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Posts Tagged ‘abortion’

“A clump of cells?!”

With our prenatal development GAP sign, we show how a “clump of cells” is endowed with arms and legs and fingers and toes.  Some “clump of cells.”

by Kendra Wright

At Tennessee Tech, a Middle Eastern student told me that he is Muslim and in his country, killing the unborn is just like killing a born person.  But he knew very little about abortion.

He was very shocked to hear that 1.2 million die every year in this country from abortion.

He asked why people get abortions and if “not wanting” the child is a frequent justification.  I confirmed that this is often the case.

I started explaining the difference between a wanted child and an unwanted child.  If a child is wanted, we call it a baby.  If it is unwanted, we call it a clump of cells.

He was shocked.  “A clump of cells?!”

He could see right away that a baby is not just a clump of cells and calling it such is ridiculous.

Kendra Wright is a CBR project director and a regular FAB contributor.

Hungry for Change at Liberty University

This Liberty student is hungry … but, for what? His answer may not be as creepy as it seems.  Read on to find out why.

by Nicole W. Cooley

I got my first collegiate baseball cap at Liberty University in August 2011.

But at Liberty, we weren’t actually on the campus.  Despite requests by Student Government and CBR, the Liberty Administration repeatedly denied permission for our GAP display.  First Amendment rights don’t exist at private schools.

That is very creepy, I thought.  But then I saw the fine print at the bottom of his sign.

But we came anyway.  We used the streets, sidewalks, and public spaces just off campus.  We displayed GAP signs at the campus entrances and drove Truth Trucks around the perimeter of campus.  Five Truth Trucks.  For an entire week.

I lost count how many times students asked me, “Why are you here?  Everyone at Liberty is pro-life already.  Why don’t you go somewhere else?”  Many were annoyed at our presence.

Over and over I replied, “I’m so glad you are pro-life.  What are you doing about it?  Do you vote pro-life?  Do you sidewalk counsel outside of abortion clinics?  We’re here because you are attending the largest Christian university in the United States.  If we can’t get Christians to care about abortion, we have no hope of ending it.”

One conversation stood out.  On the fourth day, a young man came up to me in tears.  “Why are you doing this?  I can’t get those pictures out of my head!”

I gently replied to him in the same way as I did the others, “We had to break your heart about abortion – otherwise you’d continue in ignorant apathy like the rest of America.”

On the last day at Liberty, we finally got a protester … or so I thought.  A student stood along the side of the road with his sign which read, “Looking at dead babies just makes me hungry.”

That is very creepy, I thought.  But then I saw the fine print at the bottom of his sign, “…for change.”  Because he saw the pictures, he was hungry for change.

Amen!  So are we.

Nicole Cooley is a CBR project director and a FAB contributor.  This is the second in a series of “hat blogs” about memorable conversations gleaned from her experiences with GAP.

This public space near the bookstore allowed CBR to overcome the Liberty University’s censorship of the pro-life message.

We will not “take it down a notch!”

CBR’s Jackie Hawkins boldly showing the truth

by Kendra Wright

Sometimes people say we would be more effective if we “just passed out brochures.”  One student at East Carolina University (ECU) suggested we  “take it down a notch.”

Martin Luther King and William Wilberforce were not afraid to be bold …  and they didn’t conquer social injustice with informational brochures.  Several at ECU realized the effectiveness of our strategy and the need for boldness.

At ECU, one man stopped and faced the truth.  He exclaimed, “Wow, I had no idea this is what abortion was!  They are so tiny … and that is a hand!” He would not have known if we had not showed him.

Another student claimed that the display was “”too much.“” CBR’s Jane Bullington explained the history behind using pictures and how we focus on changing minds.  He said, “I see what you are doing and respect your right to do it.  If this had just been a brochure handed out, you and I wouldn’t be talking.”

A gentleman who regularly walks the ECU campus and prays scripture over it was so glad we were there.  He too had used abortion photos and had stood his ground when told to stop.  Other Christians and pro-lifers had told him to tamp it down, and he said NO!

CBR also says NO!  We will not stop giving the unborn a voice!

Kendra Wright is a CBR project director and a regular FAB contributor.

“Please tell me what this means!”

Becoming informed about abortion.

by Kendra Wright

When we showed abortion victim photos at Georgia Southern University, students wanted to know more.

One student cried out, “Please, somebody, tell me what this is all about!”  That is exactly what we want them to ask.  The pictures create opportunities to bring life-saving information to students who know very little about abortion.

Another student exclaimed, “I don’t know how abortions are done. Please tell me!”

Yet another wanted more information about the local pro-life pregnancy help center.

A biology student told us that she knew the facts about the preborn.  She said, “While this is hard to see, I am glad you are here.  People need to see and people need to know what the word means.”

That’s why you sent us … to give life-saving information to the people who need it most.  Please consider a generous investment in the lives of babies and moms.

Kendra Wright is a CBR project director and a regular FAB contributor.

Gallup poll results: “I don’t know what I mean!”

The abortion industry has been gloating over a new Gallup poll that claims half of all Americans identify themselves as “pro-choice.”  But the devil for the pro-aborts is in the details.

You don’t have to drill down very far to see that 55% of Americans agree that abortion should be completely illegal or legal only in a few circumstances.  Only 42% say abortion should be legal under most or all circumstances.

Apparently, many Americans don’t know what they mean by “pro-choice” or “pro-life.”  For example, 4% of those who described themselves as “pro-choice” said that abortion should be illegal in all circumstances.  Not sure what they were smoking.  (Come to think of it, that 4% is roughly equal to the percentage of Americans who live where marijuana is legal; hmmmmm.)

Anyway, a full 23% of self-described “pro-choicers” said abortion should be legal in only a few circumstances.  Hardly your classical “pro-choice” position.

Always look at the details.

Pro-Life on Campus at Columbus State University

Emily McGowan of Liberty University explains how genocide perpetrators always dehumanize their victims

Emily McGowan of Liberty University explains how genocide perpetrators always dehumanize their victims.

For the first time in history, CBR exposed the horror at Columbus State University (CSU) in Georgia.  We were hosted by the CSU Advocates for Life (AFL), the student group we started earlier this year.

We were joined by five students from Liberty University in Virginia who spent their spring break winning hearts, changing minds, and saving lives.  We pray for the day these students expose abortion on their own campus, without interference from the Liberty University staff.

The trip was funded by the Chattahoochee Valley United for Life (CVUL), a chapter of Georgia Right to Life (GRTL).  Over the years, we have worked with many GRTL chapters to bring GAP to Georgia.  This trip was a huge answer to prayer.

CBR and CVUL hosed our Pro-Life Training Academy (PLTA) to prepare members and students alike to articulate and defend the pro-life movement, even in a hostile environment.

Check out the local media coverage:

A middle-aged woman told us, “I am so glad you are here. Folks don’t understand what they are doing. I have 50 year-old friends who are still hurting from abortion. It goes so much deeper than people realize.”  Indeed.

Amendment 1 is Common Ground

The Knoxville News Sentinel printed part of my letter, but here is the entire letter.

The abortion debate is usually quite polarized, so people are always asking me, “Isn’t there some room for common ground between pro-life and pro-choice?” I never thought so until now, but clearly, Amendment 1 is that common ground.

People on both sides agree that abortion facilities should be licensed and inspected. Amendment 1 allows that to happen.

People on both sides agree that women should never be coerced into having abortions, yet the Elliot Institute reports that as many as 60% of abortions are coerced (Forced Abortion in America, accessed online). Amendment 1 allows measures to curtail unwanted coercion.

People on both sides agree that women should be given all the information regarding medical risks and alternatives to abortion, yet the Elliot Institute reports that 79% of women were not told of available resources.

If you follow the money, the big money against Amendment 1 is coming from the abortion industry. Go figure. But most people agree that regulatory oversight is important and necessary to ensure women’s health.

Vote Yes on 1 to protect women

by Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey

Tennessee is one of the best-managed states in the nation. Our budget is balanced every year, we have cut taxes and our recent education reforms are the envy of other states.

Due to its many attractive qualities, Tennessee has become a great magnet: for retirees looking for a place to spend their golden years, for working people looking to escape states that bleed their earning through state income taxes and for entrepreneurs looking to take advantage of our business-friendly environment.

Unfortunately, there is another reason people come to Tennessee that is not cause for celebration: our liberal abortion laws.

In fact, just a few days ago, the New York Times asked in a headline whether Tennessee was the “abortion capital of the bible belt.” It is my hope that Tennesseans will go to the polls Nov. 4 and vote YES on Amendment 1 so that question will never be asked again — rhetorically or otherwise.

The origin of this amendment is rooted in a Tennessee Supreme Court decision which asserted Tennessee’s Constitution prevents the legislature from passing common-sense laws regarding abortion. Planned Parenthood v. Sundquist (2000) resulted in the removal of three protections passed by the General Assembly: informed consent, a 48-hour waiting period and a requirement that late term abortions be performed in a hospital setting. A fourth protection passed after the ruling that would have required state inspection of abortion facilities and licensure of providers was also struck down.

So in Tennessee, hairdressers and exterminators are licensed and inspected – but there is no oversight of people who perform abortions.

The lies told by those who oppose Amendment 1 are cynical and misleading. They insinuate the amendment could end legal abortion in Tennessee. It does no such thing. The amendment would merely allow the legislature to pass common sense laws regarding abortion that many, many other states have passed. Nothing more.

These measures have widespread support. While the extreme liberal activists at the Tennessee Democratic Party are spreading half-truths and conspiracy theories, the fact is Amendment 1 has support across ideological and party lines. Amendment 1 passed the legislature by wide margins.

That means legislators, Democrat and Republican, pro-life and pro-choice, believe Tennesseans should have the final say.

Those who support unrestricted, unregulated abortion on demand are trying to make Amendment 1 a litmus test on whether one believes in legal abortion. It is not.

This issue is beyond simplistic labels. Personally, I am pro-life and believe that abortion is the killing of an innocent human life. But even those who believe abortion should remain legal think the practice should be safe, legal and rare.

This amendment does not eliminate the right to choose; it simply allows us to join with other states to pass common sense laws that protect women and ensure their safety.

Many Tennesseans are decidedly pro-life and some are militantly pro-abortion but a plurality are somewhere in between. Polls indicate that nearly half of the electorate falls somewhere between the two polar extremes. This amendment not only brings us in line with a majority of other states, it allows us to put safeguards in place on which most reasonable people can agree.

According to the Department of Health, nearly one-fourth of women having abortions in Tennessee were from out of state. Tennessee should be known for its scenic vistas and pro-business economy, not for having the most liberal abortion laws in the southeast.

Vote Yes on Amendment 1 and bring common sense back to the abortion discussion in Tennessee.

FAB contributor Ron Ramsey also serves as the Tennessee Lt. Governor and Speaker of the Senate … in his spare time.

Doubling your vote for pro-life Amendment 1 … legally!

Pro-lifers voted for Gov. Haslam in 2010 and would do it again.  But this year, many will skip the Tennessee governor’s race altogether.  Why?

Because a vote for governor (any candidate) will be a half-vote against pro-life Amendment 1.  The Tennessean explains in this article.  According to the Tennessean … and have no fear, they are correct this time …:

 That logic … hinges on a provision in the state constitution that outlines the threshold an amendment must get for it to succeed — a majority of the votes cast in the gubernatorial election regardless of the number of votes cast on the amendment.

Watch this video and pass it on!

The Pro-Life Viewpoint and Equal Access

This is artwork I included with my letter to the mayor. It’s intended to match the cool colors of the rainbow.

A few days ago, a federal district judge in Asheville, North Carolina declared the state’s marriage amendment to be unconstitutional.  This amendment to the North Carolina constitution, passed in 2012 by a margin of roughly 61 to 39% of those voting, affirmed marriage to be between a man and a woman.  The judge acted under an implied directive from the U.S. Supreme Court when it refused to accept an appeal from a decision of the 4th Federal Circuit Court, which overturned Virginia’s marriage amendment.  North Carolina falls under the 4th Circuit’s authority.

Asheville, then, is ground zero of the moment for our state on this issue.  And Asheville City Council, cheerleaders for “marriage equality”, hung a giant rainbow flag on the exterior of City Hall in celebration of the supposed legalization of unnatural marriage.  It created quite a stir here.

Some local conservatives claimed that City Council broke laws regarding requirements for public meetings, since the decision to hang the flag was made informally.  Another conservative leader (a former City Councilman) posted on his Facebook page a photo of City Hall with the rainbow flag next to a photo of City Hall hung with a Nazi swastika flag.  It got lots of attention.

I took a different approach and filed a formal request to hang a pro-life banner on the building. What follows is text of the letter I sent to the mayor:

October 14, 2014

Mayor Esther Manheimer
City of Asheville
P.O. Box 7148
Asheville, NC 28802

Greetings,

Please consider this letter an application to display a Life Advocates banner on the side of Asheville City Hall on Friday, October 31, 2014, between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

The banner is approximately thirty feet long and four feet high.  It is made of a durable vinyl fabric with a black background and white letters that say “STOP ABORTING CHILDREN!”

It is the same banner we carried in Asheville’s Sesquicentennial parade some years ago.  Because abortion violently destroys the lives of millions of pre-natal human beings, and is government protected and sponsored, it is the foremost human rights issue of our day.

In an informal session, Asheville City Council recently designated the City Hall as a Limited Public Forum, making the exterior of the building accessible to the public for visual displays.  Federal case law is consistently explicit that in these circumstances, government is prohibited from engaging in viewpoint discrimination.

We would like the banner displayed to the same extent and in the same position or higher on the west side of the building that a rainbow flag was displayed on Friday, October 10.  With assistance and supervision of the City, we will ensure that the banner is affixed to the building in such a way as to be safe for the property and pedestrians.

The date for our requested use of the building coincides with a protest on the public sidewalks around Planned Parenthood’s proposed new killing site on 16 McDowell Street, which it expects to open within the next few months.  The protest, which we call “A Presence of Truth and Prayer” will be Saturday, November 1, “All Saints Day” from 9:00 a.m. until 12 noon.

Sincerely, Meredith Eugene Hunt

Copies sent to: City Councilmen and Vice Mayor, City Manager, Asheville Attorney, Parks and Recreation

LIFE ADVOCATES PO Box 19205 Asheville, NC 28815 828-575-7300

Here’s a link to a local TV news story on our request.

While a couple City Councilmen have expressed themselves on the matter, we have yet to receive an official response.  A friend of mine made an inquiry and was told the City’s legal department is doing some research.  I will file an update next week.

-Meredith “Mick” Hunt

Note: a title for the monarch butterfly photo is “complexity in smallness”.  I took it on the Blue Ridge Parkway this fall.  Click to enlarge.

Mick Hunt is the Director of Life Advocates and a regular FAB contributor.

How Liberals Reach the Tops of Their Professions (funny video)

Liberal Alinskyites don’t have a monopoly on ridiculing political opponents.

If you need a refreshing break, watch the video below, as Evan Sayet asks (and answers) an all important question.

If the Modern Liberal is in fact as stupid as I believe him to be, then how is one to explain the fact that so many Liberals rise to the very pinnacle of their professions?  If Nancy Pelosi is stupid, how did she become the Speaker of the House of Representatives?  If Katie Couric is stupid, how did she become the most recent recipient of the Edward R Murrow award for “excellence” in television journalism.  If Henry Gates and Ward Churchill are stupid, how did they become tenured professors?

Sayet explains the inexplicable, and the clip ends with:

…and they hate religious folk, the most…  See, the idea of being a conservative is we try to better ourselves.  Liberals spend their lives just being themselves. And you would think they would love the Catholics because you don’t even wait until you’re born to start being yourself.  You were yourself in the womb.  And you would think the liberals would love you for that, because, what is the womb? Basically, it’s a liberal paradise.  Right?  Basically, you’re sitting in a hot tub, feeding off of somebody else.

More on Evan Sayet:

Poetry is War (Part 2)

By Mick Hunt

The following poem is best experienced by watching the video.  Listen, watch, read.  It’s powerful.

Civil War
Written and performed by Shawn Welcome

1861. Musket, rifles with miniball bullets blast across the Mason-Dixon line, from both sides. Bayonets in my neighbor’s neck if they’re close enough, gun-smoke and tensions in the air, this won’t end for another four years. The American Civil War, a bloody conflict within the same nation. On the backs of Blacks was built the wealthiest. Lincoln had no use for these slave trades. He had more honorable ways of being successful. The Confederate South couldn’t stand it and a house divided against itself, can’t anyway.

Firearms changed everything.

Slave ships were packed and hearts were hardened, never asked to be here, how unfair that we’re the problem. Never asked to be here, how unfair that they’re the problem.

All in the name of freedom.

Party like a rock-star while little ones are dying. Silent screams from injected saline and dreams you will never hear because little lungs were punctured before they could fully function. Who will be a voice for the voiceless?

The abolitionists.

How many freight trains of injustice will roll by behind church buildings while service inside sings louder? Hands in the air, pump up the volume, bass, kick, snare, drowning out the rumblings of oppression. No formal funerals, nor miniature caskets, only the likes of medical waste to management tell me “how many pounds of flesh do you pick up for profit?”

And when will that wait begin to weigh down on your conscience?

Jim Jones, no thanks. You can keep your kool-aid.

This sugar coated genocide is sponsored by media, abortion pills, birth control, control the growth, convince them to commit cultural suicide. Not televised, and the Hill’s killer number one among African-Americans is done by a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Music soft, white coats. Put them on, take them off. How much does it cost to ignore the exotic white tiger in the bathroom? Or, are we too hung over to pick up the phone. “I know you don’t want to go through with this, but are these counselors counseling, or selling a service?”

Tell me, who’s going to sue an abortionist for malpractice if the purpose is to keep it under hush. If they don’t care about your baby, they don’t care about your body. This is called “making it rain under the umbrella of womens’ health.”

Fifty dollar bills are filled with the faces of Ulysses S. Grant, who led the Union army into victory. Cash wins again and still rules everything around me. Methods of man are like Hulk, busting from the seams with all green. And if they could put a tax on crack, you will find it at your local Walgreens.

Trust me.

We take less than 2% of the cases, rape, incest and life on the line to justify the 99. Reckless, who occupy all streets.

Listen, men and women need higher standards and better judgement. On my wish list. But hurt people, hurt people. This all boils down to forgiveness. Where’s the humility? Daddies running away like slaves from the so-called shackles and chains of responsibility

Meanwhile, Mommy wants to secede from this union, and it only ends in bloodshed. History repeats itself. The new civil war where African Americans are still on the front lines. No jury. Dying for the same reasons. They’re not human, fully. Slavery wouldn’t have ended if it depended on quiet. Folks willing to take a bullet to the head and some riots, and I’m all for non-violence because words can change trends, but worse than words from my enemies is the silence from my friends.

 Author Notes:

  1. I transcribed the words from the video, so it’s not arranged on the page like Mr. Welcome would.  If you want to see brief commentary on the poem by Dr. Alveda King, go here.  The video is a promotional for Stand4Life.
  2. This is another, different performance of the poem.
  3. Please visit Shawn Welcome’s website, where you can find recordings of other of his poems.  Mr. Welcome is available to speak to groups.

Mick Hunt (Meredith Eugene Hunt) is a FAB contributor.  He has helped organize more than 50 Genocide Awareness Projects (GAPs) all over the southeast and elsewhere.

Poetry is War (Part 1)

By Mick Hunt

In mid-July the Republican governor of North Carolina dropped a bombshell, or so you’d think if you read any quotes from his natural opponents, the Lions of the Literary Left.

The Democrats of our state are still roaring because of the demise in 2012 of their 140 year dynasty, during which they controlled one or more of the two legislative bodies and/or the office of Governor. Since then we’ve been barraged by “Moral Monday” marches and rallies and other truly meaningless events across the state that captivate the attention of a discriminating media, discriminating against what’s really important.

For instance, a handful of abortion activists left a box of broken cookies at the gate of the governor’s mansion last week.  If his “war on women” wasn’t bad enough, Governor McCrory offended additionally when he “face slapped” the world of literature by appointing an unknown writer to be the Poet Laureate of our state. Valerie Macon, whose writing credits primarily included two self-published books of poetry, had not been vetted by the NC Arts Council, as per long standing custom, had not been recognized over time by the established poetic community, and she might even be a Republican, some said.  A writer for Slate Magazine commented on a certain poet’s response:

“Vitiello concludes by pronouncing Valerie Macon “Pat McCrory’s middle finger, pointed at North Carolina’s literary tradition.”…However, something about Vitiello’s brutal response doesn’t sit well. I can understand his frustration, and his sense of the stakes, but public dismemberment is never fun to witness, particularly of someone who means no harm.”

The Governor so allegedly insulted the dignity of the Office of Poet Laureate, that four past Poet Laureates wrote him a joint letter of protest . When I first read the news stories about this, the name of their chief spokesman, Kathryn Stripling Byer, seemed familiar. I haven’t been able to find it yet, but I’m almost certain Byer wrote me a letter back in 1994 objecting to the newspaper advertisements I took out about a pro-abortion female candidate for Congress. A little internet research however found these sample comments from her left on our then Democratic congressman Heath Shuler’s website in February of 2011:

Kathryn Stripling Byer
Yes, Mr. Shuler, how can you have voted against the women of WNC? You make me ashamed to say you represent our district.
February 18, 2011 at 6:26pm

Kathryn Stripling Byer
Stand with Planned Parenthood–go to this link:http://www.ppaction.org/IStandWithPP
February 18, 2011 at 6:44pm

Her issue was the rather innocuous HR 358 of 2011, called the Protect Life Act, which was intended to keep abortion out of the equation of the Affordable Care Act, (ObamaCare.)

So, even though I would agree that McCrory’s process overlooked many highly qualified, gifted, hard working poets, I’m guessing the opposition to the governor’s appointment of Valerie Macon was more about harming him politically than it was about poetry. The Poets Laureate said nothing about the quality of her poetry. And Macon might very well have been an outstanding Poet Laureate, making poetry an art of the people rather than, as one commentator suggested, of the realm of the MFA baristas. To her credit, and hinting at the cruelty of her opposition, Valerie Macon resigned after less than a week.

The whole situation offered rich entertainment value, tinged with pathos in witnessing the crushing of one enthusiastic voice. If anything, during her brief days in the office she helped poetry more than all the past NC Poets Laureates together did with all their hundreds of publications, honors, and awards. Because, I and many others didn’t even know we had a Poet Laureate until the protests about her appointment began.

The situation also taught me that poetry is political. I wonder now how much poetry is suffused with the abortion culture, how much undercurrent, how much subtext. It also helped me realize that poetry can work the other way, that we should infuse life into words and craft them into weapons for truth.

Let’s fight poetry with the fire of poetry.

Mick Hunt (Meredith Eugene Hunt) is a FAB contributor.  He has helped organize more than 50 Genocide Awareness Projects (GAPs) all over the southeast and elsewhere.

 

Half the Battle is Just Showing Up

People in this tour group of parents and prospective students were trying not to look at the GAP display, but eventually, they couldn’t help but see. (Click to enlarge.)

by Mick Hunt

Fall is coming and classes have begun at the major universities in the United States and Canada. Which means it’s the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) season again. I hope you will consider joining the team for the GAP nearest you. At least come out to observe. There’s a need for every kind of personality and set of interests and abilities.

We just need to show up, and that’s where we fail most often.

Some people are really good at speaking to crowds. Fletcher Armstrong is one of the best at this. Every group that gathers becomes his class and he is the professor. Stephanie Grey of CBR Canada is best at give and take in a crowd. I prefer the one-on-one, off-script, creative, philosophical discussion.

All of us struggle with the angry, bright, loud, combative student or professor. Sometimes the most you can do is listen, and let the pictures speak for themselves. I enjoy talking or debating with really smart people, and invariably they know more about certain subjects than I do, in which case I’m usually quiet while listening and asking questions. I look at these times as an opportunity to learn.

The one thing that makes it all easier is the fact that our position is right. We represent truth, fact, and reason. And no matter how smart or educated you are, no matter how polished your PhD looks, or how many peer-reviewed publications you have, or how many academic honors you’ve received, if you are trying to defend the indefensible, you will have a hard time, especially if you believe too many things that aren’t true. We pro-lifers, on the other hand, win the debate without saying a word. We just need to show up, and that’s where we fail most often.  Very few pro-life people are involved when needed (or as often).

Showing up. Let me tell you about a classic confrontation during our Genocide Awareness Project at North Carolina State University (NCSU) last spring.

I was standing at the corner of the GAP display nearest the student center where most of the traffic was. Between me and the main walking lane was a line of pro-abortion-choice students holding signs. All of a sudden someone started shouting. He was a rather nice looking student with a clear baritone voice in an Australian accent. He had been talking with one of the GAP volunteers, another man about my age. Something apparently ticked the student off, which set him hurling insults at the volunteer.

He then said, “Who’s in charge here, who is the mastermind? Who can answer my questions?”

He then shouted a few of the usual derogatory remarks about GAP. A few people around cheered.

True, he was angry, but he obviously was clear-headed, fearless, and bright. Capable of sarcastic, winsome insight. I was intimidated. So, when he looked directly at me and asked loudly if I was the mastermind, I was relieved when an attractive girl just then spoke to me out of the blue from my left when I had been looking toward the commotion on the right. She had asked a question, an easy one. So, I was saved from being drawn into a public spectacle in which I had a clear disadvantage. No way I could look good and respond to this guy in front of a crowd. I just can’t yell and be winsome.

Things quieted down and I took a break and sat on a brick wall away from the action. Then I noticed our Australian friend was talking quietly with Starla, a pro-life acquaintance of mine from Asheville. I joined them just as the young man asked her about the classic “Famous Violinist” thought-experiment of Judith Jarvis Thomson, the scenario taught in every introductory liberal rhetoric class.

In a few moments I could tell Starla wasn’t prepared for this question, and I joined in. She left after a minute. (She said later it was fine for me to butt in.) Then I talked with the young man for the next hour. It turned out that he had been a war paramedic in Afghanistan and had seen more than his share of blood, death, and mangled bodies. Also, he said his mother was strongly pro-life and had often debated with him about abortion. So, he was good at this.

I believe (for the reasons given above) I won the debate. He could only assert but not defend his claim that it’s OK to kill a prenatal child and not OK to kill a born child, but he wouldn’t admit it, of course. His argument was built around “agency” or the mother’s right to “bodily integrity”, which means a woman is morally permitted to repel a person who “invades” her body, even if the person is her own child whose very existence came into being by the child’s mother’s actions, actions which are by nature those bringing people into existence. And even if society ordinarily places a burden on parents, even unwilling parents, to either provide for a child or safely turn the child over to another agent.

My conclusion was to say his position was “brutal”. He said it wasn’t, and basically that’s where we ended the debate. If a person can’t see how it is brutal to kill a child in the womb when looking at the photographs of brutally killed children, I don’t know what else to say. My conversation with him took place on our first day we were at NCSU, and I saw him again the second day when we spoke again briefly.

At least I gave him an amicable, cogent presentation, but conversations like this point out the price we are paying for 47 years of legal child killing by abortion since 1967. The brutality of it isn’t so raw anymore. Over time, some people have become so accustomed to the violence that they don’t believe it is violence. Which is all the more reason to reach as many people as possible as soon as possible before it’s too late to turn things around.

So, we need to show up. We need to stand and talk.

Mick Hunt is a regular contributor to FAB.

GAP is Media

by Mick Hunt

“Abortion bias seeps into news.”

Well, we older pro-lifers have known this a long time.  In fact, a stunning revelation of the universal modern phenomena written by a staff writer appeared with this exact title in the LA Times in 1990, 24 years ago.  One reason for the bias, the author says, is because as many as 90% of reporters and editors “favor abortion rights.”

… we bypass the bias and censorship of the news media and go directly to people, which is to say, it is media, carrying the message to readers, listeners, and viewers.

Since Roe v. Wade and before, the American populace has been subjected to daily distortion, misinformation, and news blackouts about abortion and the pro-life movement. No wonder we encounter so much inertia and resistance to protecting pre-natal children.

If anything, what once was bias has transformed into abortion advocacy.

When the old Soviet Union controlled all the open media within its empire, it still could not suppress the truth. Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty broadcast news into communist controlled territories. From within, dissidents secretly typed, reproduced on mimeograph machines, and hand-distributed censored publications, including fiction, poetry, and unofficial news accounts, which all was called samizdat.

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) and its Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) are like Radio Liberty and samizdat.  With GAP, we bypass the bias and censorship of the news media and go directly to people, which is to say, it is media, carrying the message to readers, listeners, and viewers.

And not only does GAP communicate and generate discussion at the display and between people around campus, it provokes multiple news stories and commentary.

Soviet dissident and Nobel Prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn once wrote that even distorted, deceptive propaganda can be informative once you have learned to read between the lines, so keep this in mind as you look into the media reports and published comments.  And with some material, such as this revealing Facebook Event page from the group that attempted to censor GAP at NC State University last spring (as with C.S. Lewis’s book The Screwtape Letters), you have to reverse the values and meanings portrayed.

This summer my son spent ten days in Prague, Czech Republic.  He said a dominant feature of the city skyline was the imposing Žižkov television tower, standing at seven hundred and nine feet tall, a remnant of the Soviet Union’s intention to block television broadcasts from free Germany and the West.

The story is always the same.

With the help of supporters (click here to help), CBR will continue to broadcast the uncensored truth about the oppression of abortion directly to the many thousands of students, staff, and faculty on our nation’s university campuses and to people on our public highways and byways.  We will go back again and again.  And then we pray truth and courage together will topple the abortion empire.

Mick Hunt (Meredith Eugene Hunt) is a FAB contributor.  He has helped organize more than 50 Genocide Awareness Projects (GAPs) all over the southeast and elsewhere.