Ruth Rawlins of the UK traveled all the way to Michigan to show this professor how genocide perpetrators always claim they are making society better.

by Ruth Rawlins

Americans do almost everything on a much larger scale, so I wanted to see how the colonials defend unborn children!

I lead the CBR UK team in London, so I was thrilled to travel to the USofA (along with colleague Mark Williams) to take part in the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) at Oakland U and Grand Valley State U.

Before stepping foot on campus, we attended the Pro Life Training Academy (PLTA).  Although we had attended similar training before, the PLTA was extremely helpful.  The new material and interactive role-playing really brought the subject matter to life.  I learned new ways to answer the tough questions.

“She told me that she was still pro-choice, but wanted me to know that I had saved any of her future children, in that she would never have an abortion herself.”

The huge GAP display, the many CBR staff and volunteers, the pro-life students, the Truth Truck, and even the pro-abortion protesters created a real buzz on campus.  Students told us it was “the talk” all around the campus, not only in the hallways but in the classrooms as well.

I was particularly impressed with the warm and friendly approach of the GAP volunteers as they engaged the pro-abortion protesters.  I was pleasantly surprised by the openness of those they were engaging, enabling real conversations to flow, something that rarely happens in the UK with those who oppose us.  I witnessed many individuals soften through the way they were treated with such love and grace, which obviously counteracted the false preconceptions that pro-lifers are hard, cold, and angry!

I had many conversations, including one with a hardened professor who saw the strength and logic in our arguments that abortion is genocide, but stubbornly refused to accept the truth.  Thankfully, the students were much more intellectually honest.  Many young men and women listened, asked questions, and saw the terrible injustice in abortion.  Some of these also signed up to join the pro-life college group, to find out more, to get involved, and to make a difference.

The most significant conversation for me was with a young woman protesting against GAP.  This polite young lady came over to see what we had to say, asking all the questions she had, possibly trying to catch me out.  She also disclosed some personal situations from her past.  I sensed that she, like so many, didn’t have great self-worth.  If these students do not see their own lives as worth much, then what worth can they attribute to a so-called “bunch of cells” or a hidden being?

Pointing to the images, I answered her questions.  I also posed the question that “shouldn’t all human beings have worth?”  She agreed that they do.  She thanked me for the discussion, we hugged, and she walked away.  First thing the next morning, before the other pro-abortion protesters had come out, she walked over to speak to me.  She told me that she was still pro-choice, but wanted me to know that I had saved any of her future children, in that she would never have an abortion herself.

She said she had gone home and looked at the leaflet and thought how it is true that everyone should have worth, no matter their size.  I was so encouraged – especially to hear her say the word “worth”.  But I pressed her further about her friend’s children, “Aren’t they worth something, too?”  She agreed and said she would try to persuade them not to abort if they were in that situation.

She was deeply moved, although she did continue to the bitter end to stand in protest with her pro-choice friends with her new banner “pro-choice doesn’t mean pro-abortion”.  I too was deeply moved at her humility to share that change of heart with me.  And I believe that the good work God has started in her will continue until she can proudly stand in defense of all pre-born children.

The GAP project showed me the huge importance of reaching these young people at this critical college age, where they are typically open to debate, open to logic, soft-hearted, and not so set in their ways as older people can be.  It is vital that we continue to support educating and mobilizing this next generation to bring this genocide of the pre-born children to an end in their life-time.  And I am so encouraged that, with the continued growth of projects such as GAP, they will do just that.

Ruth Rawlins is on staff at the Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform UK and a first-time FAB contributor.

Andy Stephenson

Pro-life and freedom of speech advocates are celebrating a huge victory in the UK.  CBR UK directors Andy Stephenson and Kathryn Sloane have been cleared of all charges related to displaying abortion photos outside an abortion clinic an Brighton.  Best story here.  Other notable stories here and here.

In staging the arrest of the two pro-lifers, Brighton police actively fished for complaints from passersby.  They were operating under the legal theory that speech becomes alarming, distressing, etc., and therefore illegal under the Public Order Act, whenever anybody complains about it.

After the trial, Andy Stephenson commented, “What the police have been doing in shutting us down has had a chilling effect on free speech.  Hopefully this will have a chilling effect on the police now to hold back on their over-enthusiastic, over-reaching arm of the law.”

The Court’s written opinion was expected at 2:00 pm Tuesday.  Stay tuned to FAB for updates.