Posts Tagged ‘UNC Greensboro’
Mixed Nuts at University of North Carolina Greensboro
Almost everyone prefers to ignore abortion. But when we bring the truth of abortion into the light, it’s almost impossible for anyone to avoid it.
Government is God. “I know it is human but if society says abortion is morally justifiable, so do I,” he told Mik’aela. “If society changes its mind, would you change too?” Mik’aela asked. “Yes. Where else can we get our morality from?” If government can’t tell us what’s right, then who can?
Consistent to a fault. A young woman told us that a woman has the right to kill because it is her body. Even a moment before birth. Even during the birth. Even after birth if the umbilical cord is still attached. She defended all three, though she was uncomfortable with the last one. Perhaps her consistency can help her see the depravity of her position.
Backfired attempt. A young woman called the police because she wanted them to remove us from campus. However, the police ended up threatening to take her to jail because she was being so disrespectful.
Don’t be mean to abortionists! A young man said we shouldn’t compare abortionists to death-camp doctors. Meanwhile he argued for abortion to prevent children from having bad lives.
The voice of tolerance. As she threw sandbags off our display she told Jane, “Don’t touch me, b****. I hit women, too.”
So many hurting. “Good morning,” he said as he took a pamphlet and then said very softly, “I wish I had been aborted.” This young man needs our prayers.
Pro-Life on Campus in Tennessee and North Carolina
In the Spring semester, we focused our GAP efforts on North Carolina and Tennessee. We traveled to Appalachian State, the University of Tennessee, Tennessee Tech, UNC Charlotte, and UNC Greensboro.
North Carolina is especially important, because it is one of the most important swing states in our region.
These are all schools we have visited before, but once every year or two is not too often. New students come and go, so we always get a new audience. Also, even when we get repeat customers, they often say that we move the needle on their opinions with each visit.
With your $upport, we will get abortion photos on every campus, every year. With that much exposure to reality, it will be almost impossible for pro-abortion professors to lie to our students any longer.
Check out the press coverage:
Diary of a black pro-life missionary
by Jacqueline Hawkins
I have written about the intersection of race and pro-life activism (here and here). Because I am a “black sheep” of the black community, I am often confronted with responses that my counterparts don’t experience.
Sometimes black students treat me differently. Some might feel more comfortable talking to me — or unleashing their wrath, as the case may be. Perhaps some take liberties with me they can’t take with others. The treatment at UNC Greensboro was especially intense.
Token black girl. Some black girls accused me of being the token black person on the team. They argued that this somehow made my presence invalid. They even said I should be offended that my white counterparts would have me participate in GAP. (Is there anything black people shouldn’t be offended by?) I said I have two degrees in the predominantly white field of agriculture. I asked if it would have been better to drop out of college because my field of study didn’t have enough black folks. They didn’t have much of an answer.
BET PSA. “I don’t feel like my voice is being heard!” a black female student shouted at the top of her lungs. I felt like I was listening to a BET public service announcement during an election year. Of course, this could have been said by anyone, black or white — I heard the same thing on MTV. Speaking of catchy PSAs of the millenial generation, another black girl said, “You don’t have a right to make us feel uncomfortable!” I need a safe space; are there any no-stupid zones?
Guilt Backfired. Some black students told me, “You should be standing up for the choices of black women!” I replied, “I rather stand up for the black children marked for slaughter.” They didn’t have much of a response to that one either.
Return to the school yard. In the late afternoon, right before we broke down, some black students came to me and insisted that this method doesn’t work. They told me that no one cares. I made a sweeping gesture to the huge crowd of students, most of whom had been there since noon. I said all this attention only brings more and more attention. People do indeed care. They persisted. I told them about Martin Luther King and how our process was modeled off of his actions. Boy, they didn’t like that; they were attacked by loud, forceful belly laughs. Reminded me of middle school. “Whatever, Martin Luther,” they jibed, eyes rolling like marbles. They left as they continued to laugh and mock me.
Making demands. As we were breaking down, the belly-laughter students came back and demanded I talk to them. When I told them I had to help break down they scoffed and rolled their eyes, insisting I could talk to them but just didn’t want to. Again, I was reminded of middle school, when the black kids would make demands of me and get upset when I didn’t give in. I politely assured them that we would talk again when CBR came back to UNCG. To that they said: “We don’t want you back!” In turn I replied, “Don’t worry, we’ll be back.” I winked at them to seal the deal.
Just a reminder, I can only keep my promise with your help. Please do help me go back.
Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.
Answers to the test: The cosmic cheat sheet
by Jacqueline Hawkins
At UNC Greensboro, a young woman told Deeper Still and GAP volunteer Debbie Picarello that she was a Christian who believed God gave her a “choice.” In her mind, God was fine with whatever she wanted to do with her own body, even if it meant destroying her baby’s body.
She was failing the “choice” test, the test of life and death.
Debbie pulled out the ultimate life “cheat sheet,” the Bible. This is pretty good: In the most important test we will ever take, the test of life and death, God gave us the answers! Debbie showed her the answers she needed to know:
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful.” (Psalm 139:13,14)
In other words, God made us. He put us together Himself.
“For you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body.” (1 Cor 6:20.)
Our bodies are not our own; they belong to God. This is especially true for Christians purchased by the Blood of the Lamb.
“Consider that I have set before thee this day life and good, and on the other hand death and evil … I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Choose therefore life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” (Duet 30:15;19)
The choice should be clear.
This was not what the young woman wanted to hear. She told Debbie she felt judged. Debbie assured her that she was not judging her, but was giving her the Word of the very God she claimed to worship. Her belief, that she could do whatever she wanted with her own body and the body of her child, was wrong. Her assertions directly contradicted the Bible.
It was indeed her choice to follow the Bible or not. But it was clear how God saw our choices. There are right choices and wrong choices. As followers of Christ, our choices are intended to be conformed to His likeness so that the whole world can know him. Pro-abortion Christians aren’t just dangerous for themselves and their children; they are dangerous for everyone on the planet.
God gives us the answers to the test, so that we can correct our course and pass with flying colors.
Understanding what Debbie was saying, the young woman shook Debbie’s hand and thanked her for speaking with her.
This is so important. Our most important outreach is not to the pagan world; we are taking truth to confused Christians led astray by complacent church leaders who work harder than Planned Parenthood to cover up the truth. Over and over again, your support is the difference between life and death. When you support CBR, you choose life.
Jackie Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and regular FAB contributor.
Two post-abortion stories: one denial and one confession
by Jacqueline Hawkins
A UNC Greensboro student walked up to the Deeper Still (DS) post-abortion counseling table. She told Debbie Picarello that seeing the pictures had “completely undone any healing that I had accomplished until now.”
As Debbie asked probing questions, the young woman said she believed her child would be reincarnated. She reasoned that because of the abortion, she could now help more people, that she was better off, and so on.
This student wound up sharing her justifications with a small group of like-minded female students who had gathered around. They were adamant that Debbie’s approval of the pictures was hurting women. They told Debbie she really didn’t care about them.
But Debbie stood her ground. She said healing comes through Jesus Christ alone. In her words, “Acknowledgment that we murdered our children is essential to being forgiven, because that is how God sees what we did. Our opinions are trumped by His Truth.” Amid much scorn and scoffing, another female student opened up.
Holding back tears, Jackie said she had been raped by a police officer and had an abortion. Debbie expressed her deep sorrow for the young woman, and came out from behind the table to speak with her privately. She asked if she could hug Jackie and the young woman cried even more. The angry, mocking group of girls became silent. Debbie took Jackie off to speak privately.
Jackie is a Christian, Debbie pressed a Deeper Still pamphlet into her hands. Looking her in the eye, Debbie told the young woman that she believed her child is in heaven and holds absolutely no unforgiveness towards her. Her baby looks forward to the day when they will be reunited. The girl allowed Debbie to pray with her. Afterwards, Debbie encouraged her to get help as soon as possible for the rape and the abortion. Jackie’s did not have to carry these burdens by herself; she could find healing through Lord Jesus.
Debbie hopes to see her someday at a Deeper Still healing retreat. Debbie sewed the seeds — and so did you, because your support made this encounter possible — and now we pray for God to bring the fruit.
Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.
Mixed nuts at UNC Greensboro
by Jacqueline Hawkins
As you can read here, the response to GAP at UNC Greensboro was quite animated. CBR Project Director Lincoln Brandenburg said that many of the students were like hyenas descending upon a scrap of meat. Between the bloodthirsty vitriol and the stealth appreciation, there was a wide range of reactions.
The man who almost wasn’t
Based on his expression and the way he spoke, it was obvious he wasn’t out for blood like his schoolmates in the crowd. He made neutral inquiries concerning the life of the mother. I gently answered his question, mentioning cases such as toxemia and ectopic pregnancies. I made sure to stress to him and those listening that saving the life of the mother did not involve Planned Parenthood and ripping children apart. It was a matter of administering medical treatment to BOTH patients. Unfortunately, in the case of ectopic pregnancy, saving the child is impossible, given current medical technologies. Satisfied with my answer, he then told me he was almost an ectopic pregnancy. He had implanted very close to the fallopian tube. I told him just how happy I was he had survived and was there to speak with me. He thanked me and disappeared into the crowd.
Maternal instinct
A young woman walked by, just as Bill offered a pamphlet. “I’m pregnant! I don’t want to see this!” she exclaimed. She was determined but not antagonistic. She didn’t want to see pictures of what she could have had done to her own child. “I’m not doing this! I’m keeping my baby!” This young woman already had a healthy level of maternal instinct. The pictures will help her to encourage the same instincts in her friends and family.
Best argument on campus
The grand prize for best pro-abortion argument goes to the young man who came to within 6 inches of Jane Bullington’s face and shouted, “You are STUPID.” Jane stood toe-to-toe and eye-to-eye with this learned scholar until he backed off and went to make his prize-winning argument with someone else.
Enlightened pro-abort musings
At the height of the rowdiness, four young women from a protest group came over to Jane Bullington to talk. They had the usual lack of knowledge that facilitated the usual objections. But because they were somewhat open to what Jane had to say, they were able to learn a few things they hadn’t known before. At the end, one girl mused, “It is sad that we don’t have discussions when we have difference of opinions. We shouldn’t just try to shout people down when we could talk to them.” Amen to that.
Selling out for consistency
A young black man walked up and asked pointedly, “Why? Why are you doing this?” After answering him, he reasoned that since people are going to have abortions anyway, there was no reason to try to stop them. I applied his argument to slavery. “Would you want them legalize slavery because people are going to traffic humans anyway?” He shrugged nonchalantly, musing that when push comes to shove, legalizing crimes that already happen wouldn’t be such a bad thing, even if it meant he got shipped off to the nearest cotton field.
Post-liberal dictatorship?
A male student was a pro-abort, but he was by no means pleased with his fellow students. As they demanded GAP leave campus, he exploded. “F*** all of you! As liberals, if we can’t defend free speech of those who disagree with us, then liberalism is dead!” He stormed off continuing to curse at the protesters, “Are we trying to live in a post-liberal dictatorship?” Umm, yeah. We kind of are.
Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.
Changing the subject doesn’t work
Hard-core pro-aborts, when they have no argument, try to change the subject. Stubborn people are not our target audience, so we aren’t dismayed when they deny the evidence in front of them. Our target audience is people in the middle who (a) are still open-minded and (b) have a functioning conscience.
At UNC Greensboro, some students complained that we cited sources older than 2010. Our information about embryology was too old, they said. Science changes, they said.
Hmmm. You mean they don’t make babies like they used to? Really?
Suppose you can’t find a recent publication proving (again) that gravity is real — and you can’t, because nobody would publish a paper proving something we’ve known for centuries — what does that mean? Maybe pigs can fly?
These same scholars took issue with the definition of genocide we cite, because they claimed the definition has been altered for political reasons. In this case, they undermined their own argument, because we cite UN Resolution 96, adopted in 1946. Having no enforcement provisions, Resolution 96 defined genocide as targeting any group of people for destruction.
The 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, however, includes enforcement provisions and thus was limited, for political reasons, to only those genocides committed against national, ethnical, racial, or religious groups. Genocides against social and political groups, for example, were excluded because the Soviet Union feared Stalin’s mass murders might be considered genocidal if broader language were adopted. (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)
Some tried to claim that our sign referencing honor killing was invalid because it did not include a photo of each and every group of women subjected to that particular atrocity. Desperate people say absurd things.
This often happens with GAP. They have no argument to support decapitating and dismembering little human beings, so they try to change the subject. If one logical fallacy won’t work, they try another.
In the end, it doesn’t matter. They only help us, because they give us a chance to juxtapose our good arguments with their logical fallacies. Our target audience, the mushy middle, gets to hear and compare.
And with time, we’ll pick off even some of the hard-core pro-aborts. As long as they hang around, they absorb the hard evidence. Some of them contact us later and tell us how the seeds we planted eventually sprouted and grew. Julie was a committed pro-abort when we first met her at the University of North Florida, but she told us 3 years later that she had changed her mind. “The pictures followed me home,” she said.
A fish story at UNC Greensboro?
by Jacqueline Hawkins
UNC Greensboro, I suspect I was hearing a fish story. You know the kind. The fish just gets bigger and bigger and bigger as the story unfolds.
Unfortunately for the teller of this tale, I had experience with the subject matter, so I wasn’t so easily impressed.
An irate girl brought up the case of child poverty, the oft-repeated circumstance of a mother too poor to take care of her offspring. The obvious answer to poverty is to kill the youngest (i.e., the most invisible) child, right?
I trotted out the toddler, which means I presented a hypothetical 2-year old and asked if poverty would justify killing the toddler. She avoided the question, stating that she could never take care of a baby because she was poor.
As someone who has lived in relative (not absolute) poverty, I questioned her statement, trying to get a feel what degree of poverty she was experiencing, so I could frame an appropriate response. “Of course I’m poor!” she said. “We’re all poor! We’re poor college students!”
Hmm. Poor college students. Was she talking about the college students who drive late-model cars and spend hundreds of dollars each semester on alcohol?
I explained how poverty is a bad justification for killing a child. Again she attempted to change the subject, “My family is poor! We have debt!”
Ah, the fish has gotten bigger.
I told her that she seemed to be doing pretty well for herself. She was alive, well-fed, going to an expensive college. Then I got personal, “As a card-carrying poor person, I don’t take kindly to people telling me that I’d be better off dead.” To that she exclaimed, “I was homeless!”
Ah, homeless. She went from a poor college student, to the daughter of parents with debt, to climbing her way out of homelessness.
And yet, despite being homeless at one point or another (maybe), she hated pregnancy resource centers because, “they push anti-choice propaganda!” Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth.
Was she telling the truth? If she was truly climbing her way out of homelessness, she was condemning those like her simply because they didn’t have much wealth. Had she forgotten where she came from so quickly? Was she really so blinded by her success and potential to succeed that she would callously sentence poor children to death? Did she not realize that she was stealing their opportunity to follow her example and carve out a life for themselves like she was doing? Did she not grasp that we poor people, past, present, and future, need to stick together and help each other out?
Or was she telling a tall tale to get her point across? Was she simply ignorant of the fact that poverty, particularly American poverty, isn’t so bad that those living in it are better off dead? Was she completely unaware that, in many cases, poverty has helped people build character, mental and emotional stamina, and unique life skills (rags to riches, anyone?)? Was she, dare I say, a privileged young woman who looked down upon those without and easily sentenced them to death because helping them took too much work?
Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.
Pro-choice hypocrisy
by Jacqueline Hawkins
Trust women. It’s her choice. Support women.
These are the slogans. But they only seem to apply when a woman chooses to abort her child. Women who embrace unplanned motherhood need not apply for trust and support from the left.
At the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, with all of the angry student yelling about women’s rights and supporting women’s decisions, a female senior was not impressed. In fact, she was downright sad and her downcast expression prompted Jane to speak with her. The young woman was 15 weeks pregnant. The baby was unplanned and she was unmarried.
Thankfully she was in a long term relationship with the father of the baby. They were keeping the child and would ask for support from friends and family. Looking at the crowd of angry protesters, she said, “I am not married; I am in school; I am broke. But I don’t get any help from my peers; I just get questions about why I don’t ‘get rid of this problem.’ They don’t support my choice to keep this baby; they want me to be selfish and weak like they are. It makes me so sad.”
This double standard was this young woman’s reality. Where was her support? Where was her trust? Granted, there are pregnancy resource centers to help families like hers, but those are staffed by pro-lifers. What about her pro-choice peers? Where were these people who reject the label “pro-abort” but bask in the glory of the term “pro-choice” because they want women to make their own choices, even if it’s not abortion. It probably sounds good in their heads but when it comes to real life, they quickly become 100% pro-abort and unplanned mothers who keep their children suffer for it.
Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.
Stealth appreciation a real problem at UNCG and NCSU
Here is what volunteer Patti Shanley had to say about the pro-life students who had practically taken their life-affirming sentiment underground:
We know we’re in a hostile environment when our friends are afraid to be seen with us. It happened to me at least a dozen or more times at the UNC Greensboro and North Carolina State.
I’m talking about stealth appreciation. It’s a lightning-quick “thank you” that almost no one else can discern. The person might stop for a moment, or just glide by with a bit of eye contact and a quick nod or thumbs up. They don’t take our brochure. They barely speak. They just quickly say “thanks” and move on. But they never, ever, want anyone to know they agree with us.
I understand. It’s a dangerous world when accusatory social media posts target anyone considered an enemy and the gang of bullies descends. Social circles are fragile and academic success is unsure when we swim against the current. Who could have predicted that the tolerance crowd wouldn’t tolerate dissent?
At least one student at UNC Greensboro wasn’t afraid. In full view of the pro-aborts, she told me she was really glad GAP came, and offered me a hug. “God bless you,” I whispered in her ear.
We must teach the next generation to be better than this. The anti-American Left has coopted public resources and institutions to advance their own agenda at taxpayer expense. They are not bold; they are bullies. They say we have no right to speak, and their President says we should sit in the back of the bus (his exact words). Unfortunately, too many pro-lifers, conservatives, and Christians are cowering in the closet. That is not a recipe for victory. We will have to fight for our country or we will lose it.
That is why CBR and GAP are so important. We are fighting.
You can fight, too. Be sure to join us here.
Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.
Did God extinguish the fire at UNC Greensboro?
by Jacqueline Hawkins
On the rainy Monday at the UNC Greensboro, a young man with a markedly deadpan attitude gloated, “You all came to start a fire on campus, but look. It’s raining. Where’s your fire now?”
The young man was a member of the the campus Christian group that originally committed to bring GAP but later backed out. Unfortunately, Christians often have little regard for the sanctity of commitment, which is why we generally avoid depending on such groups. As it turns out, the College Republicans are much more likely to keep their commitments. Just sayin’. Anyway, …
When the young man saw no students around the GAP display, he concluded that the rain and lack of response was a sign from God that GAP did not belong. God was drowning out the “fire” CBR wanted to start.
He asserted that GAP was not the kind of loving thing that Jesus would do, but GAP volunteer Debbie Picarello pointed out that Jesus was full of both grace and truth. We show the truth of abortion, but following the example of Jesus, we are gracious, loving, and peaceful in our conversations with students.
Debbie then reminded the young man that Jesus did not hide from controversy. Jesus told people the truth about their sin and called them to repent, knowing they would crucify Him. As Christians, we share the Gospel with them, even if it means persecution. At CBR, we share the truth about abortion with them, knowing they don’t want to see it.
He may have thought God was dousing the flame, but he needed only wait one more day. Our Day 2 was beautiful and a massive crowd of people gathered. This confused Christian could gloat no more, because God gave us the very firestorm he assumed had been washed away.
Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.
The caliber of the unintelligence
by Jacqueline Hawkins
At UNC Greensboro, a female student begged us to give up protesting abortion and spend our time and energy promoting free IUDs (that she claimed were 99.5% effective). She insisted this would end the need for abortion, apparently being unaware that the IUD is an abortifacient. This obviously well-formed student wrote,
“Abstinence programs do not work because sex is a basic human need like food, water or shelter. It is built into our genetic code to crave it and there is nothing we can do to curb this … very human desire … Please reconsider what you spend your time protesting. Your time is incredibly valuable and people with protesting souls like yours need to take advantage of their gifts. Please, please protest for free birth control. IUD’s especially.”
This goes beyond the commonly held view that sex without responsibility is an entitlement. In this woman’s mind, she and her classmates must have a regular romp in the sack or suffer something akin to starvation, dehydration, or hypothermia. I have images of mythological nymphs frolicking through the forest in a decaying, oversexed society. The world is collapsing down around them but all they can do is frolic and play, or die.
Folks, please pray for these poor, deluded people. That God would give them Light to see the way.
Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.
The Baby Brigade
by Jacqueline Hawkins
Sometimes at our GAP display, you will see a gaggle of babies and toddlers, and also moms with strollers. These are members of our “Baby Brigade.” They make a subtle but powerful pro-life statement.
They change the dynamic in several ways. First, students are less likely to become verbally abusive. No one likes to use obscene language in front of 2-year olds.
Second, students can see the contrast between death (the stark truth of child murder) and life (the end result when pre-born babies are spared). When students see women with their own children romping about in the green grass, motherhood doesn’t seem so scary; it looks inviting.
The babies soften the blow of the images. Christy McKinney, one of the mothers in the Brigade, spoke with a freshman at Tennessee Tech for an hour. The pictures hit home for this young woman, because she had recently learned that her mother wanted to abort her when she was six months along. She was very hurt by this and became tearful during the conversation. Christy let the student hold her 6-month old son, and that seemed to ease her pain.
Are you a mom with babies in tow? Would you like to join the Baby Brigade and make a subtle but powerful pro-life statement during GAP? Call or e-mail us and we’ll keep you abreast of volunteer opportunities!
Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.
Pro-Life on Campus at University of North Carolina Greensboro
by Jacqueline Hawkins
At high noon of Day 2, they descended upon us with rage and fury. It was our first time at the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG).
Day 1 of the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) had been cold and rainy, so almost no one stopped. But everyone saw the pictures, and they held their response for better weather. Along with the sunshine, their opportunity for hysteria had now arrived.
They came with notebook paper signs, vulgar chants, and even satanic ritual, but we held our ground and let the signs do the work. Seasoned GAP veterans said this protest was one of the largest and most vitriolic they had ever seen. The protesters stayed all afternoon, until we carried away the last sign.
The shouting, jeering crowd was perhaps wearisome at times, but their 5-hour exposure to the GAP display was a huge victory. If 3 seconds gets the point across, who knows what 5 hours can do?
But it wasn’t just the pro-aborts who responded. After seeing our signs, Ashton boldly announced that she would organize a new pro-life club on campus. At the end of the day, 3 brave pro-life students pitched in and helped us break down the display as their peers vented their rage. Talk about guts! They had never met each other before, but now they were working on their first pro-life project together!
Pro-Life on Campus at UNCG was a huge success! Thank you for supporting our work!
Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.