Pro-aborts: CBR tactics are "really effective."

We have many endorsements from college students, pro-life activists, political leaders, and others who have seen our work in action.  But this piece amounts to the strongest endorsement we have ever gotten.

Freedom of (hate) speech: Confronting the rise of anti-choice activities on Canadian campuses was written by a pro-abortion activist in Canada who laments the effectiveness of our Canadian CBR affiliate.  She is so frustrated by the effectiveness of our work, she believes only censorship and bully tactics can ensure our defeat.

The more sophisticated of our opponents know that any open admission of our effectiveness will only make our fundraising and recruiting efforts more effective.  That is what makes the candor in this article so remarkable.  Military intelligence officials who interrogate prisoners of war usually focus their questions on determining what their captors believe to be the most effective tactics being employed against them and why.  Our abortion adversaries just volunteered that information and we didn’t even need to water-board them!

Some excerpts:

These on-campus battles are the new front line of pro-choice activism in Canada.  But with anti-choicers setting the terms of debate, how can pro-choice activists respond?  [Note their admission that CBR is setting the terms of the debate, which is exactly what we want to do.]

But one thing that they have been really effective at doing is coming up with messaging that affects the popular discourse, which I think is a really dangerous thing because it will eventually seep into the legislature and the courts.  [Another admission that CBR is “really effective.”  Note the recognition that our work on campus will transform culture.]

Anti-choice groups are using the free speech argument to win the public relations battle …  [The author believes we are winning.  That’s important, because winning is how the killing stops.]

These presentations and displays have provoked a pro-choice response in a way the activities of other anti-choice groups have not.  [That’s because the activities of other pro-life groups, in the view of the author, are not effective and need not be countered.]

With anti-choicers setting the terms of debate, pro-choice advocates have had to grapple with the utility of confronting these groups head-on …  [To this author, “confronting these groups head-on” means shouting us down and running us off the stage.]

A new generation of anti-choice groups is establishing a reputation for itself on Canadian campuses, with increasingly visible tactics that many pro-choice activists call discriminatory, harassing and hateful.  [Note the significance of “harassing” and “hateful” labels, which could allow pro-life speech to be censored under Canadian law.]

The university administration is barraged with phone calls and emails calling for the event to be shut down on the grounds that it amounts to harassment and is offensive to women …  Shortly after the event begins, a group of about 10 women and their allies enter the room, chanting and blocking the projector with the intent of disrupting the presentation.  [The context of this passage is an explicit endorsement of censorship and bully tactics.]

… the CCBR legally constitute hate speech by inciting hatred towards those women who have or support the right to have abortions, and should thus be restricted in order to prevent the harassment of women.  [Note the call for censorship.]

Unfortunately, it seems that the freedom of expression of protesters is not taken as seriously at McGill as hateful speech …  [Note the dismay over lack of censorship.]

Let me encourage you to attend a March for Life event this year.

National March for Life.  The national March for Life will be held in Washington, DC on January 24.  That’s where I’ll be, because I will be speaking at the Students for Life Annual Conference on the day before the March.  I’m on a panel discussion on the pros and cons of showing graphic abortion photos.  (Not sure which side I’ll end up taking.)  CBR’s GAP exhibit will be on display alongside the march route.

Knoxville, Tennessee.  Tennessee Right to Life, Knox County Chapter is holding their prayer service and march at 2:00 pm, Sunday, January 23, at Calvary Baptist Church, 3200 Kingston Pike.  Alan Williams, WVLT News Anchor, will be speaking.  Should be awesome; sorry I’ll miss it.  After a brief prayer service, marchers will walk 0.8 miles down Kingston Pike and Concord Street to Tyson Park.  Shuttles will be available back to the church.  It matters if you are there.  Here’s the link.

Atlanta, Georgia.  In Atlanta, Georgia Right to Life will be holding their Together for Life Rally at 11:30 am, Friday, January 21, on the steps of the Georgia State Capitol.  Rebecca Kiessling will be speaking.  Here’s a bulletin insert for your church.

Send me your event and I’ll post it here.

Want to see the next President?   Get your tickets today!   A new poll from CNN/Opinion Research Corp. shows Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee leading the field of potential Republican presidential candidates for 2012.

Gov. Huckabee will be at the Knoxville Convention Center to speak for CBR / Pro Life on Campus on Monday, February 14.  Group discounts available.

Please plan to attend.  The purpose of this event is to raise money to save babies, so get a table and invite your Christian friends  to sit with you.  It will be a fun evening, and you’ll be glad you came.  I promise.

Details at www.KnoxvilleHuckabeeDinner.com.

Would you like to meet the next President in person?  Want to bring your best customers?  Sponsors are invited to attend a special reception with Gov. Huckabee.  Call 1-800-521-6692 for more information.  Time is running out.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KPqwjGfKQk

On January 23, 2011 CBR will be at the Students for Life of America National Conference in Bethesda, Maryland.  This is the largest pro-life youth conference in the nation!

The SFLA 2011 National Conference is only a few months away and we want to invite you to come out to listen to Fletcher Armstrong’s workshop and get energized and activated in your own pro-life efforts!  Thanks to the generous support of Alliance Defense Fund, **from now until December 1st student registration is only $40** (after that it goes back up to $50).  That is for an entire day of training given by national leaders in the pro-life movement, networking with people from your communities and across the nation as well as breakfast, lunch, and dinner!  This is an unbelievable price for a conference with this much to offer.

Even though this conference is hosted by Students for Life it is not only for students but for adults as well.  Adult registration is $60 and also includes the same great training and meals.

You won’t want to miss such great speakers as Scott Klusendorf, Life Training Institute; David French, Alliance Defense Fund; Alveda King, Priests for Life; David  Bereit, 40 Days for Life; former Planned Parenthood Director turned Pro-Life activist, Abby Johnson and so many more.  To see the schedule go here    http://studentsforlife.org/conference/conferenceschedule/

For more information about the conference go to http://studentsforlife.org/conference/  and to register go to http://www.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?e=525341b0-9616-42cd-95a4-b377c23c41b5

PLTA Faculty Member Toby Tatum at UGa.

It’s Sunday afternoon and we are conducting our Pro Life Training Academy (PLTA) at the University of Georgia (UGa).  We are encouraged by the students and community members who are attending this training.

PLTA students learn how to articulate and respectfully defend the pro-life position.  On Wednesday and Thursday, PLTA students will have a unique opportunity for on-the-job training by helping staff our GAP display at Tate Plaza in the heart of the UGa campus.

In addition to training pro-life advocates, the PLTA seeks to unite pro-lifers behind common goals of education, training, and outreach.  We appreciate so much the efforts of the Georgia Right to Life, Athens Area Right to Life, UGa Students for Life, the Athens Pregnancy Center, and the University Church (in Athens) to make this event a huge success!

For more information, go to www.facebook.com/ProLifeTraining.

Toby Tatum of the Pro Life Training Academy

It’s Saturday morning and we are conducting our Pro Life Training Academy (PLTA) at Kennesaw State University (KSU).  It’s a huge success.  We’re almost standing-room-only and people are still pouring in!

Today, PLTA students (ranging in age from teenager to granny) are learning how to articulate and respectfully defend the pro-life position.  Role-playing will prepare students for real encounters.

On Monday and Tuesday, PLTA students will have a unique opportunity for on-the-job training by helping staff our GAP display at Kennesaw State.

In addition to training pro-life advocates, the PLTA seeks to unite pro-lifers behind common goals of education, training, and outreach.  We appreciate so much the efforts of the Georgia Right to Life, the KSU Pro-Life Ambassadors, and Cobb Pregnancy Services to make this event a huge success!

For more information, go to www.facebook.com/ProLifeTraining.

Fr. Lobo hadn’t been doing nothing.  He had attended the marches, the life chains, the 40 Days events, etc.  But after seeing his sister’s example, he knew it wasn’t enough.

It would be easy to blame the university, the police, or “those who promote a radically liberal agenda” for the arrests, he said in the homily, “but you and I are part of the problem, because we have put up with too much for too long.”

Fr. Lobo called the graphic images of abortion used in GAP, which are often seen as controversial, “disgusting.”

“But they’re also true and accurate.  Abortion is disgusting,” he added.

More here …

Speaking before Henderson/Buncombe Right to Life

Thank so much to the Henderson/Buncombe Right to Life for hosting me at the Henderson County Library on Saturday.  This Right to Life group is fired up and ready for more than just “business-as-usual” pro-life stuff.  I look forward to returning.

The title of my talk was “Lessons From the Past: How We Can Win.”  That’s the critical question, because winning is how the killing stops.  I got a good write-up in the Hendersonville Times-News.  My main points:

1. Reformers of history ended (1) the slave trade in Egland, (2) slavery in America, (3) abusive child labor in our factories, and (4) segregation in the South.
2. All of these movements used horrifying pictures to change people’s knowledge of the facts.
3. Successful reformers were willing to accept persecution.
4. They were not content to “reduce” injustice.  They worked tirelessely until they ended the whole boody mess.

I also challenged all present to change the world with only $10:

• Our movement is suffering from censorship.  Not the censorship of government.  It is the censorship of pro-lifers who will not help.
• We are praying that we can increase our campus visits from 6 schools/year to 20 schools/year.  Guess what that will cost.  I’ll tell you … $10.  That’s it.  $10 every month from 1,000 people.  If you have internet/cable TV, you can afford $10.  Please click here and give $10/month.  Your reward is in heaven.

Would you give $10 a month to stop this:

Aborted at 10 weeks - Would you give $10 to stop it?

Gregg Cunningham

In response to the arrest of brave pro-life students at Carleton University in Canada, we got an e-mail from a pro-life, Christian Carleton student.  She objected to the work of the arrested students on the grounds that showing photos of abortion is neither loving nor compassionate.  She wrote, in part:

If you can honestly say that you are upholding the greatest commandment, to love your neighbour, by holding up those graphic images then we clearly have a different interpretaion of this great commandement.

CBR Executive Director Gregg Cunningham responded:

Your references to Christian “love” are badly muddled.  Ephesians 5:11 commands us to “Expose the deeds of darkness.”

We aren’t calling women who abort “murders” and I challenge you to find one sign or document of ours which makes that accusation.  Women who abort invariably know they are doing something wrong, but they seldom know how wrong.  They are lied to about who their baby is and what abortion will do to both mother, and child and in that sense they are also victims of abortion.  Abortionists, however, are physicians.  They know exactly what they are doing.  They are unambiguous murders.

Nothing could be more cruel or un-Christ-like than for pro-lifers to help abortionists trick mothers by hiding the horror of the abortions into which they are being deceptively drawn.  That is a dark perversion of mercy which cannot fairly be called compassion.

That pretty well sums it up!

Planned Parenthood has been aggressive in marketing the oft-quoted notion that abortion is only 3 percent of what it does.

Pencils ready?  Planned Parenthood arrives at 3 percent by dividing its total number of abortions by its total number of “services.”  For 2008, that would be 324,008 divided by 10,940,609.

To illustrate the absurdity of such a statistic, note that if Planned Parenthood hands out 97 condoms, it could count that as 97 “services.” Then it does three abortions and claims that, because it also handed out 97 condoms, abortion is 3 percent of its business. This statistic is specifically designed to lead the American people and the legislators who continue to give government money to Planned Parenthood to believe that a very small portion of Planned Parenthood’s business is abortion-related.

Click here to see the entire article.

One of the authors of this piece is Katie Walker.  While at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) in 2006, Katie’s Northern Right to Life group made international news when one of the NKU professors vandalized their “Crosses for the Unborn” display.  Katie has often been an invited speaker at our annual Student Leadership Conference.

Added on September 24, 2011:

A commenter questioned whether PP is suggesting that a 13-yr-old might be ready for sex if … , as opposed to an older child. Facts to consider:

1. The text in question has been captured and is presented below.
2. The URL is http://www.plannedparenthood.org/info-for-teens/sex-masturbation/am-ready-sex-33826.htm. Note the words “info-for-teens” as part of the URL.
3. I accessed the link by first typing in the URL, www.teenwire.com, which is a URL that PP regularly gives out as a source of information for teenagers.
4. A 13-yr-old child is a teenager.

Combine this with everything else being thrown at children from the media, the entertainment industry, etc., that’s more than enough encouragement for a couple of 13-yr-old children to start having sex.  All it takes is one to push for it and another to consent.

Text extracted from http://www.plannedparenthood.org/info-for-teens/sex-masturbation/am-ready-sex-33826.htm.

It should be noted that despite the suppression of freedom in places like North Korea, Canada, Iran, etc., pro-lifers in freedom-loving countries like the United States and Russia have routinely displayed GAP without government interference.

The university said that while the students could not display their signs in The Tory Quad, a busy outdoor location on campus, it welcomed them to erect their signs in Porter Hall, an indoor room.

Ruth Lobo, president of Carleton Lifeline responded: “They are trying to sound reasonable by providing an alternate location, but what they aren’t saying is that Porter Hall is a closed room that few students pass by or even know where it is,” she said.

Club vice-president James Shaw added, “Telling us we can protest but in a back room no one goes to, is like telling black people they are welcome to ride the bus as long as they sit at the back.”

The university has reportedly been saying that student groups aren’t typically allowed to have displays in the Quad. Lobo asked, “If the Quad isn’t bookable, why advertise it as bookable space for student groups? More importantly, the university has never communicated to us that this is its reason for denying us the space. We’re only hearing about it through media who call us for a response.”

Refusing to tolerate censorship, the students proceeded to walk to Tory Quad with their signs. Part-way to their destination, they were stopped by authorities, eventually amounting to at least 3 campus security personnel and at least 9 police officers. Four Carleton students were eventually handcuffed and arrested by Ottawa police and charged with trespass.

Shaw commented, “I find it disgusting that Ottawa police allowed themselves to be hired as thugs to do the university’s dirty work. Shame on them for participating in Carleton’s censorship of its tuition-paying students.”

For more information contact Ruth Lobo or James Shaw at 613-600-4791 (cell).

Please pray that God will protect and deliver these brave students.

Note: Here at PloC, we don’t ask you to get arrested. We only ask you to give $10 a month.  If 1,000 people give $10 a month, we can grow from 6 GAPs a year to 20 GAPs a year.

Other stories at Life Site News,  National Post, Canada NewsWire, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Sun, Maclean’s on Campus, and National Post.

Here’s a great video from our friends at the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.  Stephanie Gray presents medical information on the beginning of life. She also describes why it is illogical to hold the position that preborn children may be killed because they are smaller, less developed, more dependent, and/or simply living in a different environment than the rest of us.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH1jJiuYBpA

Protestants and Catholics, unite!  Dr. Alveda King, a Baptist minister, and Fr. Frank Pavone, a Catholic priest, have long worked together to promote the Gospel of Life, a message of hope and healing, across racial and denominational lines.  Fr. Pavone and Dr. King (niece of Dr. Martin Luther King) will be in Knoxville on Friday-Saturday, October 15-16, and I hope you will join us.

Friday night’s Worship Rally will be at 7 p.m. at the Tennessee Theater and Saturday’s Prayer Vigil will be at 9 a.m. at the Cherry Street Planned Parenthood Clinic.

There are three abortion clinics in Knoxville, including Planned Parenthood’s new clinic in East Knoxville.  Nearly 4000 children are killed every year in these clinics. This does not include those killed by the RU-486 abortion pill and other forms of chemical abortion.

Nearly twenty years ago, pro-life leaders in Chattanooga rallied and prayed together.  For their faithfulness, God closed the last abortion clinic in Chattanooga, turning that property into The National Memorial for the Unborn. Chattanooga remains the largest city in America without an abortion clinic or PP presence.

Let’s pray and work to make Knoxville the next one.  For more information, visit www.ProLifeFreedomRides.com.

GAP at a Canadian university

Please pray for these brave students.  When it comes to freedoms that we take for granted, some Canadian universities are degenerating into Third World dictatorships.  The University of Calgary has already made it.  Here’s a press release from CBR Canada.

Students Risk More Penalties from University of Calgary for Defying Censorship

CALGARY – Despite warnings from the University of Calgary administration, members of the Campus Pro-Life (CPL) student group found guilty of “Non-Academic Misconduct” for having set up a pro-life display on campus this past April are once again displaying the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) on the U of C campus.

The controversial display compares abortion to past historical atrocities, such as the Rwandan genocide and the Holocaust in Nazi Germany. The display is scheduled to be set up between the MacEwan Student Centre and Science B buildings today (September 27th) and tomorrow (September 28th).

“The images are difficult to look at; admittedly, we don’t like looking at them either, but the images are only upsetting because abortion is upsetting,” stated CPL President Alanna Campbell.

After the display was previously exhibited last April, members of the group were charged and found guilty of a ‘Major Violation’ under Section 4.10 of the University of Calgary’s Non-Academic Misconduct Policy for “failure to comply with a Campus Security officer or University official in legitimate pursuit of his/her duties” by refusing to turn their display inward. Other major violations in this category include sexual assault, the use of explosives and firearms, and selling illegal drugs.

The guilty verdict was “a formal written warning” that if the students “fail to comply with directives of Campus Security staff in the future” it will “result in more severe sanctions,” wrote Acting Associate Vice-Provost Meghan Houghton, who was the sole decision-maker in the guilty verdict. More severe sanctions can include the possibility of expulsion. The University’s Appeal Board refused to hear the students’ appeal, and members of the student group will appeal the guilty verdict to the Board of Governors.

“This will be the tenth display of GAP on campus. We have always found that this display has a large capacity for healing, educating, and raising awareness,” said CPL Vice-President Cameron Wilson. “That makes this display, without a shadow of doubt, worth the cost that the university seeks to exact from us individually.”

The group has displayed its Genocide Awareness Project on the University of Calgary grounds, without incident, nine times since 2006. In 2006 and 2007, during the first four Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) campus displays, the University defended the students’ right to expression under the Charter, but in 2008 the University reversed its policy without explanation.

In 2009, the University charged six students with trespassing in relation to the display, but the Crown Prosecutor stayed these charges prior to a trial scheduled for November of 2009. Since then, members of Campus Pro-Life have been threatened with Non-Academic Misconduct upon each display, and the University has found eight students guilty of Non-Academic Misconduct.

“We believe in the effectiveness of the display and we believe in our right to display it. For these reasons, we will not give in to intimidation and will challenge all attempts at censorship. We are proceeding now just as we have in the past,” stated Peter Csillag, CPL Vice-President.

For further information, contact Club President Alanna Campbell at (403) 690-5217, Vice-President (External) Cameron Wilson at (403) 668-9624, Vice-President (Internal) Peter Csillag at (403) 465-1777, or lawyer John Carpay at (403) 619-8014.

7-week embryo

In recent weeks, we are seeing a kind of science denial by abortion advocates in Missouri that is normally the prevue of Darwinists.  The state legislature has recently passed a bill that actually recognizes the scientific fact that life begins at conception.

Senate Bill 793, which adds new regulations to the state’s 24-hour informed consent law for abortions, states that “the life of each human being begins at conception.”  It also declares that “abortion will terminate the life of a separate, unique, living human being.”  (Source 1)  (Source 2)

As you can imagine, that law didn’t sit too well with pro-aborts.  So, taking a page out of the Darwinist playbook, they claimed that the scientific evidence (confirmed by many medical textbooks on prenatal development) isn’t really science at all.  It is religion.  I’m not kidding.

But of course, what else could they say?  After all, they can’t admit that the facts are true.  The implications of the facts are so horrifying, they must be denied, no matter what.

(Click here for a paper that summarizes statements from medical school textbooks, scientists, and even pro-abortion philosophers, all confirming that life begins at conception.)

People deny science when it challenges their own religion or some other deeply-held belief.  Did you watch “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed”?  If you didn’t, shame on you.  BTW, if every child in your church doesn’t see it once a year, then shame on you.  (Yes, I said you.)

Anyway, in this movie, the great Darwinist Richard Dawkins is interviewed by intelligent design (ID) proponent Ben Stein.  The idea of an intelligent Designer/Creator is so horrifying to Dawkins, any evidence for it must be denied or ignored, no matter what.  Darwinists must pretend that such evidence isn’t really science at all.  It is religion.

But Dawkins has a problem because Darwinism can’t begin to explain how highly complex cells got here in the first place.  Cells are vastly more complex than was ever imagined, and Darwinism just doesn’t explain it.  So Dawkins has to speculate.  In a moment of candor not likely to be repeated anytime soon, he suggests that one possible explanation might be that space aliens planted cellular life here on Earth.  I’m not lying; watch the movie.

Lemme get this straight.  According to Dawkins, it’s entirely plausible that we all evolved from the protozoa that came from the bowels of some space alien who stopped off at Planet Earth for a potty break on his way to the Delta Quadrant.  But it’s NOT plausible that we were created by a Creator God.  Riiiiight.

And they say this stuff with a straight face.