“Now is a bad time.”

Quote of the week:

I have never heard an abortionist say now is a bad time to kill babies.  But Christian leaders often tell me that now is a bad time to save them.  (Gregg Cunningham, Executive Director, Center for Bio-Ethical Reform)

Brooke McGowan will be leading pro-life projects across the Southeast, particularly in the Carolinas.  In part because her mother chose life despite dire personal circumstances, Brooke has long been devoted to pro-life activism as a protester, sidewalk counselor, and prayer warrior. 

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR), Southeast Region Operations, is pleased to announce the appointment of Brooke McGowan of Charlotte, North Carolina, as our newest Project Director, primarily responsible for projects in North and South Carolina!

Brooke is a recent graduate of New Life Theological Seminary in Charlotte, where she majored in urban ministry, with a concentration in Christian counseling.

As a child of a teenage mother who chose life for Brooke, despite a failed first marriage, she understands how easily she could have been another abortion statistic.  Raised by her mother and stepfather to always protect those who cannot protect themselves, she sensed a calling to devote herself to pro-life work in response to God’s command, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones.  For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven … In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish.” (Matthew 18:10,14)

Brooke has been an active protester, sidewalk counselor, and prayer warrior in Charlotte.  She even ministered to visiting attendees of the Democratic National Convention in September. She is already seeing fruit in the responses of those to whom she has ministered in the past several months alone.

Originally from Choctaw, Oklahoma (near Oklahoma City), Brooke has lived in Charlotte for 8 years.  Before joining CBR, she was a clinic director for an infectious disease medical practice and an assistant real estate acquisitions manager.  She is the mother to two girls, Shelby and Savannah.  Brooke’s husband Sean is an accomplished author, schoolteacher, and chaplain.

Welcome aboard, Brooke!  We’re expecting GREAT!

Westmont College students Aaron Singer, Ryan Hall, and Seth Gruber.

Here’s a story in World Magazine about CBR’s very own Seth Gruber at Westmont College.  Seth is a student at Westmont College and an intern at CBR.

The U.S. Constitution guarantees the activists the right to set up the [Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) abortion photo] billboards at public schools. But almost every private Christian college has turned them down.
***
Gruber’s had more conversations about abortion in the last 10 days than he had in the last two and a half years. And more people have offered to stand with him.

Related stories:

• FAB: Student defies “Christian” college, shows abortion
• Seth’s Blog: A Reflection of the First Display on Campus
• Seth’s Blog: Men and the Abortion Issue
• Christianity Today: Westmont College Tussles With Pro-Life Student
• FAB: Liberty University GAP/RCC – Day 1
• CBR’s Open Letter to Liberty University
• World Magazine: Link here to subscribe

Centerfold photo in The Sunday Times of London reached a circulation of more than 1 million readers in the UK.  (Click on photo for a better view.)

Great photo in The Sunday Times of London!  This photo of aborted babies was visible to more than 1 million readers!

Link here to article We Will Shock You.  (You will need to pay a subscription fee to see the entire article.)

Notable quotations from the article:

The pictures are stomach-turningly gruesome, the dismembered figure clearly human — tiny fingers and toes visible in a mess of blood.
***
By far the most radical group in this country is Abort67, who I joined in Reading. They formed at the start of the year with guidance and resources from one of the loudest and most controversial voices on the American pro-life scene: the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR).
***
The group’s founder, Gregg Cunningham, 65, has been involved in the pro-life movement in America for most of his adult life. In the last four years, Cunningham and the CBR have started to spread their reach abroad. This summer he was in Britain supporting Abort67 and giving talks in churches — his fourth visit to the UK this year.
The CBR does not fund Abort67, but it is providing thegroup’s activists with resources, graphic images and a great deal of guidance. Since the start of the year, the group has recruited around 50 volunteers who regularly protest outside clinics in Brighton, Reading, Taunton and London. They claim they have several thousand supporters and counting.
Their protests are having the most dramatic effect in liberal Brighton.
***
The most serious impact has been on the women attending the clinic. One 21-year-old sports coach, who has asked to withhold her name for fear of repercussions, goes there for weekly post-abortion counselling.
“Sometimes it’s just one person with a banner; sometimes there are 20 of them with their children,” she says. “I’ve seen people burst into tears and say they don’t want to go through with it,” she says.
***
[CBR-UK Director Andy] Stephenson is a father of three and, like most of Abort67, a committed evangelical Christian. He is slight, with a dark beard, earnest eyes and an apologetic air; an unlikely crusader, perhaps, but an unrepentant one. “The atmosphere in the UK is changing,” he says. “The abortion lobby has had it easy for too long with no accountability, no consequences and very little meaningful opposition — but there is a new generation of pro-lifers emerging and disillusioned, battle-weary pro-lifers being reinvigorated because theyhave seen the fruits of what groups like ours are achieving with very little resources.”

The article closed with this threat of violence from pro-aborts who are apparently not used to seeing effective pro-life activism:

Brighton Pro-Choice met the week after the trial to plan more radical action against Abort67. One member warned: “If the police won’t stop them, we will have to.”

Gregg Cunningham

A message from Gregg Cunningham, Executive Director of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR):

CBR is an educational organization whose principal purpose is to discourage and ultimately ban elective abortion.  We pursue that goal by exposing the horror abortion represents.  Our duty is prophetic, so the public’s acceptance or rejection of our message neither heightens nor diminishes our duty to discharge that responsibility.

Speaking as an individual, by the narrowest of margins, roughly half the 2012 electorate has chosen evil over good and America’s planned decline will now accelerate.  If the leadership in the current House of Representatives caves on the “fiscal cliff” confrontation, our economy will be further weakened by extreme tax-and-spend socialism — see California and Europe to understand just how weakened.  Still more Americans will be disabled by reliance on unsustainable social welfare programs — see California and Europe to understand how just unsustainable.

Because of this defeat, our military will be dangerously compromised by the funding cuts necessitated by exploding national debt.  America’s influence in the world will continue to be dismantled as the intended purpose of Barack Obama’s foreign policy.  ObamaCare’s abortion mandates are now a central feature of American socialized medicine.  Supposedly “pro-life Democrat” Rep. Bart Stupak betrayed us to pass Obamacare.  Supposedly “constitutional conservative” Chief Justice John Roberts betrayed us to declare ObamaCare constitutional.  Supposedly “pro-life” New Jersey Governor Chris Christie betrayed us to essentially endorse Barack Obama and contribute to his reelection.  He reportedly turned on Mitt Romney because Romney dumped him as his vice presidential pick.  ObamaCare will now be impossible to repeal.

Unless our majority remains resolute in the U.S. House of Representatives, open borders and amnesty for illegal aliens will turn swing states so blue that pro-life candidates will become as unelectable there as they now are in California.  But doomed prolife candidates may not matter much because our federal courts will become so heavily packed with Barack Obama’s pro-abortion judges (confirmed by his Democrat Senate) that any significant attempt to restrict abortion will be struck down, and the reversal of Roe v. Wade is unlikely to occur during the lifetimes of even our movement’s youngest activists.

Despite the disaster which now awaits our country, CBR’s responsibility to expose the horror of abortion remains unchanged.  We have great people and great projects and our Key States Initiative (KSI) left America a far more pro-life nation today than it was six months ago.  Literally as I write this note, a CBR web survey arrived from a sixteen-year-old Pennsylvania girl who wrote to explain how our work has changed her life:  “I did support legal abortion but after seeing that video of the baby getting taken out I am against it. It is terrible!  How could someone kill something so small and helpless?”  She speaks for the many Americans who saw our imagery in battleground states this year and also changed their minds about abortion.  Our strategy and tactics are demonstrably effective.  Disturbing pictures are the history of social reform and the future of pro-life activism.

I intend no disrespect toward Governor Romney but I believe we could have won this narrowly decided election had we nominated a stronger candidate with a more effective campaign.  Governor Romney had liabilities which Barack Obama’s Chicago campaign skillfully exploited.  And Governor Romney’s campaign missed many opportunities to take the fight to the president.  Barack Obama emphasized abortion to single women (who now outnumber married women for the first time in American history) but their vote might have been overcome by a more convincing pitch to independents and greater appeal to our conservative base.  I remain confident that our strong field of reform-minded conservative governors and senators (as well as Rep. Paul Ryan) will produce a stronger ticket in 2016.  The tragic state of country after eight years of Barack Obama and Joe Biden should leave even this closely divided nation ready for a new course.

God is about to teach the Obama electorate a painful lesson in response to their intransigence, a lesson Greece is just beginning to learn.  We will all have to suffer this chastening but I thank God for all you did to educate voters over the last six months.  I assure you that your work was not in vain.  God will honor it in the fullness of time.  Remember that in the late eighteenth century, fully three-quarters of the world’s population was in bondage to some form of forced labor.  The abolition of slavery seemed unthinkable.  By God’s grace, a hand-full of reformers changed everything.  Now we must refresh ourselves and continue to follow their indomitable example.

Andy Stephenson and Kathryn Sloane of Worthing, West Sussex, display CBR abortion photo.

On September 18, 2012, District Judge Stephen Nicholls (Brighton, UK Magistrate’s Court) issued a strong defense of CBR’s speech rights in the landmark criminal prosecution of CBR-UK director Andrew Stephenson and his assistant Kathryn Sloane.  Both activists were acquitted of charges related to three alleged violations of Section 5(b) of the Public Order Act (POA), for displaying graphic abortion images outside abortion clinics.  More here.

We had forced their arrest to set up a test case in which to establish the right to expose the horror of abortion.  The judge explained that he “had not been persuaded” that our signs were “threatening, abusive, or insulting,” as required for convictions under Section 5(b).  Abort67 is the abortion photo display project of CBR-UK and the case could have implications for expressive rights across Europe.  In the remarks below, our British attorneys and Andrew and Kathryn comment on the role played by CBR Executive Director Gregg Cunningham:

Solicitor Michael Phillips, lead defense counsel in the Stephenson/Sloane case:

Gregg’s assistance in the trial of Andy Stephenson and Kathryn Sloane was absolutely invaluable. This was only the second prosecution (that we are aware of) in the UK against people holding graphic images of abortion.  This was virgin territory for all those involved, including the court.  When in the midst of a case and focusing on the details of law and procedure, it is easy to lose sight of the woods through the trees.  This was the benefit of having Gregg; he was able to bring clear insight to the Public Order Act, which helped the defense to construct a clear and cogent defense theory.  This was used throughout the trial and helped to secure Andy’s acquittal (Kathryn was acquitted at the end of the crown’s case) before any other defense witnesses were called (including Gregg) and before closing speeches!  This was a highly unusual move that was in part due to our defense theory.

The acquittal received was on the best possible basis: That the images were not abusive or insulting (this being the first part of the public order offence test), the question of intention etc. therefore did not need to be considered.  Therefore Andy and Kathryn could walk out of the court with their heads held high without a spot on their records, free to continue their good work.

Barrister Paul Diamond, defence co-counsel in the Stephenson/Sloane case:

I want to personally thank Gregg for coming to the UK to be a witness in the trial of Andrew Stephenson and Katherine Sloane at Brighton Magistrates Court.  Additionally, I want to thank Gregg on behalf of Christian Concern.

I want Gregg to know that it was vitally important that he attended at court and I may have need of his services again.  His presence, wealth of knowledge, historical understanding enabled both Mike and me to fully comprehend the case.  I found the interaction between the First Amendment and our limited free speech laws fascinating and informative.  As I kept telling Gregg, he would be an asset to the British bar with both his knowledge of the subject and the eloquence by which he expressed himself (eloquence that I shamelessly appropriated in my submissions to the Court!)

I was re-assured by his presence; and I doubt the case would have been thrown out without his input.  I am sure we will work together again and many thanks.

Andrew Stephenson, CBR-UK director:

It is fair to say that without Gregg’s involvement in this defense, we most likely would not have heard the judge throw out the case yesterday in Brighton.  Gregg has been the architect of the work we do here in the UK and he has been closely involved in adapting it to current UK legislation, which gave us such a strong case.  He has ensured that the issue in the public mind and media is focused on what abortion does to an innocent and defenseless unborn child.

Gregg’s presence here for the court case has not only given Kathryn and me confidence that wouldn’t naturally occur given the circumstances, he has guided the process by which we have won this case against injustice.  Gregg has a unique way of looking at a problem and turning it on its head.  Our very excellent English lawyers have appreciated the direction that Gregg’s wealth of experience has brought.

His ability to put our current situation within the historical context of extinguished injustice has excited everyone and given focus for the future.

Kathryn Sloane, CBR-UK staff:

Since our struggles with the police started years ago, not only in Worthing but Brighton and London too, Gregg’s advice has been the key to developing a strategy to overcome the restriction to freedom of speech we experienced.

If anyone else had suggested we travel the criminal route in court to fight for our right to expose abortion, I would have been extremely cautious, but Gregg’s wealth of legal experience instilled confidence in our display team to question the police in their attempts to silence us (and rightly so it would appear).  This strategy has been most fruitful in exposing inadequacies in our police force as well as effectively exposing abortion to the nation through the media coverage that has so easily come our way following the arrests.

It has been clear during these days in court that Gregg’s advice, planning and tactics for the trial, shared with the legal team in every lunch break and recess, has shaped the arguments brought in each session.  Gregg’s insight concerning the objective first part of section 5(b) of the POA, and subjective second part of the test, changed the face of the case and wrote off the evidence brought by the prosecution entirely.  A stroke of genius!

We would have seen a very different result this week if Gregg hadn’t been here (and I didn’t quite fancy going back into hand cuffs), so thank him for his wisdom.  In fact, these displays may well have been halted long ago if Gregg had not created this long term strategy we are now seeing come to fruition.  It is already changing the way we save babies as we sat in our team meeting today listing all the new places we could display and all the new banners we could print now we have the freedom to do so.  This is because abort67 have been blessed by Gregg’s presence here with us during this trial.  Thank him for his dedication to this case and to our work.  He made it all possible.

John & Pam Rodger, CBR-UK staff:

After meeting with Gregg Cunningham the other day, Pam and I were encouraged more than ever to press on with this great work, and realised that it really is the images that do the work to expose the truth outside these abortion factories.  The recent victory in the court case in Brighton of Andy and Kathryn, with incredible help from Christian Concern and Gregg Cunningham, should also encourage us to push on, and to not be intimidated by the police.

Tomorrow morning, CBR’s Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) will make it’s University of Wisconsin debut (good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, as they say).

Please pray that God will use the pictures to convict nonbelievers and believers alike:

• that babies will be saved from slaughter,
• that mothers (and fathers) will be spared,
• that men and women will see their need for a Savior,
• that Christian men and women will repent of their complacency,
• that divine appointments will be kept, and every obstacle to those appointments will be overcome.

Stay tuned to FAB for more excitement to come!

Lincoln Brandenburg, CBR Project Director, Georgia

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR), Southeast Region Operations, is pleased to announce the appointment of Lincoln Brandenburg as our newest Project Director, responsible primarily for Georgia projects.

Lincoln is a graduate and former Student Ministries Director at the EI School of Biblical Training, a Bible and missions training school that emphasises personal discipleship and practical application of the Word of God into life and ministry.

Growing up in a Christian environment, Lincoln was always “pro-life,” but was only nominally involved.  But when he attended a local March for Life on the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade in 2011, he was deeply convicted about his own complacency towards the killing of his unborn neighbors.  He sensed a calling to devote himself to pro-life work in response to God’s command to “love your neighbor.”

Since that time, he have been a leader in pro-life activities in Columbus, Georgia.  He has coordinated 40 Days for Life campaigns, organized and participated in sidewalk counseling and prayer, given pro-life presentations to church congregations, and served as a regular guest host for a local radio program.

Lincoln told FAB

I am honored to join with the team at CBR because I believe in the effectiveness of what CBR is doing.  Showing the pictures of what abortion actually does to it’s victims is essential to changing the minds of those who are pro-abortion, clarifying the issue for those on the fence, and galvanizing those who are pro-life.

Originally from Fayetteville, Georgia (just outside Atlanta), Lincoln has spent the last two years in Columbus, Georgia.  Before joining CBR, he has been a a sales representative at Cricket Wireless and a manager at Chick-fil-A.  He has now moved back to the Atlanta area to be more centrally located among the major universities in Georgia.

Welcome aboard, Lincoln!!!!

“Abortion Mobile” as seen on WAVY-TV website.

CBR truth trucks hit Virginia Beach this week.  (That’s in Virginia, for all you people in Rio Linda.)

Here’s more media coverage:

• Graphic trucks make political statement (see video)

Your support will help keep this truck on the road, saving babies and encouraging pro-life voters.

We have less than 9 weeks to get pro-lifers out to vote in 4 key states!

Every dollar you invest in our voter education project is instantly matched, all the way up to $75,000!  You give $50, our matching donor gives $50 more.  You give $5,000, our matching donor gives $5,000 more.  For your support, here’s what you get:

• Immediate 100% return on investment.  Will your 401-K do as well?
• Save babies’ lives.  Pictures of abortion save lives.  Happy mothers have told us so, over and over again.
• Get pro-lifers out to vote!  If we don’t, we could lose all the pro-life gains we have made since 2010.  And we could lose much, much more.

The pro-abortion health care bill, commonly called ObamaCare, will transfer billions of your tax dollars to the abortion industry.  That’s “billions” with a “b”.  If we fail to stop this insanity, our children and grandchildren will pay the price.  The ones who live will pay with their taxes; the others will pay with their lives.

I’m asking you to make your voice heard by supporting this important project.

Remember, every dollar you invest in this critical project is instantly matched, all the way up to $75,000!  So be sure to designate your gift for “Other” and type in “KSI”.  Or just send us an e-mail and we’ll take care of it.  Let’s raise $10,000 by the end of this week!

The trucks are in place; the rest is up to you.  Please support KSI now, for we urgently need your help.

Choice sign exhibiting “1st Trimester (10-week) Aborted Fetus”

We often hear from pro-lifers who question our use of the word “fetus” on our GAP signs, Choice signs, and RCC truth trucks.  “Fetus” is the word used by pro-aborts to dehumanize the preborn child, so why would we want to use their word?

First, it is critical to restore meaning to the words that pro-aborts are fond of using, so that when they use their words in public, our side gets the benefit.   The other side is quite fond of the word “fetus,” because it conjures up something subhuman in the minds of so many people.  They will never agree to use our word, so we must restore meaning to their word.  When pro-aborts say the word “fetus,” people who have seen our signs won’t think of a formless lump of cells; they will remember the picture of a human being with arms and legs and fingers and toes.  If we restore meaning to the word, the other side can’t use it to confuse people.

Second, we only have a few seconds with people as we pass them with our trucks.  When they see the truck, we want them to say something like, “Wow, I didn’t know killing a fetus meant killing a being with arms and legs and fingers and toes.”  If we flash the word “child” instead, people might think of infanticide, not abortion.  It won’t make sense to them.  By using the word that they are most familiar with, we reduce the amount of time necessary to convey the message.

Third, we want to reinforce in people that the word “fetus” is just another stage of life … as in embryo, fetus, infant, toddler, adolescent, teenager, young adult, middle aged adult, senior citizen, geezer, etc.

Fourth, we can’t force them to use our word, so perhaps a form of jujutsu might be more effective.  The other side has all the worldly power behind it (the media, the education system, the news media, the entertainment industry, etc.).   Jujutsu is a martial art in which one seeks to manipulate the opponent’s force against himself rather than confronting him with one’s own force.  We want to take over their words so that when pro-aborts try to use them, it turns to our benefit.

Bottom line:  The other side dehumanized the word “fetus;” we are restoring its humanity.

Can we ever use the word, “child?”  Yes, of course!  Suppose  I am talking to a pro-abort who asserts that abortion may be justified based on poverty, personal choice, etc.  I would first show him a photo of a 1st-trimester abortion.  We have to define that word “abortion.”   Then I would trot out the toddler, i.e., ask if it would be OK to kill a 2-year old child for the same reason.   That way, I can focus his attention on the real issue, which is not poverty, choice, etc.  The real issue is “What is the unborn?”

But later in the conversation, when he goes back to “choice” and “rights,” I might force him back to the main point by saying something like, “A parent does not have a right to kill his own child.”  When I use the word “child,” he cannot dispute the statement, so he has to dispute the notion that the fetus is a child.  But our signs use the word “fetus” because this word, juxstaposed with the photos, helps us make our case that the fetus is, in fact, a human child.

In this way, I am using the word “child” in conversation to do the same thing that we used the word “fetus” to do on our signs.  In both cases, we are refocusing our audience on the key point, “What is the unborn?”

RCC truth truck sign exhibiting “1st Trimester (10-week) Aborted Fetus”

Nicole is interviewed by WUSA news anchor Peggy Fox.

CBR’s Key States Initiative (KSI) was the lead story on WUSA-TV in Washington, DC on Monday night.  Virginia Project Director (and truck-driver extraordinaire) Nicole Cooley was interviewed on-camera by news anchor Peggy Fox.  It was the lead story on the evening news!  Links:

• News Story on WUSA-TV (awesome video)
• Text version (same video)
• WUSA-TV Facebook Page (130+ comments so far)
• Photo of truck on Twitter page

Nicole gave an excellent interview.  WUSA highlighted some of the comments on their Facebook page.  Amanda Reyes wrote:

I don’t want my children seeing this.

But Claire Lauderdale Gardner said:

These pro-lifers are showing the truth of what abortion does.  It is tough to explain to kids because it is the gruesome murder of an unborn baby.  And most kids git that it’s killing a baby no matter what a parent’s views are.

Another story popped up on our KSI trucks in Iowa.

News coverage helps expand our audience and bring more people to our website.

Fr. Frank Pavone just issued this urgent video message about our Key States Initiative (KSI), which aims to educate voters in key states for the upcoming elections.  You don’t need a special license to drive; anybody can do it.  Fr. Pavone says:

We want to elect public servants who know the difference between serving the public and killing the public.

To volunteer for KSI, click here.  Here’s Fr. Pavone:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwINEFYf0f0

From CBR’s Seth Gruber:

ANSWERED PRAYER!  We made a mocking parody (watch video here) of Northland Family Planning Centers infomercial and they sued us for copyright infringement.  The judge just issued a final ruling in our favor, holding that our Fair Use defense was so strong that he was granting us a Summary Judgment victory without even allowing the case to go to trial! He wrote that “Though Northland [abortion clinics] may have suffered pecuniary or reputational losses as a result of the accused [CBR] Videos, those injuries are not recognized under the Copyright Act. On balance, Defendants’ use of the Northland Video was fair.”  The order itself read “For the foregoing reasons, Defendants’ Motion for Summary Judgment is GRANTED, and Northland’s Motion for Summary Judgment is DENIED.

In an email message we forced Renee Chilean, owner of Northland abortion clinics, to release pursuant to her lawsuit against us, she told another abortionist that “I know that they [CBR] preach to their own choir but I am worried about this

.” Then she admits that the source of her worry is the possibility that we will use our video to lobby for “… anti-D&E legislation.” The term “D&E” refers to dilatation and extraction (or evacuation) abortions in which the arms and legs of babies are torn off and removed one appendage at a time. The baby goes into shock and bleeds to death. She explains that “They [anti-abortion activists] are looking for new ammunition since PBA [partial-birth-abortion] is pretty much done.”

We thank God and our two stellar lawyers, Rob Muise and David Yerusalmi, for this win, which is an important victory for the entire pro-life movement.  We plan to make a lot more videos of this sort!  Northland will most likely appeal this ruling and God willing we will crush them on appeal as well!

CBR press release here.

Watch video here.

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!