GAP creates modulated conflict that draws a crowd and makes our story irresistable to the press.

Young people like the members of Bama Students for Life (BSFL) give us hope for the future.  We can’t let them down.

BSFL hosted us on the University of Alabama campus on April 6 for the Pro-Life Training Academy (GAP) and on April 10-11 for the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP).  Here is what BSFL members said about it.

David DeStefanis:

Just seeing those pictures is enough to get someone uncomfortable enough to actually examine the issue of abortion and re-examine their own stance on it.
***
GAP created more dialogue and discussion about abortion than anything I’ve ever seen.
***
To pro-life people who were against GAP coming here, I asked them if they could tell me a method or tactic that could make as big an impact as GAP did. And none of them could.

Ruth Bishop:

GAP revealed to students the ugly truth about abortion; a truth that must continue to be shared for the sake of preborn children and their mothers.

Levi Crawford:

I spoke with a Jewish friend of mine in class and asked him to come and see the GAP display. He wasn’t offended, he admitted [that the preborn] is a human life and that he would never be able to support unconditional abortion again.  He walked away with a changed heart, and I am forever grateful for GAP in bringing this change about.

Joanna Robinson:

GAP is crucial for any student group that wants to start a real conversation about abortion on their campus. You can talk about abortion all you want, but until people see what abortion is, it remains in their minds an abstract idea. GAP presents abortion in a very stark and real way that cannot be ignored.
***
I have been actively involved in my pro-life campus group for nearly three years, and I have never seen an event cause a discussion about abortion like GAP. I have seen first-hand the anger it caused, but I have also seen GAP working to change hearts and minds, not over weeks or months, but over the course of minutes and seconds. We need to make sure that no college student in America graduates without seeing GAP and becoming aware of the reality of abortion.

Claire Chretien:

We forced people to think about and talk about abortion.
***
We are able to articulate the pro-life position to thousands of people, create a conversation about abortion that lasted weeks after GAP, make important comparisons between the contemporary genocide of abortion and past genocides, recruit new members, and show people the truth about abortion — that it is a gruesome, violent procedure that kills an innocent human being.

Zack Wepfer (BSFL Past President):

I can honestly say that this last week [of GAP] has been the week I am most proud of in my entire collegiate career.  I am so proud to accomplish what we did.  I cannot think of a better way to end my collegiate career.

Help us achieve the vision set forth by Joanna Robinson, who said, “We need to make sure that no college student in America graduates without seeing GAP and becoming aware of the reality of abortion.”

To be a part of that lofty achievement, please click here to make your most generous investment in the lives of babies and moms.   Young people like Claire, Joanna, Ruth, and David give us hope for the future.  We can’t let them down.  Please support our work on campus right now!

Bama Students for Life

BSFL Vice-President Claire Chretien speaks to the media. Young people like Claire give us hope for the future. We can’t let them down.

One of the most heartening endorsements of CBR’s Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) at the University of Buffalo was a “so called” Ms. Magazine blog piece written by the “so called” Amanda Montei.  CBR Executive Director Gregg Cunningham told FAB that her op-ed piece contained the “best pro-abortion references to CBR that I’ve ever read.”

Ms. Montei was petrified that people were able to see the truth of abortion, so much so that she called for our display to be banned.  If GAP were not effective, would she be so frightened?

Here is some of what she wrote:

(referring to the arrest of Laura Curry) … Curry’s original argument: that the outrageous hate speech, thinly veiled sexist propaganda and lack of critical discussion surrounding a display that equates abortion with genocide is the most warped and cruel profanity-laced tirade a woman could be met with.

Translation:  It is hate speech for pro-lifers to say that it is wrong to kill a preborn child simply because she is unwanted and also younger and more defenseless than ourselves.  In fact, anything that upsets a leftist is to be considered hate speech and therefore must be banned.

The so-called Genocide Awareness Project—also known as the College Campus Outreach division of The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform—is an absurd misnomer. In 1997, this far-right group began touring a “photo-mural exhibit” that compares abortion to several genocides. Today, the “exhibit” continues to close down any chance of discourse on abortion on college campuses across the country.

We stimulate more discourse on abortion than any other project in the country.  What we close down is Ms. Montei’s monopoly on the brokerage of ideas on her campus.  Many people think about abortion analytically for the first time.  Ms. Montei has to defend the dismemberment and decapitation of little human beings, and this is a frightful thing to her.

GAP attempts to traumatize and confuse students into submission. GAP should not be allowed on college campuses, where intellectual vigor, critical thinking and historical accuracy are supposed to be central tenets.  (emphasis added)

Translation:  Intellectual vigor, critical thinking, and historical accuracy may be achieved only when Ms. Montei and her friends control who may speak and what may be said.

“[GAP] made the campus feel unsafe for a number of people in a variety of identity groups. This is non-trivial, and just because [GAP’s] disturbance was not sonically loud doesn’t mean its effects weren’t deep.”  (emphasis added) (quoting Cayden Mak, a witness to Laura’s arrest and now the head of the defense committee for Laura’s arraignment)

Translation:  GAP is very effective and therefore must be banned, because pictures of abortion make people who can’t defend the practice uncomfortable.

Curry is well-aware that images speak volumes, especially when accompanied by duplicitous and accusatory rhetoric.

Translation:  An image of abortion carries great meaning, especially when accompanied by convincing arguments.

This “photo-mural” is a radical attempt to shame women with scare tactics, morph the reality of abortion and co-opt the horrific legacy of genocide for religious and political dogma.

Question for Ms. Montei:  If abortion is a morally inconsequential act, then why would a picture of it make anyone feel shame?  If abortion is just a medical procedure, then why would a picture of it scare anybody?

Genocide is defined by the United Nations as a systematic effort to destroy a religious, ethnic or racial group.

The UN never defined genocide in those terms.  UN General Assembly Resolution 96, adopted in 1946, describes genocide as “a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups, as homicide is the denial of the right to live of individual human beings …” Resolution 96 goes on to say it is a crime “whether committed on religious, racial, political or any other grounds …” (emphasis added)

With abortion, the “entire human group” denied the right of existence is unwanted, preborn children.

In 1948, the UN adopted a more narrow legal definition of genocide to support prosecution in court.  For the purpose of enforcement, genocide would include “any of [a list of acts] committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group …”  The kinds of groups covered was intentionally narrow in scope.  As a concession to the Soviet Union, who feared Stalin’s mass murders might be considered genocidal if broader language were employed, the UN omitted references to social and political groups.  (The Study of Mass Murder and Genocide, Robert Gellately and Ben Kiernan, in The Specter of Genocide: Mass Murder in Historical Perspective, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 18)

Nor do the photos engage with the harmful rape culture of the U.S., which, as Steubenville showed us, continues to teach young boys that a woman’s body is not her own, is even a kind of plaything.

It is the abortion industry that teaches boys to believe that sex without responsibility is an entitlement.  In fact, the abortion industry routinely covers up the crime of statutory rape, so that the perpetrators can go free and the abuse can continue (www.ChildPredators.com and www.LiveAction.org).

As an educator at SUNY Buffalo, it terrifies me to think that my students are being exposed, against their will, to such inflammatory and convoluted reasoning.  The logic at work here is so faulty that one can hardly begin to engage with it.

C’mon Ms. Montei, don’t pretend this is complicated.  Just give us convincing proof that the preborn child is not a living human being.  If you can prove that, then we’ll close up shop and go home.  If you can’t find that proof — hint: it doesn’t exist because we all know that the preborn child is both human and alive — then give us some rational argument as to why we can kill some human beings but are morally bound to protect others.  Give us the one criterion that separates those whom we can kill from those whose rights we are morally bound to protect.  You are working on a PhD in English.  Surely this is not so difficult for you to do.

Professor Laura Curry arrested at U of Buffalo

University at Buffalo professor Laura Curry gained national attention when she got herself arrested for a profanity-laced tirade near CBR’s Genocide Awareness Project (GAP).  Example coverage:

• Speak Up: Taxpayer-funded Profs, Desperate to Save Abortion, Rant at Students
• Red Alert Politics: Professor calls students’ pro-life display “f**king profane”
• Huffington Post: Arrested For Profanity-Laced Tirade Over Pro-Life Display
• Ms. Magazine: Professor Arrested for Complaint Against Campus Display
• Christian Post: Profane Rant Against Student  Anti-Abortion Display

The Laura Curry Defense Committee has posted a video of the arrest (below).  The video concludes with the provocative question, “What is more profane?  The word ‘f**k’ or the message coveyed by these posters?”  Good question.  We might have said “the reality exposed by these posters,” but other than that, they are very close.

One commenter on the Ms. Magazine blog posting said much we would agree with.  Cindy Hanford wrote:

While the arrest was outrageous and the GAP project insulting to all women, so is the use of the f* word.  I find it disturbing when feminists do not recognize that the use of a word of sexual assault would be offensive to anyone who cares about the victims of sexual assault and  wants to change our society so that rape is unacceptable.  Currently, the f* word is used to say in a vulgar way, “I hope you are sexually assaulted” which no one should say to their worst enemy.  Our society also uses it as a synonym for sex, which is particularly problematic in a society that has problems distinguishing between rape and consensual sex.  In addition, most words of profanity are insults towards women’s sexuality, even when used to insult men, such as mother f*, and son of a b*.  I hope that feminists challenge the use of these words, rather than use them.  There are also more productive and effective means to protest,  If only the campus police were as busy arresting men who assault women, much less arresting all the young men on campus who use the word.

Truth wins out when you support CBR.

Pro-abortion professors hate it when somebody comes along to challenge their little monopoly on campus.  They control the message for 363 days a year … but then we come along with GAP for a couple of days and ruin everything!

The effect of GAP lasts much longer than just the 2 days we are on campus.  Our huge photomurals of aborted babies will remain imprinted on the brains of students and others for years, even decades.  Once people see the truth for themselves, it is much harder for leftist professors to lie about abortion, and they know it.

Some of them were so frightened at the prospect of losing their monopoly over the terms of the abortion debate, they even compared pro-lifers to people who supported lynching Black men.  (See their letter to The Spectrum here.)  How dare those rascally pro-lifers show pictures of aborted babies and compare the practice of dehumanizing and killing preborn children because they are unwanted with the practice of dehumanizing and killing other unwanted people groups?

Lemme get this straight.  Saying we shouldn’t kill people because they are young and defenseless is like lynching Black men.   Riiiiight.

UB SFL President Christian Andzel responded

It is absolutely shameful for the paid professionals at the University at Buffalo to insinuate that anti-abortionists ‘appear to have a lot in common with those who supported lynching.’ As a student in the history department and President of the Pro-Life club on campus, not only am I ashamed and appalled that my professors twisted our message to suit their point of view, but I am offended due to their false characterization of our argument. We were citing the history of oppression and voicelessness of the victims who deserved human rights and justice.

Debbie Picarello

If you are a post-abortive woman (or man) willing to share your story, there is no better place to do it than in front of our GAP display.  You can reach more people in one day on campus than in a whole year at your church.  You can reach people who really need you.  And who better than you to warn students of the consequences of “choice?”

Here is an essay from Debbie Picarello, someone just like you who is deeply committed to helping others find healing from their abortions.  Read about her in student newspapers at the U of Central Florida (link here) and the U of South Florida (link here).  In addition to standing with us on campus, she also volunteers with Deeper Still, one of our favorite post-abortion healing ministries.  We pray that God will send us more like her.  Perhaps He will send you!

Hope and Healing on Campus
by Debbie Picarello

I was in college when I had my abortion.  Living without my child and living with the consequences of my “choice,” I have had a deep desire to reach men and women in this age group.  Guttmacher estimates that half of all abortions are performed on women of college age, so the college campus is ground-zero for either preventing abortions or ministering to those already wounded.

My recent mission trip to Florida with the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) was my most productive to date.  At the GAP displays, I set up a Deeper Still post-abortion healing table a few yards away from the display.  My sign says, “I’ve had an abortion, you can ask me anything.”  At the University of South Florida, I was approached by so many post abortive women and men, I lost count.

Stories from the men and women varied.  Some regretted their decision to abort and wanted information about healing.  Some tried to justify why they don’t yet regret their abortions.  Others were somewhere in between.  It was interesting to hear people share how, over time, it has become harder and harder to justify their “choice,” because it hurts.  They hurt.

Some said that because I had an abortion, I was the only one who could speak authoritatively on the subject.  I know that is not true, because abortion is still takes the life of a pre-born child, whether or not the mother feels regret over it.  Nevertheless, that was the sentiment of a lot of students that stopped by the Deeper Still table. There is great power in testimony, especially the testimony of a healed man or woman.  We can speak with the authority because we have been there, but we can also speak about Jesus, The Healer Himself.

I still find myself missing my twenty-something I aborted so many years ago, wondering what life with her would have been like.  Sharing her story over and over keeps her memory alive.  GAP has been a wonderful opportunity to share not only what abortion does to the pre-born child, but also to show that there is hope and healing in Jesus Christ after abortion.

Anyone can do what I am doing.  Your story matters and there is someone desperate to hear it.  CBR gives GREAT training, and they will teach you ‘how’ to share your story in the context of the whole larger abortion debate.  And men — this is a men’s issue too — your story needs to be heard as well.

Please join us on a short term mission trip to a college campus near  you.  I promise, you will NEVER be the same!  These trips have forever changed me because I have gotten to see first-hand that hearts, minds, AND lives are saved by these outreaches.

Deeper Still volunteers Debbie Picarello and Sandie Sendall speak with students about their abortion experiences at the University of Kentucky.

Jane asked, “Where are the Christians?”

On Day 2, GAP at Auburn got really revved up.  Huge crowds came out to see the display and discuss abortion with our staff and volunteers.  Some of them even protested!  Imagine that.

Where are the Christians?   One female student was sitting on the ground, about 30 feet away, occasionally looking over at the photos, bowing her head, and reading her Bible.  Jane Bullington went over to talk.

She was a Christian, she was pro-life, and she knew abortion was wrong.  But she was worried that post-abortive women might see the signs and commit suicide.  She was genuinely upset and wanted us to pull the signs down.  Jane spoke with her at length, explaining why it is necessary for us to show the truth.  Jane told her that millions of children have died because the “pro-life” church has covered up the truth about abortion.

Jane told her that women who abort are at a much higher risk of committing suicide.  It is not us that puts them at risk; it’s the abortionist who kills her baby.  Jane explained that many, many babies’ lives have been saved by exposing the truth using graphic abortion photos.   She explained that all of our people are trained to treat people with respect, that we are all Christians who look for opportunities to share the Gospel, etc.

The young lady listened, she smiled, an occasional tear rolled down her cheek.  Jane told her that we do our best to invite Christian ministries and pastors to join us at GAP, but they almost never come.  It is just not on their agenda.  Jane asked her, “Where are the Christians on your campus?  Why aren’t they out here?”  There is no good answer to that question.  She just starred off in space for a moment and then said, “I need to go to class; thank you for talking with me.  I am going to post on my Facebook page a plea for those in my campus ministry to join me today on the concourse to pray for GAP and for our campus.”  We wonder if any did.

Media Coverage at Auburn.  The student paper came out after we had left Auburn, so we don’t know how much was in the print edition, but you can find these two items online:

• The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform is pro-life on the concourse
• Student calls for public apology from graphic display

Thank you!  Thank you for making our work possible through your sacrificial gifts.  You are winning hearts, changing minds, and saving lives.  To support our life-saving work, please join our monthly support team!

At our GAP presentation at Auburn, some complained that we displayed graphic photos near a day care center, where they might be seen by children.  We don’t know if the University administration notified the day care staff or not, but they had a month to do it.  Unless we show pictures in the public square, the killing will never stop.  No injustice in history has ever been eradicated by covering up the truth.

In 1997, the movie Schindler’s List was shown on network TV during the family viewing hour.  Some expressed concern that children might walk into their living rooms and see the graphic violence before parents could intervene.  Those people were laughed to scorn, “How dare they suggest that this movie shouldn’t be shown in places where children might see them?”  They even said that children ought to see this movie, so that they can prevent such an injustice from ever happening again.  That movie, by the way, was much more difficult to see than any of our abortion pictures.

We won’t submit to a double standard.  If it’s appropriate to show a violent movie so that people, even children, will understand an injustice committed in another place and time by another group of people, then it’s appropriate to show pictures of an injustice that we are commiting ourselves, right here and right now.

Additionally, horrifying images of violence are routinely published on magazine covers and on newpaper front pages.  These images are placed in checkout lines at the supermarket.  Millions of children see them.  Nobody complains about that.

We really have only two alternatives.  If we show the pictures, some children may be disturbed by them, but other children will certainly be saved by them.  We might even stop the whole bloody mess.  But if we cover up the truth, the killling will never stop.

Day 1 of our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) at Auburn was Holocaust Remembrance Day.  People always complain that we schedule GAP on that day, because they are “offended” that we would compare killing millions of preborn children with killling millions of Jews and eastern Europeans.  We don’t target any particular day; we just look for good weather days when the students are on campus.  However, we believe it is just as appropriate to show the truth about abortion on that day as much as any other day, perhaps more so.

Nazis called their victims useless eaters and non-human (rats, pigs, vermin, “untermensch,” etc.).  So the government took away their rights, experimented on them, and killed them.  Surely we could never let that happen again.

Today, abortion promoters call their victims non-human (products of conception, blob of tissue, parasite, potential life, etc.) and a burden.  The Supreme Court took away their rights.  Medical practitioners experiment on them and kill them.

Many of the same people who say “never again” will turn around and destroy their own children, for very similar reasons.  They are “offended” when we point this out.

It is easy to oppose an injustice committed by somebody else, a long time ago, an ocean away.  It is much more difficult to oppose an injustice that we ourselves are guilty of, right here and right now.

But if people still complain, we make them this offer: If the abortion clinics will shut down their deadly clinics on Holocaust Remembrance Day (or any other day), we will suspend our presentations until the clinics open back up.

Dehumanization – one of our most effective Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) panels.

A member of The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform hands a student educational material in front of their graphic anti-abortion display by the UCF Reflecting Pond on Monday. (Photo/caption from Central Florida Future)

The CBR team just wrapped up two days at the U of Central Florida.  CBR Project Director Lincoln Brandenburg (Georgia) reported on a baby’s life saved:

Just had a student at UCF tell us in tears, “It’s so weird that you guys are here today. … I think I’m pregnant, and I was considering abortion because I don’t want kids, but after seeing these pictures I’ve changed my mind.”

We are thrilled when post-abortive women join us in this work.  Debbie Picarello of Knoxville is deeply involved in the work of Deeper Still, a ministry to women (and men) who have been wounded by abortion.  She also volunteers for GAP projects all over the US.  Debbie’s presence was noted in the article and she was also quoted:

Debbie Picarello, a volunteer from CBR and Deeper Still, a ministry that provides healing retreats for both men and women who have had abortions, has had one herself.

“After a child has been aborted there’s a mother and a father left behind,” Picarello said.

To see the entire story, link here.

Check back here for more on this an other stories from Florida GAP.

Deeper Still’s Sandy Sendall and Debbie Picarello minister to abortion-wounded hearts. What a blessing to see them share the love of Messiah Jesus!

A 20-something male student approached the Deeper Still table at the U of Tennessee.  He was ready to share his story.  His girlfriend “at the time” — few relationships survive abortion — decided to abort their child against his wishes.  He offered to support her and the baby fully, but she would not be deterred.

The abortion, the loss of his child, had wounded his heart profoundly.  He took some information on Deeper Still and said he would share it with the mother of his aborted child.  Let us pray for this young couple … that they find healing and forgiveness in our Messiah Jesus.

Denial is the biggest obstacle to healing men and women from abortion.  Until people can understand the sin, they can never repent and heal from it.  Overcoming denial is the first step.  That is why we are so blessed to be partnering with the good people from the Deeper Still post-abortion healing ministry in our on-campus outreaches.

As an example of how this works, please read Judy Townsend’s story.  She saw our photos at a GAP in downtown Knoxville.  Deeper Still was also working nearby, offering hope and healing to any and all who would ask for help.

Deeper Still’s Karen Ellison and Kay Smith at Market Square.

CBR Project Director Lincoln Brandenburg explains how civilized people choose life, not death.

Another baby saved.  A 30-something father of 3 children spoke with CBR staffer Jane Bullington about his 3rd child, yet to be born.  “We had been thinking about [abortion], but I didn’t know it was like this,” he said,  “I know we can’t do this.”

GAP at the University of Tennessee always allows us to win the hearts of men and women like this one, saving their children and also their familes.  He is not evil as much as he is ignorant.  Or should we say, “as much as he was ignorant,” before we showed him the truth.

Thanks to all who support our work and help save babies and families like this one.

Confused Christians.  We always encounter Christians who believe showing abortion pictures is too extreme.  It never occurs to them that the complacency among Christians is the real extremism.  The good news is that some are willing to learn.  One such student said, “I think you should take the pictures down and just talk to folks.”  But we were able to speak with this young man about the need to pierce through denial, the recognition of sin, forgiveness, healing, and repentance (changed behavior).  After hearing more, he finally admitted, “I hate the pictures, but you have a valid point.” “”

Another was not so open-minded.  She wrote “Micah 6:8” on a huge piece of cardboard, and used it to shield the pictures from passersby who requested the “service.”  Micah 6:8 says “He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  Not sure what she thought is just about baby-killing, or what is merciful about complacency, or what is humble about disobeying God’s commend to hold back those headed to slaughter (Proverbs 24:11-12).

Christian protester hides herself and others behind Micah 6:8.

Civil debate at the University of Wisconsin.

This op-ed piece in the Wisconsin Daily Cardinal was one of the most striking endorsements of our Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) that I have ever seen.  In one of the ensuing comments, Milgo Robbins repeated many of the common objections to GAP:  GAP stimulates emotion, not reason; GAP polarizes the debate; abortion is tragic; women face dire consequences; and, of course, abortion is not genocide.

Here’s my response:

Dear Mr./Ms. Robbins (sorry, I don’t know if it’s Mr. or Ms.),

Thank you for your thoughtful comments.

Yes, you are correct that it’s important to build consensus, but it’s impossible to build a meaningful consensus when so many people are confused about basic facts.  Most people have no idea who the unborn child is nor what abortion is and does.  It’s our job to prove that the unborn child is a baby and abortion is an act of violence, because nobody else will.

Once we have built a consensus about the facts of abortion, then and only then is it possible to have an intelligent discussion about the morality of abortion.  People who deny basic facts about the humanity of preborn children and the brutality of abortion cannot come to a rational consensus about the morality of abortion.  To have a rational discussion of abortion with people who deny the facts is like discussing our solar system with members of the Flat Earth Society; it can’t be done.

Some may object to images of abortion because they believe the pictures somehow substitute emotion for reason, but that really misses the point.  The question is not whether the pictures are emotional – they are – but whether the pictures are true.  If the pictures are true, then they must be admitted as evidence.  Naomi Wolf is a pro-choice author who agrees with us on that point.  She wrote, “How can we charge that it is vile and repulsive for pro-lifers to brandish vile and repulsive images if the images are real?  To insist that the truth is in poor taste is the very height of hypocrisy.  Besides, if theses images are often the facts of the matter, and if we then claim that it is offensive for pro-choice women to be confronted by them, then we are making the judgment that women are too inherently weak to face a truth about which they have to make a grave decision.  This view of women is unworthy of feminism.”  (Source: Naomi Wolf, “Our Bodies, Our Souls,” The New Republic, October 14, 1995, p. 32)

Yes, people who wish to ignore or trivialize injustice don’t want reformers to show pictures, because pictures make people uncomfortable with the status quo.  About 100 years ago, Lewis Hine displayed pictures of children working in coal mines and textile mills.  He wrote in his memoirs that people would look at his pictures and get more angry at him for showing the pictures than at the industrial bosses for abusing the children.  About 50 years ago, people looked at pictures of Black men and women getting attacked with dogs and water cannons and got angry at Martin Luther King, Jr. for leading the marches.  Dr. King knew, however, that people had to be made uncomfortable with the status quo; otherwise, there would be no pressure for change.  He said he didn’t care what people thought about him; he cared what they thought about injustice.  We stand with him.

As regards the “tragedy” of abortion, people who advocate the status quo are quick to say that abortion is tragic.  But what could possibly be tragic about it?  If each abortion is tragic because it kills a human person, then how does it make sense to commit this tragic act more than 1 million times a year.  If someone thinks the status quo is OK, then how tragic does he really think it is?  On the other hand, if each abortion does not kill a human person, then how can we say that it is tragic?

With regard to the mother considering abortion, what does it say about our society that so many people are lying to her and withholding critical information from her, information she needs to make an informed decision?  Of course, the abortion industry is hiding the truth of abortion.  But so is the government, the national media, the entertainment industry, and even the “pro-life” church.  This woman often faces enormous pressure to abort, and sometimes even faces threats of abandonment (or worse) by irresponsible or predatory males who should be supporting her.  Some “choice.”  Maybe if more people understood the reality of abortion, they would be more likely to help her in her crisis pregnancy, instead of just pushing her to abort.

As regards the dire circumstances that women face when considering abortion, how can circumstances (other than an imminent threat to the life of the mother) justify killing another human person?  I can tell you that a plantation owner in the deep South would face dire circumstances if he were to free all of his slaves and have to pay workers’ wages to pick his cotton.  But did his circumstances justify slavery?

We never condemn anyone who disagrees with us or has participated in abortions in the past.  In fact, many people who work in the pro-life movement, including our Virginia Director, have had abortions they now regret.  We don’t condemn people who have participated in abortion, any more than we condemn slave-owners George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.  These were great men who made a grave error about a serious issue.  We do, however, condemn slavery and abortion, because these practices unjustly steal the lives of innocent human beings.

Regarding our use of the term genocide, we agree that abortion is not genocide  . . .  IF.  If preborn children are not living human beings, then abortion does not kill humans and there is no relevant similarity between abortion and genocide.  But if preborn children are living human beings—science tells us they are alive and human—then abortion kills 1.2 million humans every year in the U.S.  If not genocide, what else would we call it?

UN Resolution 96, adopted in 1946, defined genocide as “a denial of the right of existence of entire human groups, as homicide is the denial of the right to live of individual human beings . . . ”  Resolution 96 goes on to say genocide is a crime “whether committed on religious, racial, political or any other grounds  . . . ” (emphasis added).  With abortion, the “entire human group” being denied the right of existence is unwanted, preborn children.

But more important than the UN definition of genocide are the conceptual similarities between abortion and other forms of mass killing.  For example, in every case of genocide we present, personhood was redefined by those in power in terms that excluded the intended victim class.  The Dred Scott decision of 1857 denied personhood to African American slaves. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 denied personhood to Jews. The Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 denied personhood to unborn children.

Common to almost all forms of genocide is the depiction of the victim class as subhuman.  Nazis referred to their victims as rats, pigs, vermin, and “untermensch” (German for “subhuman”).  We all know the language used to dehumanize the Black slave.  What of the preborn child?  If it’s a wanted preborn child, we call it a “baby.”  But if it’s an unwanted preborn child, it’s never a baby; it’s a parasite, blob of tissue, mass of cells, potential life, etc.

As with abortion, genocide is often framed in the language of “choice.” When Stephen Douglas debated Abraham Lincoln over the issue of slavery in 1858, he said that although he was personally opposed to slavery, the southern states should have the right to choose whether to be slave states or free states.  That sounds reasonable, unless you are a slave.

By the way, we did not invent the comparison of abortion to genocide.  Martin Luther King compared racial injustice to the Holocaust.  Later, using the same rationale that we use, Rev. Jesse Jackson extended the comparison to abortion:  “That is why  . . .  whites further dehumanized us by calling us ‘n*****s.’  It was part of the dehumanizing process.  The first step was to distort the image of us as human beings in order to justify that which they wanted to do and not even feel like they had done anything wrong.  Those advocates of taking life prior to birth do not call it killing or murder, they call it abortion.  They further never talk about aborting a baby because that would imply something human.  Rather they talk about aborting the fetus.  Fetus sounds less than human and therefore abortion can be justified.”

Others who compare abortion to the Holocaust include Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Yehuda Levin of Brooklyn: “Each form of genocide, whether Holocaust, lynching, abortion, etc., differs from all the others in the motives and methods of its perpetrators.  But each form of genocide is identical to all the others in that it involves the systematic slaughter, as state-sanctioned ‘choice,’ of innocent, defenseless victims – while denying their ‘personhood.’”

In your rebuttal to our assertion that abortion is genocide, you mentioned the fact that the mother was of the same ethnicity as the child.  True, but consider the Cambodian genocide.  In that case, Cambodians were killing other Cambodians.  UN Resolution 96 says genocide is killing any group of people, whether the group is chosen based on “religious, racial, political or any other grounds  . . . ” (emphasis added).  Ethnicity is often a factor in genocide, but not always.

Our purpose is never to condemn anyone who has had an abortion.  Our purpose is to clarify the confusion so that people can make better decisions in the future, both individually and collectively.  If any reader needs healing from an abortion in his/her past or help with an unplanned pregnancy, check out the resources listed here: www.prolifeoncampus.com/crisis-pregnancy-help.

Peace to you as well,
Fletcher

GAP Display at the University of Wisconsin

Another great day to win hearts, change minds, and save lives!  Yesterday was Day 1 at the University of Wisconsin.  We had a great location on the State Street Podium, which is in the heart of the U of Wisconsin campus.  In addition to our traveling team (from Tennessee, Ohio, California, Arizona, and California), we had excellent support from local pro-lifers.

We are on the State Street Podium, a City-owned pedestrian mall in the heart of the campus.  Since the space is owned by the City of Madison and not the University, we didn’t need a student group to sponsor our visit.  However, we do hope to start a pro-life student group who will help with future GAPs and conduct other effective projects on campus.  It is certainly needed.

We are also looking for one or more pro-lifers to help us expand our footprint in Wisconsin, which has been a key state for many years and will continue to be so.

Tomorrow morning, CBR’s Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) will make it’s University of Wisconsin debut (good Lord willing and the creek don’t rise, as they say).

Please pray that God will use the pictures to convict nonbelievers and believers alike:

• that babies will be saved from slaughter,
• that mothers (and fathers) will be spared,
• that men and women will see their need for a Savior,
• that Christian men and women will repent of their complacency,
• that divine appointments will be kept, and every obstacle to those appointments will be overcome.

Stay tuned to FAB for more excitement to come!

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In the comments appended to the WBIR story on our Urban GAP at Market Square, Canna asserted that nobody thinks abortion is a great thing:

OMG- NO ONE thinks abortion is a great thing- what an IDIOTIC thing to say. No one I know, including myself, is pro-abortion. However, I AM pro-choice. … The points that others are making here are:
1. that no one (few) are pro-abortion, they are PRO-CHOICE and believe the right to bear an embryo to full term is the choice and a matter of the family alone. not your matter.
2. that nearly everyone is a proponent of life and prosperity, but since we haven’t gotten it right yet, why don’t we help those in need of food and health before we force others to bear life. Rights to the unborn are valid but DO NOT PRE-EMPT the rights of the born.
3. regardless of ANYONE’S stance on abortion, your photos are unnecessarily graphic and DO NOT belong on public dislplay, especially in the presence of children. Not only is this rude, it is not an effective tool. ALSO- MOST abortions occur early trimester, when the fetus looks like a tiny lump of cells- not like in your graphics. Would you display graphic images of dead people in front of a DUI offender’s home for all-including children- to see? Of course NOT! Besides, where is the dignity of the deceased you post so proudly on public display??