Posts Tagged ‘Martin Luther King Jr’
“What about post-abortive women?”
CBR volunteer Debbie Picarello, who is post-abortive, speaks with a student on campus.
CBR staff and volunteers in Atlanta were holding “Choice” signs at a very busy intersection (near an interstate exit at rush hour). We reached tens of thousands of motorists with our message!
As we stood on the sidewalk, I was approached by Molly, who asked about our activity. I explained to her why we display photos of first-trimester abortion victims. We are used to dealing with every imaginable response, but her’s caught me off guard. She said, “So, if someone wanted to donate to you guys, how would they go about it?” (The answer is, “Click right here!”)
I told Molly that our work is based on the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. Just as American did not reject racism until American saw racism, America will not reject abortion until American sees abortion.
“Which is true!” Molly agreed, “because I’ve had an abortion… I knew it was wrong at the time I had it. But it wasn’t until I saw this video on the internet called ‘The Silent Scream’ that I realized just how wrong it was.” As a post-abortive mother, Molly supported our work, and not only with her words. She made a generous donation as well!
Who knows how many preborn children have been saved from decapitation and dismemberment because we reached their mothers first? Like Molly, these mothers can easily rationalize this horror, even thought it goes against their maternal instincts. Seeing victims of abortion can give them the resolve to save their children’s lives.
“What about post-abortive women?” is a common question … and a legitimate concern. People ask, “How can we do this in a way that is non-condemning?” It is a question we ask as well. We answer it by directing hurting people to seek out post-abortion healing ministries like Deeper Still.
Others raise this objection only as a way to suppress the truth. Their supposed “compassion” serves only to maintain the status quo … death for many and bondage for many more.
“But there are so many other ways to get the pro-life message across that are more positive,” they say.
A post-abortive stranger encouraged us to keep showing these images.
Indeed, there are. Educating people about prenatal development will save children. Helping pregnant mothers will save children. But neither of these activities, as important as they are, will convince millions of Americans that abortion is so evil that it ought to be against the law.
That is our mission, to convince people (like Molly’s former self) that abortion is not just evil, but is so evil that it ought to be against the law. And because people are so apathetic about our message, we only get about 3 seconds to prove that point.
Abortion is legal because decapitating and dismembering preborn children has been relabeled with an obscure, meaningless word, abortion. As the main character of “The Giver” aptly states, “We haven’t eliminated murder, we just call it by another name.”
Lincoln Brandenburg is a project director for the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform and a frequent FAB contributor.
Conflict is both an indicator and a facilitator of changing minds
Sign-holding protesters (right side of walkway) draw big crowds at Auburn University. They tried to defend the indefensible, but could not. Having failed that, they called us names or simply tried to change the subject. But all of it focused attention on GAP and abortion.
History is clear on this point: injustice can be defeated only by reformers who confront evil and accept persecution from angry defenders of the status quo. People who exploit others are enraged when their cruel tyranny is threatened. When William Wilberforce used pictures to win the debate over slavery, he was attacked in the newspapers, physically assaulted, and even threatened with death. But he showed the pictures anyway.
Conflict is not only an indicator that the status quo is threatened; it is also a facilitator of change. It focuses public attention in ways nothing else will. Dr. Martin Luther King said, “I am not afraid of the word ‘tension.’ I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.” This tension created a public forum in which racists were forced to defend segregation. They could not do it, so the reformers won.
Images like this educated the public on the evils of slavery. Additionally, they created the kind of tension/conflict that (a) forced the public to think about slavery and (b) created a public forum that forced slave traders to defend the indefensible.
Creating conflict to focus public attention; media coverage at the U of Alabama
BSFL Vice-President Claire Chretien speaks to the media. Successful social reformers use modulated conflict to focus attention on injustice.
Creating and Exploiting Modulated Conflict
Historically, social reformers have not feared conflict. They embraced conflict, even created it, to focus public attention on injustice. They did it knowing their actions would invite persecution from a culture that was complicit or complacent about injustice.
The Bama Students for Life (BSFL) are masters at creating modulated conflict and using that conflict to focus public attention on abortion.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said
… I must confess that I am not afraid of the word “tension.” I have earnestly opposed violent tension, but there is a type of constructive, nonviolent tension which is necessary for growth.
***
… so must we see the need for nonviolent gadflies [i.e., annoyances or irritants] to create the kind of tension in society that will help men rise from the dark depths of prejudice and racism … The purpose of our direct action program is to create a situation so crisis packed that it will inevitably open the door to negotiation.
At the U of Alabama, BSFL and CBR annoyed and irritated people who were complicit or complacent about abortion, people who desperately wanted us to leave them alone. But we didn’t leave them alone. We focused their attention on injustice, knowing that they would dislike us for having done so. Based on the media coverage and the huge crowds of angry people, we certainly succeeded!
Media Coverage for GAP at U of Alabama
Television Coverage
- Controversial abortion display stirs controversy on UA campus
- Pro-life display on Univ. of Alabama campus stirs strong emotions
- Controversial display ignites abortion debate (video report)
Newspaper/Online
- Student group displays graphic abortion photos on UA campus (poll) (positive poll results!)
Crimson White (student newspaper)
- Anti-abortion group sponsors ‘extremely graphic’ display on Quad (news article)
- Anti-abortion groups should back up opinions with facts (op-ed)
- Our View: Bama Students for Life should examine the language they use (op-ed)
- Students sound off about abortion displays (news article)
- BSL’s belief in their own infallibility has cost them credibility in this debate (op-ed)
- Anti-abortion proponents only restrict freedom of choice for American women (op-ed)
- BSL, Speer both fail in effectively messaging their case on abortion rights (op-ed)
- How the pro-life movement can make win-win situations out of abortion debates (op-ed)
- Consider the issue, not the language (pro-life op-ed)
- BSFL’s images necessary to change culture (pro-life op-ed)
- University’s public assembly laws must be re-examined (op-ed)
- Changing from ‘pro-choice’ to ‘pro-abortion’ (the only coherent pro-abortion op-ed we saw, followed by a flood of name-calling and ad hominem attacks, with lots of comments from FAB)
- Insulting the public not conducive to campus abortion debate (op-ed)
- Counter-protesters were told to stop handing out fliers, student says (news article) (Note: CBR opposes restricting the First Amendment rights of people who lawfully protest against our display; the First Amendment is good for everyone.)
- In response to ‘Examine Language’ (pro-life op-ed)
BSFL Blog
Can you name one other pro-life project that creates 15 items in the campus paper?
