.

In the comments appended to the WBIR story on our Urban GAP at Market Square, Canna asserted that nobody thinks abortion is a great thing:

OMG- NO ONE thinks abortion is a great thing- what an IDIOTIC thing to say. No one I know, including myself, is pro-abortion. However, I AM pro-choice. … The points that others are making here are:
1. that no one (few) are pro-abortion, they are PRO-CHOICE and believe the right to bear an embryo to full term is the choice and a matter of the family alone. not your matter.
2. that nearly everyone is a proponent of life and prosperity, but since we haven’t gotten it right yet, why don’t we help those in need of food and health before we force others to bear life. Rights to the unborn are valid but DO NOT PRE-EMPT the rights of the born.
3. regardless of ANYONE’S stance on abortion, your photos are unnecessarily graphic and DO NOT belong on public dislplay, especially in the presence of children. Not only is this rude, it is not an effective tool. ALSO- MOST abortions occur early trimester, when the fetus looks like a tiny lump of cells- not like in your graphics. Would you display graphic images of dead people in front of a DUI offender’s home for all-including children- to see? Of course NOT! Besides, where is the dignity of the deceased you post so proudly on public display??

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "America will never reject racism until America sees racism." Was he wrong?

With abortion pictures, we send a strong message to a culture that prefers to ignore or trivialize abortion.  We also have a message for pro-lifers who think we are too confrontational:  No social reform movement has ever succeeded by covering up injustice.

Social reformers win when they expose injustice and make people uncomfortable with the status quo.  This is perhaps the overriding theme of Dr. Martin Luther King’s Letter From a Birmingham Jail.

Commenting on the WBIR story about our GAP on Market Square, Lissa wrote:

This is no way to win hearts, Dr Armstrong. If anything, you turn people away and they will never hear the message that all life is sacred. Please go watch 180MovieDotCom and learn a loving, Christ-filled way to truly get through to people’s hearts.

I responded:

Ms. Hailey, our operating principle comes from the King family. Dr. Martin Luther King said, “America will not reject racism until America sees racism.” He was successful in bringing social change because he was able to bring about the broadcast/publication of video/photos that made people see what racism was all about. When they saw Black men and women being attacked with dogs and water cannons, they realized that segregation was way worse than they imagined. His niece, Dr. Alveda King, now says, in the same way, “America will never reject abortion until America sees abortion.”

Thomas Clarkson used a diagram of a slave ship to help end the slave trade in England. Clarkson’s biographer Adam Hochschild said that “Iconic images have power because they allow us to see what previously we could barely imagine.” American abolitionists use images to help people see the horror of slavery. Lewis Hine used photographs to show people what abusive child labor looked like.

In every one of these examples, social reformers were successful when they exposed injustice. Can you name one example in which reformers were successful by covering up injustice?

I would encourage you to read the statement by Alabama Clergymen (12 April 1963), which prompted Dr. Martin Luther King’s now-famous Letter From a Birmingham Jail. These well-intentioned clergymen said, in essence, that Dr. King was too confrontational, that his tactics did nothing to solve the problem of racism, and that he should just stay home. Then read his response. He explained why it was necessary to create in society a discomfort with the status quo. Without that discomfort, there is no pressure for change. He explains it much better than I can. If his letter leaves you unconvinced, then there is not much more I can say.

Lisa replied:

No, there isn’t anything more to say if you think that showing huge pictures of dismembered fetuses is changing anyone’s heart for the better. It’s not just “uncomfortable” … it’s shocking, it is revolting, it is offensive and turns people OFF and they are NOT hearing your message … AT ALL.

Further, you are handing the enemies of life ammunition to use against not only you but everyone else that advocates for life, especially that of the unborn. I state that I am pro-life and I am automatically assumed to be “one of those crazy people waving around pictures of fetal tissue” and one step away from bombing an abortion clinic. MY message of love is LOST because of YOUR offensive pictures.

Go look at what Ray Comfort is doing 180movie … HE is changing hearts, or rather, he is opening hearts to the love of Christ and from there Christ is changing hearts and minds. God is using Him to bring love, hope and a message of life to a world mired in sin in the name of pleasure and convenience … and it is working. What you are doing is not.

My response:

They are not hearing our message? Tell that to the nine babies whose lives were saved when their mothers saw the pictures over at UTK the first time. Tell that to Lisa and Suzanne at the end of this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Rk44gn824

Just now found this in my “Draft” folder.  For the record, here is the media coverage from our Fall 2011 Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) excursions to Liberty University, Radford University, and the U of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

GAP at Liberty University

• Abortion demonstrators share graphic message with local college students
• Pro-life group gets banned from Liberty University
• Anti-Abortion Group Demonstrates near LU
• Thinking Christian: Christians condemning Christians

Radford University

• Students react to graphic anti-abortion demonstration at Radford University
• Abortion protests manifest at Radford, Liberty
• Graphic abortion protest at Radford U
• Letter to Editor: Big images, big impact
• Feelings toward protest from Republican perspective
• Letter to the Editor: New student overwhelmed by club presentation
• Letter to the Editor: Demonstration opens eyes to opposite sex

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

• Abortion group at UTC draws demonstrators
• GAP Photo
• Anti-abortion images spark debate
• Students protest use of grotesque images
• Students defend use of disturbing photos
• Letter to the Editor

GAP at University of Cincinnati

Day 1 at the University of Cincinnati was awesome, as always.  We encountered a steady stream of students willing to ask the typical questions and thoughtfully consider the case against abortion.  Time after time, students told us, “That really makes sense” and “I can see your point.”

This will be our last GAP for the 2011-2013 academic year, and I have to telly ou that the cupboard is empty.  I already have invitations for the Fall, but can I keep them.  Only you can decide.  When you support us, we can visit the largest and most influential universities.  Say YES to pro-life students by supporting their work … Click here.

Framing Choice. As Planned Parenthood presents what choice means to born people, we display what choice means to the victim. Other signs are visible to the Market Square crowd in the background.

What a difference a year makes. In February 2011, Alaynna McCormick was at the center of controversy in Knoxville. She and her mother blew the whistle on Knox County Schools for allowing Planned Parenthood (PP) to market sex at Hardin Valley High School. Story here, here, here, here, and here.

Note: if you think the claim that “PP markets sex” is an unfair statement of what they do, consider the fact that students were invited to visit websites that would then encourage teenagers to have sex if, among other things, they “trust each other,” “care about each other,” and “have fun together.”  Link here.  Follow the money here.

On Friday evening, PP held their annual “Framing Choice” photo exhibit at Market Square in Knoxville. This year’s theme was “What Choice Means to Me.” So Alaynna and a few of her family and friends brought their own photographs … a set of CBR “Choice” signs.

We put 8 such signs on display in between the stage, where the PP event was taking place, and the rest of Market Square, where the usual Friday night crowd was having dinner and milling around the Square. In keeping with the theme of the event, we added titles like, “What did choice mean to this child?” and “Did this child have a choice?”

We got a lot of good interaction with passersby. We saw several parents use the signs as a teaching moment, to explain abortion to their young children. We’ve never seen a young child who is pro-abortion.  None of these children were tramatized by the pictures.

We were approached by some who objected to our presence, giving the teenagers opportunities to practice the apologetics we taught them the night before. We gave them an abbreviated version of our Pro Life Training Academy (PLTA).  All of the teenagers who attended the PLTA have asked to help with future GAPs.

Planning elements of a successful event at Market Square:

1. Use graphic images to give meaning to the word abortion.
2. Give prior notification of our plans to the Police Department.
3. Occupy public spaces only; do not trespass on PP’s reservation.
4. Set up security camcorder; assign security captain.

The Pro Life Training Academy (PLTA) has prepared these teenagers to answer pro-abortion objections.

CBR Volunteer Bryan McKinney speaks to a group of students.

Day 1 of the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) at Ohio State University (OSU) is in the books!  Great day with awesome opportunities to share the pro-life message.  Several students told us that they could not rebut our arguments and would seriously consider changing their minds.

One international student said he wanted to go back to his homeland and change minds there  (name of country withheld intentionally).

Many pro-life students and faculty members approached us and thanked us for coming!

Awesome day!  More to come!

GAP display and RCC truck at UConn. The RCC truck helps project the message to all corners of campus and into the surrounding community.

Our I-95 GAP tour continues this week in Connecticut and Massachusetts.  On Monday and Tuesday, we were at the University of Connecticut (UConn).  Kudos to CBR Maine Director Leslie Sneddon for setting up this phase of the tour and CBR Midwest Director Darius Hardwick for bringing the display and several volunteers.

Day 1 was uneventful, except for the normal pro-abortion angst that we were exposing their deeds.

But on Day 2, several protesters showed up and attempted to stop our team from setting up.  The UConn Administration refused to give in to thuggish behavior and required the protesters to move aside so that our space reservation could be honored.  All moved to adjacent space except two, and those two were arrested.  Story here and here and here (good video) and here and here and here.

Now, on to the University of Massachusetts!

Pro-abort protesters attempt to block GAP at UConn on Day 2.

GAP at the University of Maine

Lots of media coverage at the University of Maine (UM) and the University of Southern Maine (USM).

The Maine Campus:

• SWA addresses GSS to voice concern over planned protest
• Video: Anti-abortion group Genocide Awareness Project riles emotions at UMaine
• Editorial: GAP gore fest brings out worst for all involved
• Op-ed: GAP’s avowal of abortion as genocide utterly unfounded
• You hurt your own cause: An open letter to the Genocide Awareness Project
• Columnist: GAP’s hyperbolic crusade against women warrants only contempt

Bangor Daily News:

• Anti-abortion demonstrators, gay marriage opponents bring messages to University of Maine

WLBZ TV (Bangor)

• Students talk abortion at U-Maine

USM Free Press

• Anti-abortion group coming to Portland campus Wednesday and Thursday
• Anti-abortion display raises hackles on campus
• Kelley: Anti-abortion agitators ignite a different debate

WCSH TV (Portland)

• Abortion protest stirs strong emotions at USM (very well-done)

WGME TV (Portland)

• Anti-Abortion exhibit set up at USM

Portland Daily Sun

• Anti-abortion mural exhibit triggers USM student reaction
• Anti-abortion exhibit stirs emotions, elicits student reaction at USM
• USM students urge ‘compassion, civility’ in face of anti-abortion installation

GAP on the Mall at the University of Maine

GAP continues this week in the key state of Maine.  On April 9-10, GAP is at the University of Maine at Orono (UMO).  Coverage by UMO’s student newspaper, The Maine Campus.  Quote from the article:

Amanda Rivers, a second-year social work major, walked out of a morning class and saw the display.

“I’m so glad that they’re here,” she said.

Rivers said she always knew she was pro-life but didn’t understand the extent of her commitment to that mindset until she saw the photos, which she described as “graphic.”

“I came out of class and just did the walk around and honestly started crying,” she said.

Her views on abortion were cemented after she spoke with a GAP protester, and she said she doesn’t believe there are any circumstances in which abortion is a moral decision. She now describes herself as firmly anti-abortion.

“I am now. One-hundred percent,” she said.

She said she understands why the group of students gathered around Hardwick to argue with him. …

Full article here.  Please add your comments online!

George Mason hosts graphic abortion photo wall

Lots of media coverage at George Mason University (GMU) and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU).

The Washington Post:

• George Mason hosts graphic abortion photo wall 

The Broadside at George Mason University:

• Abortion protest stirs controversy
• Freedom of speech only stretches so far

The Commonwealth Times at Virginia Commonwealth University:

• Graphic images draw criticism from students
• Anti-abortion protesters display, emanate negative values

WTVR-TV in Richmond:

• Students, group hold abortion rallies on VCU campus

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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.

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!

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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.