Kortney Blythe Gordon

I was in Macon, Georgia with Kortney, just before the terrible crash that took her life.  She had organized an awesome conference for pro-life students from all over Georgia.  As we were packing to leave, we were discussing Father Frank’s “incarceration” down in Amarillo.  (For more on that, click here and here.)

I was commenting how important Fr. Frank is to our whole movement.  We are populated by people who have strong opinions, not only about abortion, but also what will stop abortion, how we go about it, and just about everything else.  We butt heads a lot.

Fr. Franks is critical to our movement because he is one of those unifying forces that brings people together.  He always has a word of encouragement.  We Protestants admire him just as much as Catholics do.  He is an advocate for the graphic pictures, but he is well respected by people who oppose them.  No matter what kind of pro-life work you do, you have a common friend in Fr. Frank.  His ability to unite people behind our common objective is critical to our mission.

As I was saying all of this, I thought of one other person like Fr. Frank.  I looked at her and said, “Kortney, I just thought of somebody else who is that kind of unifying force in the pro-life movement.  It’s you!  That’s what you do.  You bring people together.”  She smiled at being compared to Fr. Frank.

Looking forward to our next meeting, I finished packing and headed toward home.  It was only about 2 hours before that terrible crash.

Kortney, we’re going to miss you.

Jon Scharfenberger, 1989-2011

We are sad to report that Jon Scharfenberger has died of his injuries from the October 8 auto crash that also claimed the lives of Kortney and Sophy Gordon.  Jon went to be with our Lord at about 9:45 am this morning.  More here and here.

Jon was the Pregnant on Campus Coordinator of the Students for Life of America (SFLA).  Jon had many successes in his short time at SFLA, including establishing a pro-life campus group at Florida International University that was successful in saving the life of a pre-born baby, a mere one week after its creation. You can read more about this story here.

We will post information about arrangements as it becomes available.  More information from SFLA website here.  Donations to cover funeral costs are being accepted here.

Please pray for the Scharfenberger family during this enormously difficult time.

Jon Scharfenberger

FAB will give updates, as available, on the condition of Jon Scharfenberger, the Students for Life of America (SFLA) staff member who is fighting for his life in Macon, Georgia.  Jon was critcally injured in Saturday night’s tragic auto crash that claimed the lives of Kortney Gordon and her preborn child Sophy.

Tuesday, October 18:  We are sad to report that Jon Scharfenberger has passed away from his injuries.  He died earlier today.

10:45 pm, Monday, October 17:  Jon has spiked a fever of 108 degrees F, which can be lethal. Urgent prayers are needed as this battle has taken a terrible turn for him.

10:30 am, Monday, October 17:  The doctors have induced a 72-hour coma in Jon.  Now is the time for prayer and fasting for Jon and his family.

5:30 pm, Saturday, October 15:  No further updates.  Pray for Jon’s condition to stabilize so that he can be transferred to a hospital specializing in brain trauma.

12:45 am, Friday, October 14:  Late Wednesday, Jon’s condition destablized for a time.  Throughout the day Thursday, his condition regained some sense of stability, but the issue is still in doubt.  Please pray for God’s healing for Jon, and pray for his family’s strength and comfort as the battle rages.

1:00 pm, Wednesday, October 12:  Jon has shown significant improvement since yesterday.  His condition remains extremely critical, but he is trending in the right direction, especially over the past 15 hours.  Please continue to pray.

2:00 pm, Tuesday, October 11:  There is a ray of hope.  Jon’s neurological condition has stopped deteriorating and has held steady through the night and through the morning.  From eye movements through his closed eyes, he is showing response to meaningful people in his life.  Having lived through the day yesterday, and having no further decline today are very hopeful indicators, though he remains in extremely critical condition.  The next 24 hours are crucial.  Specific are being withheld at the Family’s request.  Please keep up the prayers.  (link to source)

Kortney Blythe Gordon

Sunday, October 9:  We are stunned to learn of the death of our dear friend Kortney Blythe Gordon, who was killed (along with Sophy, her preborn child) in an automobile accident near Macon, Georgia last night.  Story here and here.  Kortney was the National Field Director for Students for Life of America (SFLA), and was in Georgia to attend the Students for Life of Georgia conference that was held yesterday.

Three passengers in Kortney’s car were seriously injured.  Updates on the passengers and their progress are given below.

Please pray.

Update, 1:00 am, Monday, October 10:  SFLA staff member Jon Scharfenberger was also seriously injured in the crash.  His prognosis is not good.  We’ve been told that the other two passengers have regained consciousness.  Updates are being posted on the SFLA Facebook page.

Update, 10:30 am, Monday, October 10:  No further word on Jon.  He is still in critical condition and is in the ICU.  SFLA is hosting a webcast at 5:00 p.m. ET tonight for those who want to pray and offer their words of support for Kortney’s family and of encouragement for Jon. David Bereit of 40 Days for Life, Reverend Pat Mahoney of Christian Defense Coalition, and Claude Allen of Gerard Health Foundation will be on the call to lead us in prayer and discussion to honor the lives of Kortney and her daughter Sophy, and to offer words of encouragement for Jon and his family. We encourage you to join the webcast by clicking here.

Update, 2:30 pm, Monday, October 10:  The other two persons injured in Saturday’s crash have been identified as Leo Buckle, President of the Students for Life group at the University of South Carolina, and Ginny Stone, a pro-life activist from a pregnancy center in Durham, NC.  Ginny’s condition has been upgraded to stable.  Both Leo and Ginny are expected to live, although they have sustained extremely serious internal injuries requiring extensive surgery.

No further word about Jon, except that he is in extremely critical condition.

More details about the accident have been published.  According to a press report, Quenby Means Jr., 56, of Irmo, SC, was southbound on Eatonton Highway (US 129), about 8 miles north of Gray Ga., when he attempted to pass two cars in his SUV.  He crashed head-on into Kortney’s northbound SUV.  Kortney and her passengers were on their way home from the Georgia Students for Life conference in Macon.

Update, 4:00 pm, Monday, October 10:  Jon’s condition is worsening.  We are told it will take a miracle for him to last until tomorrow.  Please pray for this awesome young man.

Update, 8:30 am, Tuesday, October 11:  We’ve learned that, as of last night, Jon had pulled out of the steep decline that was reported yesterday.  His condition has leveled off, which is a good news, but Jon still has a long way to go.  SFLA is asking for prayer and fasting.  A special time of prayer is requested at noon today and every day for the next 10 days (link).

Dialogue with pro-abortion student. (I got the shade; I was there first.)

This is our 8th day of GAP in the last 3 weeks.  If you count our Pro Life Training Academy, travel, and prep work, it’s my 16th day of hard labor in 19 days.  By hard labor I mean up at 6:00 am and to bed at midnight or later on GAP days … with only slightly more sleep on the other days.  There would be 3 more days after this one.

But God is good.  He knew that we were all tired.  He didn’t test us.  After we got the exhibit set up, I propped myself up on a wall underneath a shade tree, right near the poll table.  They would have to come to me.

At the poll table, students answer the question, “Should abortion remain legal?”  A “no” response means pro-life; we sign them up for the Pro Life Collegians.  A “yes” response means pro-abortion; we initiate dialogue with the goal of helping them rethink their position.  For most of the day, I just quietly asked the “yes” responders, one at a time, “May I ask why you responded that way?”  If they answer, we’re off to the races.

For a nice change of pace, God didn’t send any combative people over to the table this day.  The combative types can offer awesome opportunities, especially if they draw a crowd.  But they are rarely thoughtful and it is hard work to be reasonable with somebody who is unreasonable.  I just wasn’t up to it.

So God sent to me (and all the rest of us) a steady stream of people who were willing to have civil discourse.  He also sent a number of pro-lifers who gave us encouragement.  It was very different from most GAPs, including most GAPs at UT.

Of course, a few passersby gave us the “flying buzzard” as they rushed on past, but the drive-by’s can be easily ignored.  We should aways remember that such people are often facing struggles that we probably can’t imagine.  We should also remember that God loves each and every one of them, too.  But God would have had a hard time loving them through us on this day.  The civil ones got all we had to give.

Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani

You may have heard the story about Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, a Christian in Iran who has been sentenced to death because he is a Christian.  More about it on the Family Research Council (FRC) blog.  FRC encourages everyone to contact the Iranians on behalf of Pastor Nadarkhani, so I sent this terse e-mail to the e-mail address given by FRC (iran@un.int):

Iran,

Do not murder Yousef Nadarkhani. The world is watching to see if you are civilized human beings or just barbarians at the gate.

C. Fletcher Armstrong, PhD
Southeast Director
Center for Bio-Ethical Reform
PO Box 20115, Knoxville, TN 37940
www.ProLifeOnCampus.com
www.FletcherArmstrongBlog.com
www.facebook.com/ProLifeOnCampus
direct: 865-947-0179
mobile: 865-776-1312

I also sent an e-mail to Secretary of State Clinton here.

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Earlier, we posted a message from Warren Wilson, a student at Liberty, along with a response written by CBR Florida Director Mike Schrimsher.  Here is my response:

Dear Mr. Wilson,

If you are committed enough to want to end abortion, and I don’t doubt that you are, you owe it to yourself to study the history of social reform. If you look at the work of other reformers (William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, the American abolitionists, Lewis Hine, and Martin Luther King, Jr., to name a few), you will discover that they all used graphic images to help people relate to the humanity of the victims of injustice and the horror of the crime itself. I would challenge you to name one injustice that was ever eradicated by covering it up.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. brought about dramatic changes in our society, even ending segregation in less than 10 years. Was he wrong when he said this?:

We bring [injustice] out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with an its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured.

Dr. King also said, “America will never reject racism until America sees racism.”

Was Dr. King wrong? Other civil rights leaders thought so. They criticized him for making people uncomfortable about injustice. But he knew that unless people became uncomfortable with respect to the status quo, there would be no pressure for change. They told him some of the same things you and other Liberty students are telling us. They told him that he was making it harder for them, that he was undoing all the good that they had done, that he was making them look bad by association, that he was an outsider who should not come to Birmingham. But he went to Birmingham, anyway. He was arrested, and he wrote his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail. I hope you will read it. If you are going to invest yourself in the work of social reform, you ought to read the works of others who have done it before you.

Because some in the civil rights movement would not expose injustice, Dr. King called them “civil rights moderates” and said that they were more dangerous to the cause of civil rights than the Ku Klux Klan.

You said that we were neither winsome nor loving. But how is it loving to cover up the truth so that people don’t know how evil abortion really is? How is it loving to allow people to sin out of ignorance, when showing them the truth can lead them to obey God’s commands? When Christians see the horror of abortion, they are more likely to obey God’s command not to kill their own children (Mark 10:19). Furthermore, they are more motivated to protect and defend the defenseless (Proverbs 24:11-12). And finally, they more fully understand their duty as Christian leaders to teach other believers to do the same (Matthew 28:20).

You call out materials “extremist, hateful propaganda.” Can you give me one example of an extreme or hateful statement in any of our materials?

You mentioned that our people heckled you and your friends, that we yelled, condemned, and shoved posters in your face. I find that very hard to believe. All of our staff and volunteers sign an agreement that they will never shout at people and that they may offer literature but never pressure people to take it. If any of our people violated our very strict rules, then please provide me with additional details (who, what, where, etc.), so that I can put a stop to it.

[Note: since this e-mail was sent, we have determined that one CBR volunteer may have said something like, "I thought this was a Christian university."  This comment would have been a violation of our rules, but hardly the yelling, condemnation, shoving pictures in faces, etc. that was described in Mr. Wilson's e-mail. --- FAB]

After you have read Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, please read my letter to Liberty University (which you can link to from www.ProLifeOnCampus.com). I look forward to hearing from you.

Fletcher

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We got this note on our website from somebody in Maryville, Tennessee.  (It’s pronounced murr’-a-vul, for all you people in Rio Linda.)

A friend was thinking about [abortion] until we saw your website [www.abortionNo.org]

Thank you for supporting CBR and our work on campus, on the road, and on the web.

Liberty coed (facing camera) speaks with CBR Virginia Director Nicole Cooley.

We were blessed on our first day of GAP and RCC at Liberty University.  Read our letter to Liberty U here.

Many of our team has arrived safely, but we are pleased to say that reinforcements are on the way!

We are driving our fleet of Reproductive “Choice” Campaign (RCC) trucks all around the perimeter of the campus.  Also, we are displaying Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) signs and handing out pro-life photo-brochures at 3 of the most heavily trafficked entrances to the campus.

We thank God for a wonderful first day on campus.  We pray for many more to come!

If you agree that we must show Christians the truth about abortion, please click here.

Truck and GAP signs at Liberty University.

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A common logical fallacy they teach in pro-abortion debating school is the ad populum technique.  (That means appeal to popularity, for all you people in Rio Linda.)  It is often combined with the ad hominem attack, like this:

1. Most people disagree with you. (ad populum)
2. Therefore, you are an extremist. (ad hominem)
3. Therefore, you must be wrong.

Rejoice when they try that.  Without exeption, the pro-abortion debater will be so extreme in his/her views as to be an embarrassment to the typical pro-abortion citizen.  A recent Gallup poll found several points on which pro-choice people actually agree with us:

• Third trimester abortions should be illegal.  (79% of pro-choicers agree)
• Informed consent should be required.  (86% of pro-choicers agree)
• Partial-birth abortions should be banned.  (63% of pro-choicers agree)
• 24-hour waiting period should be required.  (60% of pro-choicers agree)
• Perental consent should be required for minors.  (60% of pro-choicers agree)
• Second trimester abortions should be illegal.  (52% of pro-choicers agree)

Compare these results to the typical pro-abortion activist who agrees with none of these statements.

Gallup concludes:

Abortion politics have been quite contentious in the United States; however, self-described “pro-life” and “pro-choice” Americans broadly agree on more than half of 16 major abortion policy matters Gallup tested in June and July.  These policies generally have to do with protections for women’s vital health, preventing late-term abortions, and ensuring that abortion patients and parents are fully informed before an abortion.

FAB will accept these results as largely accurate, because they are within the range of other polling data we have seen.  However, a word of caution is in order.

Always be wary of abortion statistics, whether they be trumpeted by pro-lifers or by pro-aborts.  Unlike many people on both sides of the issue, FAB tries to avoid the two most common errors we see:  (1) dismissing the results we don’t like and (2) taking the results we like as the final word.  It’s almost comical to watch both sides hold up the same poll and claim final victory.

We approach statistics with a certain amount of skepticism.  In that spirit, we found some major curiosities in the results of this poll:

1. Only 97% of pro-choicers agreed that abortion should be legal when a woman’s life is in danger.  What is the other 3% thinking?  How can they claim to be pro-choice?
2. Only 91% of pro-choicers agree that abortion should be legal when the pregnancy is caused by rape or incest.  What are the other 9% thinking?
3. On the flip-side, 35% of “pro-lifers” want abortion to be legal in the first trimester.  How could such people claim to be pro-life?  Could it be that 35% of pro-life people simply don’t pay a bit of attention to what they are doing when answering a poll?
4. Gallup says 9% of “pro-lifers” want abortion to be legal when when the woman/family can’t afford a child.  Again, how could such people claim to be pro-life?
5. Only 90% of “pro-lifers” want abortion to be illegal in the 2nd trimester and only 94% want it to be illegal in the third trimester.
6. Bottom line:  Somewhere between 6% and 35% of pro-life respondents aren’t paying attention.  Same is true for between 3% and 9% of pro-choice respondents.

Dr. Scot Chrisman, 1945-2011

We were saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Scot Chrisman last week at his home in Knoxville.  Doc — that’s what we called him, “Doc” — was a great friend to all of us at CBR Southeast.

He led an interesting life, to say the least.  As a younger man, he was a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry.  He later ran a construction company.  By the time we knew him, he had morphed into a marketing guru/consultant.  That’s quite a transformation!  He created 4 Aces Web Consulting and he loved to get his websites into the top positions on Google.

Doc had a tremendous influence on our work at CBR that will live on for many years.  He created the Pro Life on Campus theme that is featured in our website, fundraising programs, and printed materials.

Based on extensive study of our work, he suggested that our “unique selling proposition” is that our projects are winning hearts, changing minds, and saving lives.  He showed us how to structure our website to not only say it, but also prove it.

We had been talking about what to name our website.  We thought about CBRSoutheast, ProLifeSoutheast, ProLifeSE, and a host of other ideas, none of which we liked very much.  But then one morning I walked into his office (a table at the Panera Bread on North Peters Road) and immediately noted the gleam in his eye.  He told me he had solved our problem.  ProLifeOnCampus.com had come to him at about 2 o’clock in the morning, so he went online and just bought it for us.  It was perfect.

He also helped us conceptualize what we do and talk about it in ways that would resonate with a larger percentage of the general public. You can see his fingerprints all over our latest promotional video.  He told me that if he could help us market the controversial work we do at CBR, he could help anybody market anything!

This very blog was his idea.

Doc was a man of ideas.  Every week or two, he had a new idea that would make us all rich.  A week later, that can’t-miss idea was forgotten and he was furiously working on the next one.  One day he was figuring out a way to sell movies; a week later, he was marketing emu oil.  I fully expected that eventually he would hit on that big break-through that would make our Doc rich and famous.  I’m sorry he didn’t have more time to pursue that dream.

Doc loved God and country; you can be sure of that.  When we weren’t talking business, we were talking religion and politics.  Those were his two favorite topics.  And mine.  It was always a lot of fun, never boring.  We didn’t always agree on theological matters, but I could always count on hearing a unique perspective that was worth considering.

This is a sad time for all of us left behind, but I know that Doc is enjoying his eternal reward.  I look forward to seeing him again.  That is our promise:

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.  Do you believe this? (John 11:25-26)

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. (John 14:7)

For more on our assurance of eternal life in Jesus Messiah, go to www.thebiblepost.com/bible-scriptures-on-eternal-life.

Hey Doc, if they have a Panera Bread in Heaven, save me a table next to yours!

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... and now telling the truth. But only after lying first.

John Kerry voted for it before he voted against it.  Anthony Weiner lied before he told the truth (but only because he had to).  And now Planned Parenthood told the truth in private while lying in public.

What?  PP told the truth?  Say it ain’t so, Joe!  That’s stunning news.  But if they’re lying and truthing at the same time, do they really deserve partial credit?

Earlier today, Live Action released a video in which callers to Planned Parenthood clinics in Indiana actually told the truth.  YIKES!  PP admitted, truthfully, that patients on Medicare need not depend on PP, but can obtain the services they need from other health care providers in their communities.  This during an ongoing national campaign in which PP falsely claims that  poor women in Indiana will lose access to vital health care services if they cannot go to Planned Parenthood.

From the Live Action website:

In an official press release, Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards claimed that Indiana’s defunding of Planned Parenthood would “take away health care from thousands of women in Indiana.” Last week, Live Action’s undercover investigators called 16 of the 28 Indiana Planned Parenthood clinics posing as women on Medicaid concerned about where they could receive services if Planned Parenthood’s funding was not restored.

Planned Parenthood staffers at all 16 locations admitted that Medicaid women would still have access to medical care after the defunding. Staffers suggested local health clinics or state-assigned primary care physicians for Medicaid patients: “Your primary care doctor should be able to do [a Well Woman exam,] I mean, that’s what they’re there for,” said a Planned Parenthood in Michigan City, while the Merrillville Planned Parenthood said of a local community health center, “They have the same services we have.”

“According to Planned Parenthood’s own statistics, their 28 clinics serve less than 1% of Indiana Medicaid patients, yet they do more than 50% of Indiana abortions,” notes Rose. There are over 800 other Medicaid providers available to these women in the counties with Planned Parenthood clinics alone.”

Click here for more on this story.  Check out the video here:

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Abortion Warning Label

You may have heard about the new regulations on tobacco packaging that have been promulgated by the US Department of Health & Human Services.  They are saying what we have said all along.  Pictures work!

Here are some points and counterpoints.  Please comment.

Frequency.  21% of Americans smoke.

• 43% of women have abortions.

Deaths.  Smoking and other tobacco use is the “number one cause of preventable death” in America, claiming more than 440,000 lives a year, according to HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius.

• Actually, abortion is the number one cause of preventable death in America, claiming more than 1.2 million lives every year.

Verbal warnings not effective.  HHS believes current verbal warning labels are not as effective as they need to be, because they are ignored.

• Debates and speeches will not end abortion, because they are ignored.

Knowledge.  ”With these warnings, every person who picks up a pack of cigarettes is going to know exactly what risk they’re taking.” (HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius)

• When people see abortion photos, they will know exactly what they are doing.

Gross factor.  ”They are [really gross].  We want kids to understand smoking is gross, not cool.” (HHS Sec. Kathleen Sebelius)

• We want kids to understand killing preborn children is gross, not cool.

Immunity.  People have become immune to the old labels and really didn’t see them anymore. (Thomas Glynn, American Cancer Soc.)

• People don’t think about abortion in any kind of analytical way. Even “pro-life” Christians have become complacent about abortion and really don’t pay any attention to it.

Reminder that smoking kills.  ”For smokers, it’s a new and very visible reminder that smoking can harm them, harm people around them, including children.” (Thomas Glynn, American Cancer Soc.)

• For abortion-vulnerable parents, abortion images are a very visible reminder that abortion kills their children.

Images are for everyone.  ”For nonsmokers, it’s a reminder that smokers need their help and concern as far as quitting. The labels are not just for smokers, the labels are for anyone interested in public health.” (Thomas Glynn, American Cancer Soc.)

• For people not personally at risk of abortion, graphic images are a reminder that women and families need their help in choosing life. The images aren’t just for mothers, the images are for everyone interested in any mother’s wellbeing and that of her children.

People responding.  The American Lung Association says that calls to their stop-smoking hotline have spiked since the publicity over the new images.

• The first time abortion images appeared at the University of Tennessee, 9 women chose life (that we know about).

Staring them in the face.  ”For decades, Big Tobacco got away with slick marketing campaigns that fooled the public into thinking smoking was glamorous – and now we’re turning the tables on them. Each time a smoker reaches for a pack of cigarettes, the deadly truth will be staring them in the face.” (US Sen. Frank Lautenberg)

• For decades, Big Abortion got away with slick marketing campaigns that fooled the public into thinking that abortion was not a horrific act of violence, and now we’re turning the tables on them. Each time an abortion-vulnerable person sees one of our signs, the deadly truth will be staring them in the face.

GRTL Billboard

New Georgia Right to Life (GRTL) billboards will be seen by hundreds of thousands of Atlanta-area commuters daily.

LifeNews.com quoted a statement from GRTL:

Women across Georgia viewed these ads and understood that they needed information and that they had options they may not have considered. Phone calls to pregnancy centers across the state increased through Option Line, which then connected the caller to their local center.  Option Line, (800) 395-HELP, has operators available 7 days per week/24 hours per day.  To date, Georgia continues to lead the nation in Option Line calls.

More here.