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Here are just some random comments made by passersby at Oakland University:

“It’s crazy; can I take a picture?”
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“I appreciate what you are doing.”
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“I want to punch you in the face.”
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“I am disturbed; I don’t know what to think.”
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“They are freaking terrible.”
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“You should have been aborted.”
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“That’s really blunt.”
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“Thank you.”
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“It’s just really disturbing.”
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“You guys are just disgusting.”
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“It’s all God’s creation…I don’t know how people can say this is normal, but we have a pretty crazy humanity right now.”
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“Not allowing abortion legally won’t stop it.”
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“I am glad you are doing this and I pray it gets changed in your country.” (Muslim woman)
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“If my girlfriend gets pregnant, she’s going to have an abortion.”  [CBR: “That doesn’t sound like ‘choice’ to me.”]  “I don’t care.  I would make sure she had an abortion.”
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“[Abortion is a] very bad thing; I think it is a loss.”

Silent No More on campus.  Shirts say, “I regret my abortion: Please ask me about it.” When you come and open yourself up to college students, you can help them in ways the rest of us never can.

Tyler, a young man at Oakland University was angry at us.  His girlfriend had been raped and had an abortion.  He told us that when she saw the GAP display, she was quite upset and unable to do anything but sit in her dorm room and cry.  He wanted me to remove the GAP display, and he wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less.

I probably didn’t handle it correctly.  I’m human, too, so I fumble the ball sometimes.  But in the final analysis, Tyler really didn’t need to hear from me.  He needed to hear from somebody he could listen to.  He needed to from a woman (or man) who could relate to the pain of having aborted a child.  Maybe he needed to hear from you.

We must show the truth, because everyone, including women who have been raped and are pregnant, need to see the truth before it’s too late.  We were too late for this couple, but not for others.

But we also need to show compassion.  If you have experienced abortion, please join our team.  Please go with us, so you can explain to folks like Tyler how God loves us in spite of our sin.  You can explain how God can forgive us and heal us from abortion, just as He can forgive and heal us from any other sin.  You can tell them that you know this is true, because you’ve been there.

One post-abortive rape victim told us, “When you talk, I want to punch you in the face.”  If you are post-abortive yourself, I’m willing to bet you will get a different response.

At every university, they basically tax conservative and neutral students (through exorbitant student activity fees) to subsidize left-wing student activism on campus.  They take in millions of dollars in mandatory fees every year, with almost none of it going to conservative events/projects, but huge amounts going to left-wing propaganda events/projects.  A local example is $20,000 of student activity money spent on (Perverted) Sex Week at the University of Tennessee, but that is only the tip of the iceberg.

But occasionally, they do throw us a bone.  At Oakland University (OU), the Students for Life (SFL) applied for and received the funding necessary to pay for GAP.  This happens rarely … very rarely.

As conservatives, we need to be coaching our students to apply for and get money for conservative activities, just like the leftists do.  (We actually pay professors to coach leftist students how to apply for and get this money, but nobody is coaching our students.)  When they apply for money and don’t get it, we should go to court and sue universities over and over again until they are forced to level the playing field.

Abortion advocates: Isn’t this equivalent to a cell you can cut out of your finger?

One student at Oakland University (OU) said, “If you cut off your finger, then you can take the cells and turn them into reproductive cells which can be turned into a human being.  So why is the embryo so important?”

Two factors in play here, dehumanization and confusion of wholes with parts.

He is confusing wholes with parts when he equates an individual cell that is part of a human being (the cell in your finger) with a cell which is a human being (a human being at an early stage of development).  The cell in your finger can never act as a whole living organism. You leave it alone and it dies.  The embryo in you womb is a living human being.  You leave it alone and he grows into a fetus, infant, toddler, adolescent, teenager, etc.

Theoretically, it may be possible to create a new human being by manipulating an individual cell taken from the “parent.” Once that process is complete it would be a new human being. But until then, it’s only a cell from the “parent.”

He then uses this theoretical possibility of asexual reproduction to equate a baby in the womb with a cell in your finger. It’s just another way of dehumanizing the unwanted human being that he intends to kill.

Abortion apologists say that abortion is simply a “choice” and its victims are subhuman. This is one of many ways they mimic genocide apologists throughout history.

GAP highlights many ways in which abortion is comparable (although not identical) to other forms of historical genocide.  One similarity is the language used to justify the killing.

For example, pro-abortion protester Lauren Catoni was quoted in the Oakland Post (the OU student newspaper), “It’s actually horrifying that they’re comparing this to genocide because genocide is a widespread movement to eliminate people and abortion is a medical procedure people have when they need it.”

Perpetrators of genocide almost never “eliminate people.”  No, they exercise their “choice” because they “need” to.  Perhaps Ms. Catoni should complete her sentence: Genocide is a widespread movement to eliminate people and abortion is a widespread medical procedure people have when they need to eliminate people they don’t want.

At Virginia Tech, a male student asked what should a couple do if they can’t financially provide for a child.  We talked about community resources and adoption options.  We talked about adopted children who are thankful to be alive.  He was visibly moved, we wondered if he is the father of a pregnant woman’s child.

It occurred to me that our culture is telling young people two contradictory things.

First, they hear a steady stream of flattering remarks about how smart they are.  Stuff like, “You are the smartest group of students ever to attend this university.”  Teenagers already believe they are much smarter than everybody else.  That’s part of being a teenager, but this generation believes they are smarter than George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.

On the other hand, they believe themselves to be so weak and helpless, they can’t possibly take care of themselves, much less take care of their own children.  It has never occurred to them that parents less well-educated and less wealthy than themselves have been raising children for thousands of years.

This kind of thinking is the staple of the political party who promises to (1) provide for their every need, and (2) preserve their the right to kill their own children.  If people figure out that they are plenty strong enough to take care of themselves and their children, the party of dependency and death would become less relevant.

Debbie Picarello set up a table for Deeper Still, a post-abortion counseling ministry, at Virginia Tech. She is able to reach many people who will not walk over to the GAP display itself.

She was a student at Virginia Tech.  She was 23, post-abortive, divorced, and has a toddler and a new boyfriend.  She joined the protest against GAP.  She has lived hard and experienced a lot.

She came from a Christian background and was pro-life until she aborted her first child and walked away from the faith.  She does not regret her abortion and is thankful she had it.  She wouldn’t look at the pictures while we talked.

After 45 minutes she finally said “Ok, I now get what you are saying about a woman’s autonomous body and the baby’s autonomous body.  They don’t share the same DNA and the baby is not a part of her body.  I am really struggling now.”  We gave her some literature about prenatal development.  She thanked us and said, “I am now interested in reading about this.”

Here is the question that keeps us awake at night …

What if her pro-life pastor had understood/cared enough about her salvation and her baby to show her the truth about abortion?

Why didn’t he show her an abortion video (e.g., Choice Blues) before she shed innocent blood and ran away from Jesus.

Hearts and minds were changing all around the GAP display at Virginia Tech. Seeds were planted for future conversions.

Here are a few stories from GAP at Virginia Tech.

Almost did that to my son.  A 40+ year old housekeeping staff was crying as she stared at the 22-week abortion picture.  When asked if she was OK, she replied “I almost did that to my now 27-year old son.  Thank you for being here.   I will take a brochure back to women I work with.”

Pro-choice support for GAP.  Even pro-choice students sometimes agree that women can have real choice only if they are fully informed.  One pro-choice female student said, “Talking to you has helped me realize that pro-lifers are not what I thought they were.  I was so angry because my roommate was angry about this display and so I had to come out to see for myself.  I am so glad I talked with you.  You are much friendlier than your pictures.  Education on this topic is so important and even though I am still pro-choice, I want women to have all the information available to them.”

Another pro-choice endorsement.  A female student: “I know why you do this; I just don’t like it.”

Too big, too horrific to ignore.  The purpose of GAP is to force people to think about abortion when they would rather think about anything else.  Our opponents admit that GAP works.  One pro-abortion student told us, “Because of social networking across campuses, this message has not only reached Virginia Tech, but has gone far beyond.  Facebook is abuzz about abortion and people on this campus plus many others are talking about abortion now.”

Bad emotions?  A male student commented about the sadness of giving up a child for adoption.  We told him that parents might very well feel sad to give up a child, but that is a much better emotion than the sadness and memory of killing their own child.

GMU SFL President Anna Maher explains that handicapped people are sometimes killed because they are unworthy of life and unwanted (e.g., useless eaters).

I love this photo of Students for Life President Anna Maher on her knees in conversation with Aviva, a handicapped student at George Mason University.

Aviva (not her real name) started out by saying that a woman should always have the choice to abort.  As Anna worked through the topics of personhood, Aviva began to understand that a human fetus is simply a human child, that babies are being aborted only because they were unwanted.  Planned parenthood says “every child a wanted child,” but we know what happens to the unwanted ones.  Anna was able to remind her that handicapped people are sometimes killed because they are considered unworthy of life and unwanted (e.g., useless eaters).

She struggled with the fact that pregnancy changes a woman’s body.   She was concerned that some women are not able to handle such changes, or they are afraid of such major changes during and after pregnancy.  Anna encouraged her to see the body image issues in the context of the larger picture, that negative attitudes towards pregnant bodies are a reflection of a culture that does not embrace Life, but rather demeans pregnancy and labels it is a weakness (as opposed something that women just go through).

As they spoke, Aviva’s heart began to soften to the Truth.  They talked for almost an hour.  Occasionally, Anna would stand up, because her knees were hurting from kneeling on the concrete.  A little voice kept telling her, “Get back down on your knees.”  So she did.  Anna says it was definitely the Holy Spirit trying to teach her something.

CBR Virginia Project Director Ruby Nicdao speaks with a student at George Mason University.

[This story was submitted by CBR Virginia Project Director Ruby Nicdao.]

As is usual for the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), some were hostile at George Mason University (GMU).  One called me a“moron” after I gave her one of our GAP brochures (How Can You Compare Abortion to Genocide).

I asked, “How am I a moron?”  She said she would come back later and tell me why.  A couple of hours later, she returned with a 2-page list of expenses necessary to raise a child and a number of photos of miscarried babies.  None of it addressed the question of whether it is OK to decapitate and dismember little human beings.  Nor the question of when, during a child’s development, it becomes no longer OK to kill that child.  Nor the question of what criterion should decide who can be killed and who must be protected.

Our discussion centered like most discussions I have with the students:  “Is the fetus in the womb human?  And if so, it is wrong to kill it?”

Hopefully, I planted enough seeds for her to finally see the light!  I also gave her the When Does Human Life Begin? handout, which provides references from medical textbooks, medical professionals, abortion advocates, and even abortionists themselves, all admitting life begins at fertilization.  For example, Dr. Arthur Morris, Jr. was an abortionist who said, “Life begins with fertilization and abortion is legalized destruction of life.” (Asheville Citizen-Times, April 4, 1976.)

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Eric Holloway of Alexandria, VA (in sports-coat), a local 40 Days for Life coordinator, took time off work to help rescue babies and their moms (and dads). Johanna Young, Silent No More advocate and GMU Students for Life officer, stands in the background with a sign that says “I regret my abortion.”

GAP was such a draw at George Mason University (GAP), even Old Man Winter came out to see it!  He brought freezing temperatures, rain, snow, and winds gusting at more than 20 mph.  Yuck.  He made it hard to stand outside for very long, but we were determined to expose abortion in all its grisly reality.

Assisted by a dozen local volunteers, we endured miserable weather for three straight days (March 24- 26), too thrilled to be striking a blow on behalf of the preborn to worry about physical discomfort.  (OK, the Day 1 photo at right doesn’t look so bad, but it was very cold.  And it got much colder, rainier, snowier, and windier over the next 2 days.)

As always happens when GAP comes to town, the campus was saturated with literature, and conversations on the ethics of abortion could be heard continuously in the area surrounding the display and in classrooms all over.  CBR’s truth truck circled the campus, ensuring that no student could miss the message.

GAP prompts thought like nothing else can.  People who otherwise never think about abortion are forced to confront the issue and try to reason out what they think of decapitating and dismembering little human beings.  With the image of abortion’s helpless victims staring them right in the face, it is hard to argue for the primacy of “choice”.  Of course, this doesn’t stop many from trying.

About 10 or so pro-abortion protesters showed up with their own signs to “refute” the logic of the GAP display.  Their presence always works to our advantage.  Where else do we get the chance to engage hard-core pro-aborts, on our terms, for a protracted period of time?  The enthusiasm of many young abortion supporters tends to wane under continuous exposure to powerful pro-life arguments.

And no argument is more powerful than the picture of a little human being who has been decapitated and dismembered.

[Story submitted by Jonathan Darnel of CBR Maryland.]

Julie Thomas draws a crowd at the University of North Carolina. She wears a shirt that says, “I regret my abortion. Ask me about it.”

Is GAP effective?  We hear it all the time.  Of course we can answer that question and we have.  But now let student pro-life leaders have their say:

“The Genocide Awareness Project has, once again, changed hearts and minds [and] proven its transformative power on our campus.”  (Anna Maher, Students for Life, George Mason University)

“The imprint GAP left on our campus had a magnitude of which I had never witnessed before.”  (Zach Hoopes, Advocates for Life, Virginia Tech)

“[GAP is more effective] than anything our student group has done in the past.”  (Teresa Pincus, Students for Life, North Carolina State)

“The large-scale influence on our campus was immeasurable.  We are constantly doing pro-life projects on our campus, but nothing as grand as GAP.  We reached more students in two days that we could have reached by tabling in the student center every day for two semesters.”  (Michelle Anderson, Students for Life, Oakland University)

“The impact that GAP had on the MSU campus will surely be felt for many years to come.”  (Vinny Szczerowski, Students for Life, Michigan State University)

“Bring the GAP display to your campus and make a big impact.” (Julie and Emily Ascik, Carolina Students for Life, U of North Carolina)

“We fully endorse GAP and we will continue to show graphic images in the future.” (Matthew Ramsey, Students for Life, University at Buffalo)

What more can I say, in addition to what these student pro-life leaders have already said?  We have now finished one of our most successful GAP campaigns ever, making stops at 7 major universities in 4 states, with a combined enrollment of more than 200,000 students.

In addition to reaching nearly a quarter million students with the real truth of abortion, we recruited at least one new full-time staff member and one intern who will join us this summer! Praise the Lord; His plan really did come together!

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be posting interesting stories of hearts won and minds changed here on my blog.  Stay tuned!

Financially, we still have a way to go.  The cost for the 6 GAPs in Virginia, North Carolina, and Michigan was $30,000.  We took a step of faith, and so far, we’ve raised $19,000.  Only $11,000 to go.  If you can help us close this financial gap, we can add two more schools to our Fall GAP campaign.  Let us know you stand behind this work, that you stand behind courageous pro-life students, and that you stand up for babies and moms.  Link here to be a financial partner.

Thanks so much for your faithful support.

Debate and dialogue is possible, even in places like the University at Buffalo, when lawbreakers are not allowed to censor the undeniable facts.

In stark contrast to last year’s visit, the First Amendment was thoroughly upheld at the University at Buffalo (UB) this time around.  CBR returned to UB to deploy our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) on April 28-29.

FAB readers will recall the chaos that ensued on our first visit (stories here, here, here, and here).  As a result of university-sanctioned censorship, CBR filed a federal lawsuit against UB for permitting an unruly mob of pro-abortion protesters to purposely disrupt our peaceful, pro-life demonstration (link to stories here and here).

For those keeping score, this was only the second time in the history of GAP that CBR has been forced to file a lawsuit against a public university.  Usually, the knowledge of our willingness to defend speech rights is enough to ensure their enforcement.

The UB has a long history of obstructing pro-life speech.  When the UB Students for Life organized in 2010-2011, UB stalled their application for 9 months, until the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) forced UB to give the Students for Life the same access to UB spaces/facilities that all the left-wing students enjoy.  Story here: Recent Victory for Pro-Life Speech.  Later, UB students vandalized a Cemetery of the Innocents display, not once, but twice.  Stories here: Second Round of Discrimination and Vandalism at University of Buffalo Continues.

It was clear that sometime during the past year, the University at Buffalo “got religion,” as we say here in the South.  They were determined to prevent the kind of censorship that they allowed last year, and they did.

The area surrounding GAP was constantly abuzz with pro-life vs pro-abortion conversation, sometimes passionate and emotional, other times calm and intellectual, but always productive.

On Day 2, high winds and rain prevented us from constructing the full display, but volunteers made do with a smaller set-up and aggressive literature distribution.  Click to read our brochure,  How Can You Compare Abortion to Genocide?.

Media:

• Students for Life bring anti-abortion display to campus for second year
• Graphic images are necessary to anti-abortion movement

On Day 2, wind gusts up to 50 mph were in the forecast, so we reconfigured the display for maximum wind resistance. The bracing shown is more than sufficient to resist the calculated wind load at 50 mph. As a further safety precaution, we carried utility knives and were prepared to sacrifice the signs if necessary. Using a wind gage purchased from Walmart, we measured top wind speeds of only 19 mph.  In Spring 2006, a 7-sign configuration of our 4×8 signs successfully withstood gusts reported to be 48 mph at Oklahoma State University.

Michelle Anderson at Oakland University (on the right) is an  up-and-coming leader for the pro-life movement.

Next stop for this Spring’s massive Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) tour was Oakland University (OU) in Auburn Hills, Michigan, a northern suburb of Detroit.

Like most suburban universities, OU is relatively new (established 1957) and is growing by leaps and bounds.  Students are more likely to commute and less likely to be involved in student activism.  The OU Students for Life (SFL) are a refreshing exception to that rule.

Under the leadership of Michelle Anderson, the OU SFL has become a force on OU’s campus.  They have hosted a number of big events on campus, including an appearance by Rebecca Kiessling  and a major debate with the pro-abortion club.  And now, they have hosted GAP.

Media Coverage:

• Two-day project shocks campus, draws protest
• Graphic Image
• WARNING GRAPHIC: Genocide On Campus (see video at bottom of page)

More to come.

Abortion touches many people in surprising ways.  (Message written on our Free Speech Board, near the GAP display.)

CBR Virginia Project Director Maggie Egger explains how unwanted people are killed by “choice.”

The Carolina Students for Life (CSFL) hosted our Pro Life Training Academy (PLTA) and Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) in late March.  It was our third trip to Chapel Hill.  We gotta do this more often!

Due to a turf restoration project on Polk Place, the normal venue for displays like GAP, CSFL reserved a very visible space just outside the Wilson Library.

Co-Presidents Julie and Emily Ascik are very effective leaders who labored long and hard to convince the CSFL members to host GAP.  As it turned out, some of the opposition came from “members” who rarely bother to do very much at all (other than obstruct, apparently).  Fortunately, several younger members stepped up and CSFL’s future looks bright indeed.

Media coverage:

• Letter: Abortion should be considered genocide
• Letter: Abortion letter was ignorant and hateful
• Letter: A pro-life response to the abortion letter
• Letter: Thoughts on Israel and abortion
• Letter: The missing element in abortion debates
• Controversial anti-abortion protest on UNC campus
• Visual tactics of anti-abortion protest in front of Wilson Library questioned
• Letter: Abortion display was in bad taste
• Students protest anti-abortion display on campus
• UNC students protest anti-abortion advertisements (video with excellent commentary by CBR’s Maggie Egger)
• Opinion: Winston Crisp’s email was not sent to enough people
• USA Today: Anti-abortion group sparks controversy on UNC campus
• Letter: Equal access to contraception is key
• Letter: Thoughts on the abortion display
• Quickhits for April 3, 2014:  Why so serious?
• Column: Public displays of revulsion
• Letter: Abortion images were simply the truth

Julie and Emily aren’t the only pro-life warriors in their family.  Older brother Peter was President of the Students for Life at the U of Georgia when they hosted GAP in 2010.

More to come.

GAP in front of Wilson Library. Note more signs to right side of stairway.