and will allow BSFL to set up their display once again.  Praise the Lord for courageous young people!

Here is BSFL’s Claire Chretien on Fox News:

Here is Claire confronting the UA official who removed the display:

*NOTE:  FAB has learned that another famous invention originated in Alabama.  We’re not sure exactly when or where the toothbrush was invented, but it had to come from Alabama because if it were invented anywhere else, it would have been called a “teethbrush.”

Emma Wiltshire (right) with CBR volunteer Kalan Walker.

Emma Wiltshire is a pro-life Christian who labors with the fine folks at the Athens Pregnancy Center in Athens, GA.  She also attended Passion 2014.  In fact, she is the bold young lady who gave an impromptu sidewalk speech to her fellow conference goers, exhorting them to put their faith into action for preborn babies!  (Passion Part 3)

Emma penned some excellent observations about our outreach at Passion:

I have worked at a pregnancy resource center for a little over six months.  But after this weekend, my heart has never been so broken over abortion.

I attended the Passion Conference in Atlanta where 20,000 college students gathered to proclaim the name and fame of Jesus Christ.  I watched people surrender their lives to their maker and accept the love, forgiveness and freedom of being in relationship with Him.  It was an unbelievable experience.  As we flooded the streets of Atlanta for our evening dinner break, I saw extremely graphic pictures of aborted babies at just ten weeks, posted on signs.  The images were disturbing, but what was more disturbing were the reactions of my peers to the people holding the signs.  “No thank you, I’m pro-life already.”  or  “No I don’t want any brochures or papers.”  The majority of students didn’t say anything at all; they simply ignored the display and the people all together.

I spoke with one of the [CBR staffers] and he was astonished by the students lack of participation.  He said,  “Surely students coming out of a Christian conference would be more receptive.”  There is a difference between saying you support a cause and actually doing something to support it.

I was tormented for the rest of the dinner break,  just thinking of the students who carelessly walked past the exhibit.  Were they turned off by the graphic images?  Did they not understand that it was a plea for help and not a protest?  My mind was spinning as I walked back into the arena for the last session.  I looked around the enormous room packed full of 18 to 24-year-olds, 20,000 of them to be exact.  Then I had a vision of what it would look like to save an empty seat for every aborted person in the state of Georgia last year alone … 33,000 silenced voices … 33,000 empty chairs.  Even though the room was packed full, all I saw was a vacant building.

I haven’t been able to get this image out of my head since Saturday.  I know that abortion is seen as as political issue that is highly controversial.  But I also know that it robs humans of life and haunts post-abortive men and women.  It doesn’t matter how a person was conceived;  they still have a right to exist.

Please hear me when I say I am in no way condemning those who have had abortions before.  Because I am a Christian I believe there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus and that the blood of the cross can wash away any transgression.  God’s redemption knows no boundaries, and I know many women who are post abortive that He has healed and made new.

That being said, lets put an end to it.  Let’s not tiptoe around the issue anymore, let’s be bold in our faith and our convictions and speak the truth about abortion.  Education is the only way we can shed light into a very dark aspect of our legislation.

If you find value in these words or agree with me, please don’t just like this post.  Share it.  Start a dialogue with friends, classmates, co-workers and family.  Don’t condemn those who have had abortions but love on them and show them that their story can help another person from making the same mistake.  I know my words are probably going to offend and maybe enrage some people, but I just felt I had to speak up for the 1,388,937 people that would have been my age if they hadn’t been aborted in 1991.

Thank God for brave Christians like Emma!  My prayer is that the young people of Passion, like Emma, will rise up and be “in it to end it” for the victims of slavery and for the victims of abortion in their own backyard.  Both are important to God’s heart (Proverbs 24:11-12).

Submitted by: Lincoln Brandenburg

We handed out nearly 4,000 brochures!

Like water gushing around a river rock,  herds of young people swarmed past our signs, on their way into and out of the Passion Conference.  How would they respond?

“I’ve never seen these pictures before…  I didn’t realize abortion was this bad!”  Some were arrested by the pictures of abortion victims.  They stopped and responded with compassion,  wanting to know how they could help.

Our volunteers and staff were glad to speak with them and even prayed with some.  We showed them how to win hearts, change minds, and save lives in their own churches and schools.  One young woman,  herself a pro-life advocate,  was very grateful and moved by our outreach.  After speaking with us at length, she turned to a group of fellow conference-goers and pleaded with them, “We need to pay attention to this message.  This is just as important as human trafficking!”

What does God think about this? CBR volunteers David Harbin and Todd Childers discuss with a passerby.

Some were not so happy to see us, and they told us so!  An Atlanta police officer even rolled down his patrol car window and blared through a bullhorn, “You people are doing a great job scaring folks with these disgusting pictures!”  His negativity was a positive sign … that he needed to see our message!  We pray that his disgust with the exposers of abortion will be transformed into compassion for the victims of abortion.

The most common response we saw was no response.  Many of the young students of Passion had not thought much about abortion before.  It is likely that many of them internalized their thoughts, rather than speak with us.  And that’s OK.  They will remember the images of abortion victims long after the conference.  God will use what they saw to work in their hearts over time.

Sadly though, many of these young Christians were noticeably apathetic about the injustice they were seeing.  One young man, when asked what he thought about the display, replied with disgust, “I’m on my way to dinner right now!”  Many tried to ignore us, declining or throwing away our literature.  Our volunteers were grieved to tears by the scores of Laodicean responses.  How could so many Christians be “neither hot nor cold” about the killing of innocent preborn children?

Was our outreach at Passion effective?  Thousands of Christian’s eyes were opened to the injustice.  The empathetic were galvanized.  The apathetic can no longer trivialize.  And at least one baby was saved (see Passion Part 2).  Decide for yourself, but your humble corespondant would say it was definitely effective!

“You may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say that you did not know.” – William Wilberforce

See Passion Part 3 for one of our most encouraging responses!

Submitted by: Lincoln Brandenburg

We handed out nearly 4,000 brochures in Atlanta. The photo on one of them would save a baby in Nashville.

CBR volunteer Julie Thomas reports on a baby saved at the Passion Conference in Atlanta:

Photo in Atlanta Saves a Baby in Nashville

Two young women saw the abortion pictures on display.  They took a flyer as they walked on by.  But then they stopped.  Why?

Something made them turn around.  They looked at each other.  What was it?  Was it the big bold statement on my sweatshirt?  “I regret my abortion.”  Was it the 10-week abortion photo?  I would soon find out.

Every time CBR displays abortion photos, babies’ lives are saved.  But each story is different.  So it was with this one.  These two ladies needed help, but not for themselves.  Their friend “Susie,” a med school student at Vanderbilt, was 7 weeks pregnant.  She was a Christian and had told her mother and boyfriend that she was pregnant.  The boyfriend had convinced her to have an abortion.  Her mother would support her, no matter what decision she made.  That baby’s life was hanging in the balance.

Now these two angels went to work.  Using cell phones, they took photos of the abortion pictures on display and texted them to Susie back in Nashville.  One of them called Susie and brokered a 4-way conference call, right there on the sidewalk.  This went on for several minutes.  I talked about  my abortion regret.  Then the two girls and I prayed for the young mother.  She said she would text in a few minutes and hung up.  We prayed again.  Susie texted back, “Go ahead and start planning a baby shower for me.  I’m keeping the baby.”

Wow!  Praise the Lord!  All the time!

What other victories did God give our team?  The story continues in Passion Part 3!