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!

CBR United Kingdom Director Andy Stephenson was on The Big Question, a program on BBC One, the flagship TV station of the British Broadcasting Company (BBC).   The Big Question on this day was, “Should abortion be a private matter?”

Andy’s answer was “Yes … if …”   Great sound bites you can use:

• There should be unrestricted access to abortion, if the unborn child is not a human being.
• All we’re doing is showing people what they do.
• Why would the truth be intimidating?
• If abortion is such a good idea, why to pictures of it make people so angry?
• It is not a controversial issue that life begins at conception.  If they want to get rid of us, we will leave tomorrow if they can prove to us, with science, that the preborn child being killed is not a human being.
• On filming:  That’s why we film [our own work]; we knew there would be false allegations.  We knew we had to document our displays.  We invite the police to attend every display we do.

Pro-life activists all over the planet are employing CBR-developed methods of legally educating the public about two key facts:  (1) Who this the preborn? and (2) What does abortion do to him or her?

Check out Andy Stephenson on British TV, saying it like it outta to be said:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2NRXWLoA_4

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Today, we drove from Jacksonville to Tallahassee and displayed “Choice” signs at Florida A&M University (FAMU).  One student invited us to speak to her class tomorrow and another wanted a “Choice” sign for herself!

"Choice" signs on display at Florida A&M University (FAMU)

As the Thanksgiving holiday winds down, check out President Reagan’s Thanksgiving greeting from 1985.  It will be a real blessing to you.  I promise!

Hope you had plenty to be thankful for this year.  We sure did!  Even in a terrible economy, we’ve had one of our best years of pro-life activism on campus!  We visited 11 major universities in 7 states, reaching nearly 180,000 students.  I am so thankful for all that God is doing through your generosity.

But I’m not the only one who thanks you.  A few months back, Angel called me to say, “I was going to get an abortion today.  I saw your pictures, and I changed my mind.  You saved my baby’s life.  I guess you saved mine, too.  Thank you for those pictures.”

Anna thanks you too.  She’s displaying CBR “Choice” and GAP signs a few hours each week at George Mason U (GMU).  She wrote me, “Let me tell you, it is moving!  Truly the best part of my week. … Thank you for all you do, and for finding me at GMU last summer.  This has all changed my life.”

I am thankful for so many blessings!  Here are just a few:

• For Anna at GMU and Lisa at Virginia Commonwealth U, who are starting pro-life student groups so they can host GAP at their schools this coming March.
• For GAPs at 11 major universities in 7 states, reaching nearly 180,000 students.  Nationally, we visited 23 schools that enroll more than half a million students!
• For Cracker Barrel. I’ve been to every one along I-75, I-40, and I-81.  I can work that silly peg puzzle blindfolded (which is a surprisingly awesome way to embarrass your wife).
• For Gary Johnson, our “super-duper” volunteer, who made every GAP trip and saved Angel and her baby with the “Choice” signs you provided.
• For hundreds of pro-life students who we trained in pro-life activism.  We are preparing the generation that will overturn Roe v Wade.
• For the Pro-Life Training Academy (PLTA) in 9 cities across 7 states.  Biggest year ever.
• For discounted hotel rooms at Hotwire.com and chicken soup at 35 different Panera Breads.
• For our new promo video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Rk44gn824.
• For post-abortive women who are Silent No More at every GAP event.
• For Ole Betsy, my 2005 Buick, and every one of her 115,839 miles.  She’s taken me from Pensacola to Providence and all points in between.
• For dedicated staff and volunteers, whose passion is winning hearts, changing minds, and saving lives.
• For you, because God has used you to touch so many lives.
• For all of the great work ahead.

It’s really quite remarkable to add up what you’ve done through your prayers and support.  We thank you for that, and we thank God for you!

O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.
O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. (Psalm 95:1-6)

Thank you,

Fletcher

P.S. I wasn’t going to ask, but if you must, click here. Thank you!

Jane Bullington winning hearts, changing minds, and saving lives at James Madison University.

“Thank you for being here.”  On the morning of Day 2 at JMU, Mick Hunt read from Ephesians 6, to encourage the team to “put on the full armor of God” in preparation for another day at JMU.  Their discussion was interrupted by a female student who approached the group.

She said, “Thank you for being here. Christians really need to see this. I know this is a spiritual battle.  Can I pray for you?”  Nicole and Jonathan approached her and thanked her for her timely encouragement.  They held hands while she prayed for God’s blessing on our team and for the students who would see images, asking God to move their hearts.

Breast cancer link.  One of our GAP signs presents the connection between abortion and breast cancer.  The hard-core pro-aborts dispute this, but there is plenty of statistical evidence to suggest that abortion increases the probability of breast cancer from the ambient 10% to about 13 or 14% (an increase of 30 or 40 percent).  This is not a trivial increase; it likely results in 10,000 fatalities per year (source).

As two female students looked at the sign depicting this link, Jane began to explain the cellular changes in breast tissue that begin to happen when a woman becomes pregnant.  One of them interrupted, “I am a biology major and I see where you are going with that.  That’s the most convincing argument right there for not having abortions!  You need to be telling women this!”  Jane laughed and said, “We’re doing our very best, please help us!”

You can help us with your gift to sustain this work.  If only 8 people would give $100 per month, we could go back to JMU every single year.  Click here to make it so.

GAP sign depicting causal link between abortion and breast cancer.

Bubba Gene Garrett explains prenatal development to a student at James Madison University.

Where can Christians learn the message not to kill their own children?

Not at church, apparently.  That’s why 1 in 5 women who have abortions identify themselves as “born again” or “evangelical” Christians.

The secular campus is a great place to reach these good people with the truth that the pro-life church is covering up.  This was also true at James Madison University.

Joe had recently become a Christian, but had never considered abortion in any form or fashion.  He spoke with CBR GAPper Bubba Garrett.

As they looked over the pictures and discussed the implications of abortion in terms of the genocide comparison, his heart was deeply moved.  Bubba helped him to understand that authentic Christianity must include protecting the helpless from systematic slaughter (Proverbs 24:11-12).

Joe asked Bubba to pray with him that more Christians would get involved in stopping abortion.  Afterwards, he told him that his spiritual mentor was nearby and also needed to learn about abortion.  As a result both young men experienced a change of heart concerning the consequences of abortion and a newfound determination to do something about it.

Jonathan Darnel speaks with students at James Madison University,

We just wrapped up our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) at James Madison University (JMU).  Story here.  All the usual responses from pro-aborts.  They were angrier at us for showing the pictures of dead children than at the abortion doctors for killing the children.  About 20 of them showed up to protest on each day.

The JMU pro-life student club did not sponsor our presence on campus and pretty much kept their distance.   Observing the pro-aborts rally against us, one JMU pro-lifer wrote, “This response is one of the main reasons we decided not to sponsor [GAP] in the first place.  They seem to be missing the argument against abortion entirely.”

But consider the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who wrote:

Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being “disturbers of the peace” and “outside agitators.” But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were “a colony of heaven,” called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God intoxicated to be “astronomically intimidated.” By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests.

Slave-trade advocates didn’t like Thomas Clarkson, abusive child labor advocates didn’t like Lewis Hine, and segregationists didn’t like Martin Luther King, Jr.

It is true that hard-core pro-aborts missed our arguments against abortion, but they are going to miss every argument against abortion.  They are committed zealots.  That’s not our audience.  We are trying to reach those who are still open-minded and who still have functioning consciences. 

Many students were combative when they first approached one of our party.  But once they realized that we were not going to respond in kind, many of them were willing to engage in civil discourse.  Several students said they very much appreciated our presence.  Many were obviously disturbed by the photos, which is a first necessary step toward change.

Members of the Catholic campus ministry stopped by to talk, including their dog Trinity.  Trinity is a beautiful Labrador Retriever who was born with only three legs.  Despite her disability, however, it was obvious that she enjoys her life very much and does not at all consider herself to be sub-canine!

Several good stories to follow, including changed hearts and minds.

Many, many students at Radford were NOT closed-minded; Virginia Director Nicole Cooley speaks with two of them.

The President of Radford University’s Young Democrats took exception to the presentation of abortion pictures on his campus.  Of course, he agrees with us that abortion is ugly, disgusting, distasteful, etc.  But he believes abortion is perfectly acceptable to do, even though it’s too horrifying to see.  You can read his letter here.

Here is my online response:

Fletcher Armstrong here. I am the Southeast Director of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, the human rights advocacy group that brought the Genocide Awareness Group (GAP) to Radford University.

I am heartened to see that you agree with us on the most important aspect of our display. You describe abortion pictures as ugly, disgusting, distasteful, etc. Those are your words and we agree. Abortion is all of those and more. But here is a fundamental question: How can pictures of abortion be too horrific to see, but the act of abortion is OK to do? Please explain that to all of us; we can’t wait to hear your explanation.

I should perhaps clarify for you what we were doing on the Radford campus. You refer to it as a “protest.” Not really. We were merely showing you the violence that you advocate. The Democratic party has for many years advocated that rights of personhood be denied to preborn human beings.

You say that our display was “hate-filled.” You should know that name-calling and ad hominem attacks are no substitutes for reasoned arguments.

You say that Radford University was a “victim” of the pictures, and that we were insulting and disrespectful to show them. Please explain how it is that Radford is more of a victim by seeing pictures of abortion than are the children who are being killed by the act of abortion. Who is more disrespected, the born person who is being confronted with a picture of abortion, or a preborn child who is being killed by the act of abortion?

You ask for dialogue, understanding, and a willingness to respect differing viewpoints. I have to wonder where you were hiding while we were on your campus. For two full days, I observed people on both sides of the abortion debate engaged in civil discourse all around the GAP display.

It is clear that you did not want us to be on the public spaces outside the Student Center. You wanted us to choose another time and place, presumably a location that you and other abortion advocates can avoid. In that regard, you are like those who wanted Dr. Martin Luther King to confine his activities to the Black church. They didn’t mind if he spoke about racism, but he should speak about it only in the Black church, among people who cared about racism. They didn’t want to be bothered with it. But Dr. King knew that in order to effect change, it was necessary to expose evil and thus make people uncomfortable with the status quo. He intended to bother them as much as he could.

Your letter suggests that abortion pictures bother you plenty. Congratulations, you still have a functioning conscience. Prepare to see these pictures over and over again, because we won’t stop showing pictures of abortion until the killing stops.

You say that “less controversial slogans could have been chanted.” I can assure you that we have no interest in chanting slogans. But please tell me, why is saving babies so controversial, and killing them is not?

You say that we should have found less troublesome ways of “adequately express[ing]” our views. Please let me clarify one point. Our views about abortion are really of little importance. What is much more important are the facts about abortion. The photos of abortion demonstrate for all to see that the preborn child is really a baby, even in the first trimester, and abortion is an act of violence. It is these facts about abortion that will lead many people to change their views, and that is much more important than us simply expressing our own views.

Regarding the First Amendment, you are correct that Radford University fully respected the First Amendment rights of the College Republicans. But it would be incorrect to say that Radford understands the First Amendment “better than a majority of other institutions of higher education.” We have displayed this project nearly 200 times at more than 50 public universities around the country. Only 2 universities resisted, both were sued, and both were forced to back down.

Liberty University is a unique case because they are a private university, and the students give up some of their expressive rights by attending a private school. It is true that the Liberty administration did not allow us to set up on campus. The students invited us and the administration cancelled our visit. CBR comes in many different sizes and shapes. There’s the 5-minute version, the 2-day version, and the “we-never-quit-coming” version. Liberty has chosen the “we-never-quit-coming” version, which is their prerogative.

If you really seek dialogue and differing viewpoints, may I suggest a debate on your campus?

For those of you who did not see the display, may I suggest you visit http://www.AbortionNo.org.

By the way, I will retract everything I have said and abandon my pro-life postion if you can provide compelling scientific and philosophic evidence to show that the preborn child is not human.  I look forward to hearing that evidence.

FAB is coming to you today from Macon, Georgia, where CBR is co-sponsoring a state-wide conference of the Students for Life of Georgia.  Pro-life students have come from all over Georgia for a day of leadership training and networking.  In fact, a few interlopers from South Carolina may have snuck in as well.  All-told, there are about 50 students in the crowd.

As one of the speakers for this conference, your humble correspondent addressed the students on the history of social reform, and how that history can guide us as pro-lifers.  We are not the first social reform movement, and we can learn a great deal from successful reformers like William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, the abolitionists in America, Lewis Hine, and Dr. Martin Luther King.