by Fletcher Armstrong

Continuing our See you in the funny papers series (explanation), this one from the Grand Valley State University Lanthorn.

Observer:  People on both sides of the issue spent half their time trash talking people who opposed them instead of keeping it to the issue.  The pro-lifers compared the pro-choicers to Germans who ignored the Holocaust, while pro-choicers compared pro-lifers to racists who fought to keep public schools segregated.  This constant mud-slinging contest is exactly why people don’t like talking about important issues.

CBR Response:   Observer, thanks for your comment.  We did not invent the comparison of abortion to the Holocaust and slavery.  Martin Luther King, Jr. often compared racial injustice in America to the Holocaust.  Rev. Jesse Jackson later extended the comparison to abortion.  Both of them cited some of the same factors that we highlight in our display, including denial of personhood, dehumanization of the victims, etc.  But it would be wrong to accuse them of “trash-talking”.

It isn’t trash-talking to point out that perpetrators of genocide always redefine personhood in terms that exclude the intended victim class.  Our Supreme Court declared preborn children to be non-persons in the 1973 Roe v Wade decision, applying a developmental criteria (trimesters).  The Court did the same thing in 1857, by declaring Black men and women to be “subordinate and inferior” beings.  The Nazi court declared Jews to be non-persons in 1936.

Another common theme is the language used to dehumanize the intended victims.  For example, Nazis called their victims rats, pigs, vermin, and untermensch (subhuman).  We all know the language used to dehumanize Black men and women in this country.  So what do we call preborn children.  A wanted preborn child is called a “baby” — “look at the ultrasound of my baby” — but an unwanted preborn child is never a baby, but is often referred to as a “parasite”, “blob of cells”, “products of conception”, etc.

These are all true historical facts.  Stating facts is not mud-slinging.

Of course, these facts have relevance only if the preborn child is a living human being, but science tells us that the preborn child is both human (not a pig, cow, or horse) and alive (not dead, but growing).  So can anyone tell us why it OK to decapitate and dismember some human beings and not others?  And what criteria is appropriate to decide which human beings may be decapitated and dismembered and which may not?

Mrs. Shanley stand in prime location where she can see the ‘stealth appreciation’.

Here is what volunteer Patti Shanley had to say about the pro-life students who had practically taken their life-affirming sentiment underground:

 We know we’re in a hostile environment when our friends are afraid to be seen with us.  It happened to me at least a dozen or more times at the UNC Greensboro and North Carolina State.

I’m talking about stealth appreciation.  It’s a lightning-quick “thank you” that almost no one else can discern.  The person might stop for a moment, or just glide by with a bit of eye contact and a quick nod or thumbs up.  They don’t take our brochure.  They barely speak.  They just quickly say “thanks” and move on.  But they never, ever, want anyone to know they agree with us.

I understand.  It’s a dangerous world when accusatory social media posts target anyone considered an enemy and the gang of bullies descends.  Social circles are fragile and academic success is unsure when we swim against the current.  Who could have predicted that the tolerance crowd wouldn’t tolerate dissent?

At least one student at UNC Greensboro wasn’t afraid.  In full view of the pro-aborts, she told me she was really glad GAP came, and offered me a hug.  “God bless you,” I whispered in her ear.

We must teach the next generation to be better than this.  The anti-American Left has coopted public resources and institutions to advance their own agenda at taxpayer expense.  They are not bold; they are bullies.  They say we have no right to speak, and their President says we should sit in the back of the bus (his exact words).  Unfortunately, too many pro-lifers, conservatives, and Christians are cowering in the closet.  That is not a recipe for victory.  We will have to fight for our country or we will lose it.

That is why CBR and GAP are so important.  We are fighting.

You can fight, too.  Be sure to join us here.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

God let it rain on Day 1, but …

by Jacqueline Hawkins

On the rainy Monday at the UNC Greensboro, a young man with a markedly deadpan attitude gloated, “You all came to start a fire on campus, but look. It’s raining. Where’s your fire now?”

The young man was a member of the the campus Christian group that originally committed to bring GAP but later backed out.  Unfortunately, Christians often have little regard for the sanctity of commitment, which is why we generally avoid depending on such groups.  As it turns out, the College Republicans are much more likely to keep their commitments.  Just sayin’.  Anyway, …

When the young man saw no students around the GAP display, he concluded that the rain and lack of response was a sign from God that GAP did not belong.  God was drowning out the “fire” CBR wanted to start.

He asserted that GAP was not the kind of loving thing that Jesus would do, but GAP volunteer Debbie Picarello pointed out that Jesus was full of both grace and truth.  We show the truth of abortion, but following the example of Jesus, we are gracious, loving, and peaceful in our conversations with students.

Debbie then reminded the young man that Jesus did not hide from controversy.  Jesus told people the truth about their sin and called them to repent, knowing they would crucify Him.  As Christians, we share the Gospel with them, even if it means persecution.  At CBR, we share the truth about abortion with them, knowing they don’t want to see it.

… He gave us a firestorm on Day 2.

He may have thought God was dousing the flame, but he needed only wait one more day.  Our Day 2 was beautiful and a massive crowd of people gathered.  This confused Christian could gloat no more, because God gave us the very firestorm he assumed had been washed away.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

At UNC Greensboro, a female student begged us to give up protesting abortion and spend our time and energy promoting free IUDs (that she claimed were 99.5% effective).  She insisted this would end the need for abortion, apparently being unaware that the IUD is an abortifacient.  This obviously well-formed student wrote,

“Abstinence programs do not work because sex is a basic human need like food, water or shelter.  It is built into our genetic code to crave it and there is nothing we can do to curb this … very human desire … Please reconsider what you spend your time protesting.  Your time is incredibly valuable and people with protesting souls like yours need to take advantage of their gifts.  Please, please protest for free birth control.  IUD’s especially.”

This goes beyond the commonly held view that sex without responsibility is an entitlement.  In this woman’s mind, she and her classmates must have a regular romp in the sack or suffer something akin to starvation, dehydration, or hypothermia.  I have images of mythological nymphs frolicking through the forest in a decaying, oversexed society.  The world is collapsing down around them but all they can do is frolic and play, or die.

Folks, please pray for these poor, deluded people.  That God would give them Light to see the way.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

All-star pro-life student Aubrey Griffin exposes the deeds of darkness.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

North Carolina State University student Aubrey Griffin is a pro-life all-star!  The industrious young woman is the President of the NCSU Students for Life (SFL).  Having seen how effective GAP was when we came in 2014, she and her comrades brought us back for an encore performance.

Both days were filled with intellectual discussion and debate.  There was a pro-abort protest group, but they seemed rather halfhearted about the whole thing.  Their presence, although perfunctory, brought even more attention to the pictures!

I love it when a plan comes together!

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

Jane Bullington addresses members of the huge pro-abort throng at UNCG.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

At high noon of Day 2, they descended upon us with rage and fury.  It was our first time at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG).

Day 1 of the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) had been cold and rainy, so almost no one stopped.  But everyone saw the pictures, and they held their response for better weather.  Along with the sunshine, their opportunity for hysteria had now arrived.

They came with notebook paper signs, vulgar chants, and even satanic ritual, but we held our ground and let the signs do the work.  Seasoned GAP veterans said this protest was one of the largest and most vitriolic they had ever seen.  The protesters stayed all afternoon, until we carried away the last sign.

The shouting, jeering crowd was perhaps wearisome at times, but their 5-hour exposure to the GAP display was a huge victory.  If 3 seconds gets the point across, who knows what 5 hours can do?

But it wasn’t just the pro-aborts who responded.  After seeing our signs, Ashton boldly announced that she would organize a new pro-life club on campus.  At the end of the day, 3 brave pro-life students pitched in and helped us break down the display as their peers vented their rage.  Talk about guts!  They had never met each other before, but now they were working on their first pro-life project together!

Pro-Life on Campus at UNCG was a huge success!  Thank you for supporting our work!

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

As long as free speech rights exist, university officials cannot censor our message.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

“No!” the female college professor said firmly when Bill and Jeanette Schultz offered her literature.  She did have a question.  Not surprisingly, her one question turned into a series of challenges with rude interruptions to any reply.  After Jeanette advised her that a conversation would not be possible if she continued to interrupt, she finally asked: “Why were you not here last year?”

Without an interruption Bill replied, “We should have been here last year and will make up for it by coming back next year and in future years.”

“You are not welcome at my university!” she retorted with strong indignation.

To that Bill responded, “Madam, this university belongs to you and the many open minded and gifted students who have visited with us.  Even now, students are continuing to express an interest in our truthful message.  We will be back for them!”

Without a single word, she abruptly turned and marched away, passing alongside the “All Black Lives Matter” display as several university student continued their dialogue with CBR volunteers.

In the leftist den of confusion that is the modern campus, some professors apparently believe that they own the school.  Sadly, in many ways, they do.  Together promote left-wing propaganda and punish nonconformity whenever they can.  However when GAP shows up and exposes the facts for all to see, it becomes much harder for professors to lie to their students.  Their monopoly over the debate is broken, and they don’t like it.  Not one little bit.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

If you watched the big Cunningham-Hunter debate on Incrementalism vs. Immediatism, you may have seen CBR Executive Director Gregg Cunningham announce that CBR would no longer include the following statement in it’s Volunteer Agreement for the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) and other projects:

If asked a secular question, I will give only a secular answer, not a spiritual answer.  I will give spiritual answers only in response to a spiritual question or comment.  (Note:  Many people reject spiritual answers and use them to change the conversation or to discredit the pro-life position.)

Yes, this is going away, but I wanted to clarify the confusion about what it meant and why it was included in our Volunteer Agreement in the first place.

First of all, this was in no way a prohibition to sharing the Gospel.  In our GAP training, which we call the Pro Life Training Academy (PLTA), we routinely remind people that God commands us to share the Gospel.  I have shared my Faith at GAP on many occasions.  Other staff and volunteers have done the same.

But if a student asks why abortion is wrong, it is pointless to reply, “The Bible says, ‘Thou shalt not kill’”  Three reasons:

1. If the student does not accept the authority of Scripture, then such a pronouncement won’t be very compelling to him.  We have to reach him where he is and go from there, just like Paul did in Athens (Acts 17:16-34).  He preached the Jewish Scripture to the Jews, who accepted the authority of Scripture.  But with the Athenians, he stared with a frame of reference they would understand.
2. In most cases, the student likely already accepts the premise that killing a human being is immoral.  (Even atheists agree that killing 6 million Jews is immoral.)  He just disagrees that the preborn child is morally equivalent to a born person.  Most often, his mistake is not a belief that killing is OK, but is rather a belief that preborn children are somehow subhuman.
3. People mistakenly believe our opposition to abortion is just a religious tenant that should remain a matter of personal discretion, much like our belief in keeping the Sabbath.  But we don’t oppose legalized abortion because it violates our religious beliefs; we oppose legalized abortion because it unjustly kills another human being.  That is a much different argument, and we need to make that point crystal clear.

Of course we can also share the Gospel, but we can make a compelling arguments against abortion that don’t depend on a belief in Scripture to be credible.

Some people want CBR to be focus primarily on evangelism.  But if we were to do that, what version of evangelical message would we adopt?  Would it be a Catholic version?  A Baptist version?  A Lutheran version?

We don’t have a theological statement, nor do we proscribe an evangelical approach that all must embrace.  We, like others in the pro-life movement, work with Catholics, Protestants, non-denominational, and even anti-denominational Christians to witness against the evil of child sacrifice.  When it comes to sharing the Gospel; we have to believe that every Christian is being trained (or should be trained) how to do this within their own particular Church.  (Full disclosure: On occasion, atheists have volunteered to help with our outreaches to secular audiences, and we have accepted their help.)

There need to be places in the pro-life movement — and we believe CBR should be one of those places — where Christians of good will can come together to fight a common foe, which is child sacrifice.  Otherwise, we end up fighting each other… about Catholic vs. Protestant, Calvinist vs. Arminian, Latin liturgy vs. Southern drawl, King-James-only (KJO) vs. Nearly Inspired Version (NIV), etc., etc. etc.  The list of issues that could divide us, if we let them, is endless.

If you don’t agree, if you believe your pro-life-ism cannot be separated from your particular brand of Christianity, and if you can’t work with other Christians outside your own particular brand, then there is still a place for you in the movement.  But CBR won’t be that place, because our mission transcends denominational boundaries.

That is not a statement of judgement against denominational pro-life work.  To the contrary; we wish every “pro-life” church would join this fight, as a part of the mission of that church.  And true to our calling, we will make our abortion images available to you and support your denominational pro-life mission in every way possible.

Enraged professor confronts CBR personnel and police.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

She shouted, screamed and profanely vented her anger.  East Carolina University (ECU) police officers were forced to intervene, stepping between this professor and CBR personnel.  Students could see the uncivil, vitriolic reaction of this pro-abort, in living color.

“Why did you come to this University?” another female professor asked.  Her reaction was completely different.  At first she was surprised.  After hearing more about our Genocide Awareness Project, she was thrilled beyond measure.  She thanked us for coming to ECU because of her great concerns over self-destructive student behaviors, including Satanism, abortions, and fornication.  She knew that great evil lurked on the campus, but that our presence helped to combat that evil.

Please help us do more of this.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

An angry woman confronts CBR’s Maggie Egger.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

“You should have been aborted!” a male Grand Valley State University student shouted at CBR’s Jane Bullington.  While it hurts to be told these things, it could be taken as a good sign.

First and foremost, their anger shows that the images have pricked their consciences.  The images are disturbing, but Dr. Martin Luther King taught us that until people are disturbed by the status quo, there is no pressure for change.

When they say, “You should have been aborted,” they show that they understand, on some level, that abortion does take a human life.  They wish that our lives had been taken.  They sometimes follow up with, “I hope you die!”  Note the connection.  In other words, “I wish you were dead; preferably sooner than later, but better late than never.”

Granted, this is not a well-thought-out reaction.  But it’s often the knee-jerk reaction that reveals a person’s true thoughts.

We happily continue our work because some of these students will take their own words to heart.  One day, they will know that killing is killing, whether later or sooner.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

Walk a mile in the shoes of the pre-born.  After all, you were pre-born too.

With tears in his eyes, a young man pointed to the sign with 24-week old babies—the unwanted child (an aborted corpse) and the wanted child (the premie in an ICU).  He was a student at Grand Valley State University.

“I was that baby,” he told CBR staff member Jane Bullington.  “I was born at 24½ weeks and spent 11 months in the hospital.”  Even today, his voice is raspy from the trachea tube that chafed his throat during those 11 months.  “That picture hits home.  Thank you for sharing my story.”

Because he was wanted, doctors worked hard to preserve his life.  But what if he had been unwanted?  The answer was all too obvious.  The pictures hit home when we can see ourselves as that unwanted child, weak and alone with nowhere to turn.

Not everyone can say that he was a black person or a Jew with a target on his back.  But everyone can honestly say he was in a group targeted for elimination.  Everyone was a pre-born baby.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and regular FAB contributor.

Philip Hamilton speaking to a pro-choice supporter at the GAP on Market Square in Knoxville, Tennessee.

by Philip Hamilton

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) recently displayed photos of aborted fetuses in downtown Knoxville, reminding passersby on Market Square that abortion decapitates and dismembers little human beings.  CBR’s display, known as the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), exposes the devastating effects of a “woman’s right to choose” by focusing attention on what is actually being chosen.

The Market Square GAP was my first one as a new staffer for the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform.  During the course of the day, I encountered many people on both sides of the debate.

I spoke with a homeless couple who had lost custody of their children due to drug issues; they were staunchly pro-life.  They said that while their children did not have an ideal childhood, there is always the option of adoption.

Later, I got a pro-choice progressive to admit that late term abortions were morally wrong.  I told her about Planned Parenthood’s sale of fetal organs.  We discussed Virginia’s ultrasound law, which she supported because a woman should at least be able to see an ultrasound of the child before being able to kill him.  I told her that there should be at least a 24-hour waiting period after the ultrasound is done, so that women can have more time to make and informed choices between life or death for their children.  [The more time women have to think about their decision, the more likely they are to choose life.]  She supported a waiting period after I discussed the reasons why the a waiting period is actually “pro-woman.”  After seeing GAP, this progressive woman rejected some of the most extreme pro-abortion positions.  Not a complete conversion, but it’s a start, and not a bad one in only 15 minutes.

At the end of the day, I spoke with a woman with two young women in tow.  She supported our message, but ordered her children to look away from the pictures as we talked.  In spite of her belief that children should not look at aborted fetuses in a public square, she believed that teenagers and adults must see them before they can make an informed decision on the effects of “choice.”

We have a choice, too.  We have a choice whether to spend our time and treasure on winning hearts, changing minds, and saving lives.  Will you devote your time and treasure to stand for the right to life?

Photos awaken the moral conscience of our audience, opening their minds to understanding.

by Jane Bullington

Although words may say that abortion is evil, photos actually show just how evil abortion really is.  Big difference.

Made them look.  At our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) at East Carolina University, a female student said it best, “I didn’t want to look but I had to look.”  She was pro-life but had never seen the evil on display.  Now, when a friend says, “I am pregnant,” she will be more likely to step forward to offer counsel and assistance.

“It (GAP) opened my eyes … ”

I have just changed my mind!  Another student started by saying abortion might be a viable choice for other women, “They are little human beings; I wouldn’t do it, but…”  A few minutes later, after seeing how slavery was a “choice” in the 1800’s, she exclaimed, “Well, when you put it like that, I have just changed my mind!  I understand what you are saying.”

I had no idea.  A male student expressed the sentiments of most college students when he said, “I had no idea this is what abortion was. They are so tiny, and that is a hand!”

College students are a microcosm of Americans in general.  The vast majority have never seen and do not want to see the gruesome reality of abortion.  We must confront that ignorance with real abortion pictures.

The need to see.  Another student said “It’s gruesome.  I didn’t know how developed it is so early.”  She went on to say, “People do need to see this; maybe they will make different decisions.”

Opened my eyes.  A communications major was quoted in the school paper, “It (GAP) opened my eyes to the situation; it gave viewers a different way to see it.  The pictures were graphic but sometimes it may take that to get a point across, especially for something as big as life.”  Common sense from a college student!

The smoking gun.  Do you see a common thread?  Disturbing photos of abortion victims pierce through the lies and deception to inform common sense and conscience.

Victim images have been the smoking gun for every successful social reform movement in our history.  We must continue to put them in front of Americans, over and over and over.

Jane Bullington is a CBR project director and a first-time FAB contributor.

by Maggie Egger

Michelle, co-president of SFL at OU, speaks with a fellow student during GAP.

During GAP at Oakland University (OU) in March, a young man approached our display, then quickly became very emotional.  He stepped back from the crowd and started yelling that women should have the choice to abort, because they could be in really terrible situations, and we can’t judge their particular circumstances.

Then it became personal.  He said when his mom was in college, with a promising career ahead of her, she became pregnant by a man who was not much more than a casual hook-up.  She dropped out of school and sacrificed her career to care for him, the unplanned pregnancy.  He said she was miserable because of it.  She married his father, but they went on to have an abusive and dysfunctional marriage and family.  By this point, the young man was crying and his voice started to shake.  He said that he wished that his mom had aborted him, because then maybe she would have had a chance at a better, happier life.

Then Michelle Anderson, co-president of OU Students for Life, stepped forward.  She said, “I’m sorry that you had to go through that as a kid, and that your mom had to go through that.  But I’m so glad she didn’t abort you.  I am so glad that you’re here today.  We value your life, no matter how it came to be.  You are valuable and you are loved.”  They continued talking quietly for a little while.  He calmed down significantly, and before he left I heard Michelle say, “Can I give you a hug?”  He accepted.

I observed several interesting things in this encounter.  First, Michelle’s demeanor was so calm and loving, it completely diffused a very emotionally charged situation.  Second, she didn’t try to debate abortion.  That’s not what this young man needed to hear at that moment.  Third, the reaction of the pro-abortion protesters was perhaps the most depressing and disturbing thing that I’ve seen on campus in a while.

The young man started off with the slogan of “personal choice” and of course the pro-abortion protesters cheered this.  However, when he said he wished his mother had aborted him, most of them took their reasoning to its logical conclusion and continued to agree with him.  In essence they were saying to him, “We wouldn’t care if you were dead.”  That’s the mindset that we encounter in people who have, for decades, reduced the preborn to mere clumps of cells, instead of whole, distinct, living, valuable, human persons.  And while that mindset is depressing, when it is juxtaposed with the pro-life view, the result can be encouraging.  After all, if everyone always valued all life from fertilization to natural death, it would be no big deal for Michelle to tell that young man that she values his life, not only in that moment, but from the very first moment of his existence.

Maggie Egger is a CBR Project Director in Virginia and a regular FAB(ulous) contributor.

A crowd gathers at Georgia Southern University.

At Georgia Southern, Bert had been speaking with CBR’s Maggie Egger for a while when he asked, “What if the woman is an addict, and she’s going to have a baby that’s really handicapped?”

Maggie trotted out the ever-present, imaginary, 2-year-old toddler.  This particular toddler was handicapped, to match the circumstance that Burt described.

Maggie asked, “Would it be OK to kill this toddler because of his handicap?”  Bert, of course, said not.

Then he revealed the reason he asked, “My sister is an addict and she’s pregnant right now.”

But now reflecting on what he had seen and heard, he said thoughtfully, “I think having this baby might help her.  I bet when people in her situation have abortions instead, it’s very easy for them just to go back to their old bad habits, and they’ll eventually kill themselves, slowly.”

Maggie talked about her experiences helping women in New York City, how some of them had huge obstacles to overcome.  But many of them were much more motivated to work once they realized that other people (to be specific, their own children) were counting on them.

[This all reminded us of the student at Middle Tennessee State whose mom was waiting tables when she got pregnant with him.  She didn’t abort (obviously, since the child was now grown up and speaking with us).  He said, “After she had me, she got serious about her life and went back to school.  She got her nursing degree and now she’s the head nurse at a hospital, making about 80 or 90 grand a year.”  He thought a minute and then said, “You know, I think if my mother had aborted me, she would still be back there waiting tables.”]

Bert thanked Maggie and walked on. GAP may have saved his little niece or nephew.  He or she wouldn’t be the first one.  Here is another (link).