“You’re really making me think about this.”

At Georgia Southern University (GSU), Okie told our Jackie Hawkins that his father had aided (forced?) the abortion of two older siblings, before raising three successful boys.

Okie looked both shocked and confused as he studied the pictures.  He was ambivalent about the concept of abortion … or at least he tried to be.  His blasé statements were interrupted with curses, betraying his shock at seeing abortion for the first time:

Well it should be legal. … Oh, s***!!!

I mean it’s just a choice. … What the f***!!!

The images were forcing their way into his conscience.

Okie is a black student, so Jackie told him about the abortion industry’s racist history.  He continued to look at the pictures with a confused and horrified expression.  He finally said, “You’re really making me think about this.”

Amen!  That’s what we came for!

With our prenatal development GAP sign, we show how a “clump of cells” is endowed with arms and legs and fingers and toes.  Some “clump of cells.”

by Kendra Wright

At Tennessee Tech, a Middle Eastern student told me that he is Muslim and in his country, killing the unborn is just like killing a born person.  But he knew very little about abortion.

He was very shocked to hear that 1.2 million die every year in this country from abortion.

He asked why people get abortions and if “not wanting” the child is a frequent justification.  I confirmed that this is often the case.

I started explaining the difference between a wanted child and an unwanted child.  If a child is wanted, we call it a baby.  If it is unwanted, we call it a clump of cells.

He was shocked.  “A clump of cells?!”

He could see right away that a baby is not just a clump of cells and calling it such is ridiculous.

Kendra Wright is a CBR project director and a regular FAB contributor.

Perpetrators of genocide always have their “reasons.”

by Kendra Wright

At UNC Wilmington, I asked a young man what he thought.  He immediately said he was pro-choice, that people have good reasons for having abortions.

I pointed out that even if I had good reasons for killing him, that wouldn’t make it right or acceptable.  He agreed.

We spoke a while.  After a lull in the conversation I asked him if he was still pro-choice.  He said yes and reverted to “people have good reasons” to abort.

I said, “Wait a minute, we already talked about this. Good reasons do not justify killing human beings.”  Again, he agreed.  Then he fell silent.

I asked again if he was still pro-choice, but this time, his mind was changing.  “Hmm, I don’t know,” he said.

He went on to say that people are ignorant about the science of human development and that he appreciated our use of graphic images.

Once he understood the implications of his pro-choice view he realized he couldn’t firmly hold it.  That is what pictures do: they neutralize the opposition, convert the neutral, activate the converted, and energize the active.

Kendra Wright is a CBR project director and a regular FAB contributor.

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.

CBR’s Jackie Hawkins boldly showing the truth

by Kendra Wright

Sometimes people say we would be more effective if we “just passed out brochures.”  One student at East Carolina University (ECU) suggested we  “take it down a notch.”

Martin Luther King and William Wilberforce were not afraid to be bold …  and they didn’t conquer social injustice with informational brochures.  Several at ECU realized the effectiveness of our strategy and the need for boldness.

At ECU, one man stopped and faced the truth.  He exclaimed, “Wow, I had no idea this is what abortion was!  They are so tiny … and that is a hand!” He would not have known if we had not showed him.

Another student claimed that the display was “”too much.“” CBR’s Jane Bullington explained the history behind using pictures and how we focus on changing minds.  He said, “I see what you are doing and respect your right to do it.  If this had just been a brochure handed out, you and I wouldn’t be talking.”

A gentleman who regularly walks the ECU campus and prays scripture over it was so glad we were there.  He too had used abortion photos and had stood his ground when told to stop.  Other Christians and pro-lifers had told him to tamp it down, and he said NO!

CBR also says NO!  We will not stop giving the unborn a voice!

Kendra Wright is a CBR project director and a regular FAB contributor.

Becoming informed about abortion.

by Kendra Wright

When we showed abortion victim photos at Georgia Southern University, students wanted to know more.

One student cried out, “Please, somebody, tell me what this is all about!”  That is exactly what we want them to ask.  The pictures create opportunities to bring life-saving information to students who know very little about abortion.

Another student exclaimed, “I don’t know how abortions are done. Please tell me!”

Yet another wanted more information about the local pro-life pregnancy help center.

A biology student told us that she knew the facts about the preborn.  She said, “While this is hard to see, I am glad you are here.  People need to see and people need to know what the word means.”

That’s why you sent us … to give life-saving information to the people who need it most.  Please consider a generous investment in the lives of babies and moms.

Kendra Wright is a CBR project director and a regular FAB contributor.

Diana Jimenez speaks with a student at Cal State Long Beach.

The Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) returned to California State University Long Beach (CSULB) in April, hosted by the Catholic Newman Club.  What a rare thrill to work with a Christian group with the courage of their convictions!

Media coverage:

• CSULB Catholics bring pro-life advocates to campus
• Bio-Ethical Reform should not be allowed to display graphic photos for its anti-abortion campaign on campus
• Letter to the editor: Genocide Awareness Project
• Letter from the editor: the ‘Genocide Awareness Project’
• Letter to the editor: Ban the Abortion Fort

Notable responses:

“Our goal is to get them banned from campus because of how uncomfortable it makes people feel.” (Karina Sarabia, sophomore English major)  [Translation: “Messages and people who make me uncomfortable must be banned.”]

“Everyone has the right to demonstrate his or her beliefs, but … these pictures should not be displayed in the center of campus ever again.”  (Tuyen Dinh, junior journalism major)  [Translation: “The US Constitution is a living, breathing document, so we can make it mean whatever we want it to mean at the time.  My friends and I get to decide who has rights and who does not.”]

“[Their signs said], ‘Do not engage’ or ‘Want to help? Just walk away. Do not engage.’  Were they attempting to silence GAP because the pro-life side was actually making sense and was more compelling than theirs?”  (Meredith Amon, CSULB Sophomore)  [Answer:  Yes!]

“A university is a place for learning, so there is simply no excuse for the ignorance that was on display two weeks ago.”  (Ariana Sawyer, Opinions Editor)  [Translation: “Ignorance = any knowledge I wish to avoid.”]

“If the pictures are scarring and viewers are uncomfortable, wouldn’t your next thought be ‘why?’  Why the negative reactions?  There must be something disturbing about what is being photographed.  A picture is nothing but a neutral, unbiased portrayal of what is on the other side of the lens.”  (Dyanne Roper)

Not sure you can be open-minded and “fueled with the rage of a thousand suns” at the same time. Here is an open-minded student viewing the GAP display.

Interesting comments on our website during GAP at Tennessee Tech University (TTU).

Visitor, a 22-yr-old female, said that she was fueled with “the rage of a thousand suns about how closed-minded people can be.”  I wonder how open your mind must be in order to contain that much rage?

When I encounter closed-minded people, they are almost always on the political left.  Why is that?

Anyway, she went on to say that abortion is “a great option for people not ready for birth.”  Au contraire!  When I wasn’t ready for birth, the only safe option for me was to stay right where I was.

Moms: getting children ready for birth for thousands of years.

GAP commands the attention of all. Only by reaching the unwilling audience can we ever hope to reform culture. When the culture embraces our message, our work is done.

by Lincoln Brandenburg

Pro-life students at Western Kentucky University (WKU) were trepid about using victim images, so we brought the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) under the university’s vendor policy.

Rather than participate in GAP, they set up a free-speech board about 100 feet away, with the question “How can we help pregnant women on campus?”  According to their president, they wanted to gauge the responses of students to GAP before committing to using victim images.

We acknowledged that many students would not be thrilled about it!  But we also guaranteed that GAP would be more effective than anything else they have ever seen.

But they didn’t have to just take our word for it.  They saw it with their own eyes and heard it with their own ears.  Near the end of a fruitful first day of GAP, one of the SFL members approached.  He said, “We’ve had a lot of people tell us they changed their mind on abortion because they saw your pictures!”

During our conversation, I mentioned that the most outspoken students tend to be those who are upset by abortion victim images.  He assured me that, “Oh, the students who’ve talked to us were upset, but they realized that abortion is wrong.”  They had been upset because they realized that abortion, by it’s very nature, is upsetting.

Social reformers are never popular until after they achieve their goal.  Martin Luther King got thrown in jail.  But reformers don’t wait for the culture to approve; they act against the evils that society tolerates and celebrates.

According to Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, “Perhaps the most important principle … for the pro-life movement to adopt at this point in time, is that pro-life activity which relies on the voluntary consent of the audience is insufficient. … To put it rather bluntly, effective social reform requires forcing the message on an unwilling audience.  It means confronting the culture with what it does not want to hear.”  (Source: The Unwilling Audience)

Lincoln Brandenburg is a CBR project director and a regular FAB contributor.

Justin Brown explains to a group of students how abortion advocates dehumanize their intended victims. It is amazing how much influence one student can have.

This was different, but in a good way.  At Tennessee Tech University (TTU), official policy allows individual students (not just student groups) to host events on campus.  So when national pro-life award-winner and TTU student Justin Brown contacted us about bringing GAP, we were eager to go.

It is amazing how much influence one student can have, by God’s grace and with your support.  Thank you for making our work possible!

As it turns out, every public university student has the same right that Justin exercised at TTU; their universities just don’t know it … yet.  The rights of free speech and equal access to university grounds are individual rights, not group rights.  They cannot be denied to an individual student simply because he hasn’t identified others willing to join him in that speech.  TTU has figured this out, and they deserve credit for that.

There were some complications, however, because several TTU administrators didn’t understand their own policies.  To make matters worse, they were not very cooperative when we tried to speak with them.  It’s a good thing we got those issues resolved, however, because the last thing TTU wanted was for CBR to start flying airplane tow banners bearing abortion photos over their campus on a regular basis!  They can ask Notre Dame what that’s like.  TTU hosts many activities for high school students throughout the summer (Boys State, cheerleading camps, etc.), so the last thing they want to see is abortion photos flying overhead.  Fortunately, they read their own policy manual in time, so we can save the nasty version of ourselves for somebody else.

Justin did an outstanding job of hosting GAP at TTU, and we look forward to working with him for many years to come.  We set up in front of the Library, a very good location in the middle of campus.

Media Coverage:

• Anti-abortion display creates conversation by library

The GAP display and Reproductive Choice Campaign (RCC) truth trucks are a powerful combination.

Abortion photos create more opportunity for dialogue than any other pro-life tactic.

It was our very first trip to Western Kentucky University (WKU) with the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP).  We were not invited by a student group, but were able to reserve space as a vendor on Centennial Mall, the most heavily trafficked location on campus.

Although the WKU Students for Life (SFL) did not sponsor GAP, they were willing to host our Pro-Life Training Academy (PLTA), and we are grateful for that.  SFL members learned how to articulate and defend the pro-life position, even in a hostile environment.

GAP proven effective yet again!  Even though the WKU SFL didn’t sponsor or participate in GAP, they did set up an information booth at a different location nearby.  They told us that many students stopped by their booth and said that our GAP display had changed their minds.  Some even signed up to join SFL!  That is why we say that GAP

• neutralizes the opposition,
• converts the neutral,
• activates the converted, and
• energizes the active!

Our Truth Truck carries the pro-life message throughout the campus!

CBR’s Kendra Wright explaining the pictures to a group of journalism students.

It was by far the best campus Christian organization we have ever encountered.  They are Ratio Christi and they don’t have time for the “pizza for Jesus” tomfoolery that wastes so much time in youth ministry today.  Young Christians are very weak because nobody is preparing them to take a stand.  But Ratio Christi is different; their unofficial motto seems to be, “We’re trying to pick a fight!”  And they are good at it!

The fight we helped them pick was over child sacrifice at the U of North Carolina at Wilmington (UNCW).  Ratio Christi, along with College Republicans (CRs), invited us to bring our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) and Pro Life Training Academy (PLTA) to UNCW for the very first time.  By God’s grace and your support, we made quite a splash.

Our display location was along the Chancellor’s Walk, which is the primary walkway to get from anywhere at UNCW to just about anywhere else.

Campus newspaper coverage of GAP:

• The Ever-Growing Controversy: Pro-choice or Pro-life? (published about a month before GAP)
• Genocide Awareness Project comes to UNCW
• Controversial Comparison of Genocide and Abortion

Local news coverage of GAP:

• Two UNCW student organizations bring controversial display to campus
• Controversial display has people talking at UNCW

Lightning was an issue both days on campus.  For our GAP displays, CBR has adopted the NCAA protocols for outdoor athletic events (although our staff and volunteers are normally much less exposed than the typical baseball center fielder).  We vacate the site whenever lightning is detected within a 6-mile radius (less than 30 seconds between lightning flash and sound of thunder), and stay in a sheltered location for 30 minutes beyond the last such strike.

Kendra Wright explains how genocide victims are denied rights of personhood.

Although East Carolina University (ECU) has an undergraduate enrollment of >21,000, this was our first-ever GAP at ECU.  By God’s grace and with your support, it won’t be our last.

ECU has no pro-life student group—we are taking steps to fix that problem—but their policies allow outside groups to reserve space on campus, so we did!  Although our location was a good one (outside the Student Center), ECU is a huge campus and there is no one collection point for all of the pedestrian traffic.  That made our Truth Truck all the more important, allowing us to reach many thousands of students who may not have seen GAP in person.

The campus newspaper coverage was excellent, and included a photo of our best GAP signs on page 1, above the fold!  Items in the campus paper:

• Pro-life organization holds protests on campus
• Officials talk free speech on campus

Here is a copy of the first news article, as seen, with abortion photos clearly visible on page 1 above the fold!  See original here.

The second article was factually incorrect about one point.  We did not pay a service fee to use the space.  First, ECU did not set up the display nor clean up afterward, as implied by the article.  Second, ECU officials asked us to move our event from the designated public forum (near the Cupola) to the location outside the Student Center.  Since the designated public forum space is available free of charge, we incurred no additional fee by agreeing to ECU’s request.  Finally, we would never agree to pay any security fee (to cover the cost of policing violent pro-abortion protesters), because that is a violation of the Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement decision of the US Supreme Court.

Patti Shanley of Raleigh, North Carolina traveled with us to Michigan for a week of GAP.

This was our first trip to Grand Valley State University (GVSU).  The GVSU Students for Life did an awesome job of hosting both GAP and our Pro-Life Training Academy (PLTA).

The Quote of the Week came from one of the students who actually came out to protest against GAP:

You saved my future children.  I would have aborted them.  Now I won’t because I know what it looks like.

Media coverage:

• GVSU Lanthorn: Anti-abortion demonstration ignites debate
• Editorial: Civil Conversation
• Letter to the Editor
• Lanthorn response to letter to the editor
• WZZM-TV: Pro-life students host graphic display on GVSU campus

They get snow in Michigan, but that won’t stop us!

On the first day of GAP at Oakland University (OU), Christina Lo Piccolo wrote on her Facebook page:

The cost of my student group hosting the Genocide Awareness Project:  $5,000

The look on my professor’s face when he asked if I saw the disgusting display outside and I told him I helped organize it:  PRICELESS!

What a thrill to work with young heroes like Christina!  The thrill is even sweeter because our trip was paid for by student fee money, just like last year!  Students for Life collaborated with a dozen other campus groups to pay our expenses out of their respective student fee allocations.

But the best part of the week came at the very end, when Christina again posted on Facebook:

This past week was life-changing to say the least.  I was able to participate in 3 days of the Genocide Awareness Project to educate students about abortion.  Hearts were changed and students were motivated to take action.  I can hardly wait to graduate and continue this work as a full-time career.  “Y’all” are like family to me, and working beside you feels like home.

Did she say “Y’all”?  How bout dat.  We get to do GAP and learn a Yankee how to tawk!  It don’t get no better-n-at.

Seriously, we’ll never end abortion if we don’t get folks like Christina to join the battle full-time.  The other side has made killing babies a full-time profession, but we’ve made saving them a part-time hobby.  We can’t do anything without volunteers and financial supporters like you, but we absolutely need more like Christina to do this full-time.  Such a victory is well worth the trip to Michigan!

Thank you for making this possible with your gifts and prayers.