by Maggie Ferrara

Two years ago today, when I was 6 weeks pregnant, I was assaulted for speaking out against abortion.

My colleague Jackie and I were displaying pictures of aborted babies on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) when a girl walked up to us and started pouring orange juice over the sign I was holding. Before I even realized what was happening, she raised her arm and poured the remainder of the bottle over my head and face. Then she quickly turned and walked away. Shocked, we called out after her, “Hey, what are you doing?” But she remained silent. As my eyes stung and my face dripped, Jackie dropped her sign and flagged down the nearby policeman. The girl was arrested immediately.

Thankfully, we were each wearing a GoPro video camera, which captured the entire incident and made it all extremely easy for the Commonwealth’s Attorney assigned to my case. (See above.) The arresting officer, who was a VCU Policeman, mentioned later that the school was considering expelling her for her actions. That seemed harsh to me, but I didn’t know what an appropriate punishment should be.

Several weeks later, in a Richmond City court room, the judge gave her sentence: 100 hours of community service and a verbal apology to me (which she completed immediately). But that wasn’t all. My orange juice assailant, Rachel, had to write a three-page paper about the importance of The First Amendment and return to court to read it into the record. I couldn’t have come up with any better punishment!

Sometimes I think back to this incident and wonder about Rachel. I don’t really know anything about her except her name. But I wonder. What motivated her to pour orange juice on me? Why was she silent during her attack? Did she regret her actions immediately, or when she was arrested, or maybe not until much later? I assume she does now. These and many other questions come to mind. I also wonder if she still thinks about it. Does she think about me? She didn’t know any more about me than I did about her. She didn’t know I was pregnant when she attacked me. If she had known, would that have mattered to her?

I will probably never know the answers to these questions. But I can pray for Rachel, and so I will.

Maggie Ferrara is the Communications Director for The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform. She has been a pro-life missionary for almost 9 years. She lives in Virginia with her husband and daughter.

Annie Whaley, our youngest 2020 Summer Intern, had been apprehensive about talking to strangers about abortion. Thanks to the training and mentoring she received, Annie was able to overcome that fear. She shared, “Doing [pro-life] activism is something I wanted to do, but I never really pictured myself doing it. But it pushed me out of my comfort zone and made me realize it’s not about me…it’s about sharing the truth.”

To hear more about Annie’s powerful experience as a CBR Intern, check out the video below.

We’re still accepting applications for our 2021 Internship, until February 28th! (The internship runs from May 17 to August 6 in Knoxville, Tennessee.) For more information and to submit an application, click here.

Already active in the pro-life movement, Britt Huddleston was a little skeptical that using abortion victim images would really make that much of a difference. Looking back, she said “I was definitely converted that first time we did activism…It got to the heart of the issue…You can’t deny the reality of abortion, that it’s killing a person, when you’re sitting there looking at it.”

To hear more about Britt’s powerful experience as a CBR Intern, check out the video below.

We’re still accepting applications for our 2021 Internship, until February 28th! (The internship runs from May 17 to August 6 in Knoxville, Tennessee.) For more information and to submit an application, click here.

Heidi Whaley had always been pro-life, but thought of abortion as a “distant problem” for which she had no personal responsibility. During CBR’s Summer Intern Program, Heidi’s view changed. “Through this experience, I’ve come to view abortion for what it really is: a bloody, ghastly war. I haven’t been asked to help fight in this war, I’ve been called by God.”

To hear more about Heidi’s powerful experience as a CBR Intern, check out the video below.

We’re still accepting applications for our 2021 Internship, until February 28th! (The internship runs from May 17 to August 6 in Knoxville, Tennessee.) For more information and to submit an application, click here.

When asked what she would say to fellow pro-life Christians, 2020 Intern Maggie Groover had this to say: “Why are you being silent? We know that this is going on. It’s not a secret. How can you ignore this any longer? It’s our responsibility to stand up.” 

To hear more about Maggie’s powerful experience as a CBR Intern, check out the video below. 

We are still accepting applications for our 2021 Internship, until February 28th! (The internship runs from May 17 to August 6 in Knoxville, Tennessee.) For more information and to submit an application, click here.

CBR was blessed with four fabulous interns here in Knoxville this summer. From a taekwondo black belt, to an artist, they brought many skills to the table.

CBR 2020 Interns: Maggie, Britt, Heidi, & Annie

Sisters Annie and Heidi Whaley hail from East Tennessee, just like another one of CBR’s favorite people! Growing up in a strong Christian family, Heidi remembers her dad telling stories of martyrs for the faith, “I’ve always heard standing up for righteousness is hard, but after this summer, I know it firsthand. I’ve felt God’s presence this summer like never before. He has given me boldness in my insecurity, peace in my fear, and strength in my weakness.”

Maggie Groover also grew up pro-life. “It was never something I wrestled with, but it has grown in importance to me as I’ve grown closer to God.” Coming from a large family in North Carolina, Maggie decided college was not for her and instead entered the workforce after high school.

Unlike the other three, Britt Huddleston was pro-choice through most of high school. She eventually realized that “My body my choice” is an extremely intellectually dishonest argument, and that there is nothing scientific about calling a fetus “a clump of cells.” Britt says, “I literally had nothing to back that position other than selfishness.”

We asked our interns to learn and push themselves in many different areas, but street activism proved to be a highlight of the internship for them. Annie found activism outside Planned Parenthood to be particularly poignant. “As soon as we parked, the atmosphere weighed down on me. You can feel what a spiritually dark place it is. The experience revitalized my passion to speak and act on behalf of these unborn children who are brutally slaughtered.”

Interns & Staff outside Planned Parenthood in Charlotte.

Britt had done some pro-life activism at her college, Miami University, but never used abortion victim images. She now fully understands their key role in ending abortion, “Through this internship, I became comfortable with using abortion victim imagery and learned how to engage people with it. I’ve had more effective conversations in the past 12 weeks than I have in the past couple of years without it. Pro-lifers can’t be scared to use images if they care about ending abortion.”

Maggie also noted the impact abortion victim imagery had on her, saying that watching “Choice Blues” on the first day of the internship was the most noteworthy experience for her. “I had already seen the graphic pictures several times at that point, but that video motivated me to act in a way I had not before.” Maggie is proof of CBR’s belief that it is just as important for pro-life people to see abortion as it is for pro-choice people. It turns beliefs into actions.

Heidi and Annie have now returned to school at East Tennessee State University. Britt has returned to Miami University and Maggie to her full-time job as a nanny. Before the internship, all four of our interns were pro-life. They would never have considered abortion an acceptable solution to an unplanned pregnancy. However, they were not mobilized. CBR’s internship mobilized them. Both Annie and Britt plan to start pro-life clubs at their schools to host GAP, and all four of them are now considering working full-time to end abortion. As Annie said, “There is absolutely no way I can go home and act like none of this happened. I know the truth and, therefore, am responsible for sharing it.”

We are already accepting applications for our summer 2021 internship. Click here for more information and to submit an application.

Dear conservative, freedom-loving student,

When we met you on campus some time ago, you mentioned your grades suffering because of your conservative views.

Yes, taking a stand against evil will always cost you something.  It’s much safer to go to sit quietly at Pizza for Jesus meetings, soak it in, and do little else … and it is very tempting.  But I’d like you to consider a world being run by these people:

These thugs use violence to intimidate and shut down people they don’t like.  And they don’t like you.

Teachers who threaten you or punish you for your views are no different.  Maybe they don’t wear masks of cloth, but they use their lofty positions as masks of respectability.  And they are nothing more than bullies trying to shield themselves from accountability for their thuggery.  Don’t be afraid of them.

But I have to tell you that, unfortunately, they do have a clear path to victory.  Edmund Burke showed us their roadmap.  He said that “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  That’s why they threaten you, so that you will do nothing and they will win.  When they do, we all lose … and we lose more than just good grades.

Please consider two kingdoms.  The first is our earthly kingdom, the United States and the freedom, security, and prosperity it offers.  Please consider what your freedom cost, from our the founding of our nation until the present day.

We are reminded of the cost when we see the monuments to fallen soldiers at Bunker Hill, at King’s Mountain, at Flanders Field, at Normandy, at Manilla, and many other places around the globe.  Hundreds of thousands have given their lives so that we can live free.  And not just we alone, but hundreds of millions of others around the globe who were rescued from tyranny by the blood of US soldiers.

The second is the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus said when we stand for truth, we will be persecuted.  He said, “If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).  But he also said to count it a blessing: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matthew 5:10-12).

I count it a blessing to be in this battle with you.  Let us heed the words of  Winston Churchill, who famously encouraged his nation during the darkest hours of WWII.  “Let us neither flag nor fail.  Let us fight on to the end,” for the alternative is to be governed by thugs, and that is unthinkable.

Thanks,
Fletcher

Much has changed in our world this past month, but three things have not changed:

1. Abortion providers are still killing children, and the death toll far surpasses that of the COVID-19 threat.
2. CBR is still working for the helpless.  As long as babies are dying, our work to make abortion unthinkable goes on.
3. God is still in control.  We don’t need to panic; we can choose to trust in and follow Him.

As each of us is bombarded with pandemic news and opinion, please do not forget the less visible (but just as real) plight of abortion victims.  Continue to be a witness and a light in the darkness, knowing that “as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40)

Although we can’t take abortion images to large crowds on college campuses (for the time being), there is still much important work we can do.  Please be in prayer for the following needs:

1. Summer Intern Program.  We are already training our 5 new interns to raise their own support for the summer. Please pray specifically for Maggie, Heidi, Annie, Brittany and Merissa.  Upon arrival in May, their schedules are packed with intensive training, displays at Christian events, urban GAP, and other forms of street activism.
2. Pro-Life Leadership Youth Camp.  We are collaborating with other pro-life ministries to plan a one-week day camp for middle and high-school students.  Our vision is to empower each student to “stand strong against the storm.” (Matthew 7:24-25)  Learn more at www.vimeo.com/282887769 (3.5 minutes).
3. All Black Lives Matter at the African American History Museum.  We are working the phones to recruit staff and volunteers and to partner with churches in the DC area.  When the Museum reopens, we will be ready!
4. Fall GAP planning.  We are seeking pro-life students to invite us to bring GAP to major universities in Alabama, Kentucky, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee.

There’s even more.  We are also recruiting new staff/interns, performing much-needed maintenance on our RCC truck and DOT compliance program, updating our computer databases and systems, and revising our project handouts, to name just a few!  Plus, we’ll soon take our interns back out to the streets with our huge hand-held signs (Lord willing).

In addition to prayer, please continue to support our work financially, as you are able.  Many of our staff are still only partially funded, and they need your help to stay in the fight.  The universities are closed, but the bills keep on coming!

We thank God for you, and we are praying for your health and peace during this time of uncertainty.  Please let us know how we can pray for you, and feel free to send our staff any notes of encouragement.
“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” — Romans 8:38-39

Your friend for Life,
Fletcher

P.S. God said, “And I sought for a man among them, that should … stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.” (Ezekiel 22:30)  Will you keep standing in the GAP with me?  Please click here to help end abortion.

“Gross! Horrible! I can’t look away. I can’t stop looking at it.”

Since the US DOJ sided with CBR in our lawsuit against the Museum of African-American History and Culture, CBR has been displaying ALL Black Lives Matter (ABLM) signs outside the Museum on a regular basis.

Black adolescents constitute a high percentage of the Museum’s visitors, and their future children are most at risk for abortion.  African-Americans are 11% of the population, but account for 37% of all abortions.

One member of our target audience, a boy, exclaimed, “Those look like baby arms!”  He got it.

A girl said, as she took pictures with her phone, “Gross! Horrible! I can’t look away. I can’t stop looking at it.”  She got it, also.

A group of five black boys stared nonstop.  Several times, they walked away to do something else, but they always came back to the signs.  One day, those boys will be men and they will be much less likely to kill their own children.

Inside the Museum, leftists are promoting a left-wing political agenda.  Essentially, it is Black Lives Matter and Planned Parenthood hiding behind a picture of Martin Luther King.  Outside, we are showing African Americans that their supposed benefactors are today killing black children at staggering rates and have suppressed the black vote more effectively than poll taxes, literacy tests, voter ID requirements, and Ku Klux Klan lynchings combined.

The activists once threatened with arrest have emerged victorious!

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) has won a major victory for pro-life speech Washington, D.C.  From the American Freedom Law Center:

Victory: Pro-Life Speech Protected in Our Nation’s Capital

Washington, D.C. (August 31, 2017) — Late yesterday, the American Freedom Law Center, a national public interest law firm, resolved an important First Amendment case against the federal government in favor of several pro-life demonstrators who were prevented from expressing their pro-life message outside of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, Inc. (CBR), a California-based pro-life organization, its executive director, Gregg Cunningham, Reverend Clenard H. Childress, Jr., an African American pastor of a black church in the Newark, New Jersey area, and Jacqueline Hawkins, an African American woman who is the director of minority outreach for CBR.  Pastor Childress and Ms. Hawkins direct the NMAAC project, which was developed by CBR.

The NMAAHC project involves the use of hand-held, photo-mural exhibits that demonstrate the devastation of abortion’s consequences on the African American community.  This project also includes the distribution of literature.  A principal goal of the project is to raise awareness of the black genocide that is being perpetrated through abortion.

This past February, Pastor Childress and Ms. Hawkins initiated the NMAAHC project by peacefully standing outside of the museum entrance on the public sidewalk adjacent to Madison Drive with one of the project signs.  Mr. Cunningham was present as well.

Shortly after they arrived, Pastor Childress and Ms. Hawkins were confronted by an NMAAHC official and several armed, uniformed police officers from the Office of Protection Services (OPS) who told them that they could not stand outside the museum with their sign.  Reverend Childress responded that this is a public sidewalk.  The senior OPS officer warned Pastor Childress and Ms. Hawkins that if they did not move to a remote location across the street, then he and his fellow officers would physically move them.  The OPS officer also confirmed that if they did not move, they would be subject to arrest.  Rather than face arrest or physical force, Pastor Childress and Ms. Hawkins ceased their First Amendment activity and moved per the officer’s order.

This past June, AFLC filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. against NMAAHC, OPS, and several federal officials.  Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, AFLC attorneys were contacted by an attorney from the Department of Justice who confirmed our clients’ First Amendment rights and who stated that the federal government wanted to settle the case on terms favorable to our clients.

Yesterday, the parties filed a stipulated dismissal in which the federal government formally acknowledged “that the public sidewalks forming the perimeter of the National Museum of African American History and Culture are available for First Amendment activity” and agreed to pay AFLC its attorneys’ fees incurred for having to file the complaint.

Robert Muise, AFLC Co-Founder and Senior Counsel, commented:

“There was no question that our clients had a clear right under the First Amendment to engage in their peaceful, non-obstructive free speech activity on the public sidewalks outside of this museum.  The government was wrong for denying our clients that right, and they knew it.  Fortunately, we were able to correct this injustice by filing a federal lawsuit.  Otherwise, there would have been no such acknowledgment and our clients would have been deprived of a fundamental liberty guaranteed by our Constitution.”

David Yerushalmi, AFLC Co-Founder and Senior Counsel, added:

“In addition to being a gross violation of our clients’ fundamental rights, the actions of the museum officials and their armed security demonstrate the hypocrisy of the left.  Progressives claim to be for diversity and tolerance, but if you don’t march in lockstep with their narrative, they use force and the threat of force to shut you down.  Here, we were able to use the federal courts to turn that narrative on its head.”

Jackie Hawkins and Rev. Clenard Childress exposing Black Genocide at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  (They don’t like that!)

The following speech was delivered by CBR’s Georgia Project Director, Lincoln Brandenburg, at the 2016 March for Life in Columbus, Georgia. 

What is the goal of the pro-life movement? Jason Jones, the co-producer of the pro-life film “Bella” recently wrote a dynamite article called “The Pro-Life Art of War.” In it, he asks us to:

“Imagine if same-sex marriage were prohibited nationwide, and legal protections for homosexuals consistently struck down or defeated—while sodomy laws were re-imposed and enforced, with billions of dollars in funding from Congress. How effective would you consider the gay rights movement? If the Second Amendment were reduced to a hollow, meaningless shell, and Americans’ guns—even hunting and target rifles—were all confiscated by the feds, what would we think of the gun lobby? If the U.S. abandoned Israel to its fate, and starting sending aid and arms to Hezbollah and Hamas, what would we say of the Israel lobby? Fix each of those scenarios in mind, and let’s ask the question: What should we think of the pro-life movement? The answer is tragically clear: For all the minds and hearts it has changed, it is a comprehensive political failure. American abortion laws are among the laxest on planet Earth…”

Such thinking doesn’t exactly bring out the sunshine on a cloudy day like this, does it? And yet, when you consider the success of the aforementioned movements, contrasted to where we are after 43 years of legalized child killing, one cannot deny that Jones is on to something. In terms of public policy, we really have very little to show for decades of efforts.

Our goal must be to win. We can save a life here and there, but winning is the only way that the killing stops. But we have become entirely too timid to win. Most in our movement are Christians. And it is so ingrained in us to be loving, selfless and nice that we don’t know how to stand firmly and boldly against the evil of child sacrifice. We don’t even have a category for that in our thinking. We know how to be gentle as doves, but we don’t’ know how to be wise as serpents.

I would like to submit that being Christlike – loving, sacrificial and gentle – does not exclude us from also standing boldly against evil. Failure to do so is itself is unloving.

In the introduction to the book “The Bravehearted Gospel,” Pastor Ben Davenport writes:

“The historical Jesus was not crucified because God so loved the world. No! The only begotten of the Father was fastened with iron nails to an unforgiving cross because He spoke the truth with authority and glistened with the light of Heaven and men loved darkness rather than light…

“If Jesus, who was perfect, who never sinned, and who was love incarnate, could not speak the truth without being hated, rejected, and despised, who are we to think that we can do better? Who are we to think that we have figured out a more ‘loving and ‘relevant’ way to present the truth in a more ‘seeker-friendly’ manner than Jesus Christ, the Son of God?

“We have wholeheartedly embraced the sentimental, watercolor Jesus that seems to spend most of His time holding lambs and patting children on the head with some faraway, glazed-over, dreamy look in His eye. And we tend to shy away from, or altogether ignore, that man who spoke the truth of God so boldly that conspiracies were hatched, witnesses were bribed, and politicians were entreated to bring about His painful and public execution.”

This is the side of being Christlike that we are afraid of.

Now does this mean that we shun and condemn women and men who have been involved in an abortion? Does this mean that we scream at people outside of clinics? Of course not! I too have sinned. Were it not for the grace of God, I would still be blinded to sin. From one human to another, I can assure you that God is eager to forgive and to free from bondage to sin, including abortion. “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers.” If you view such people as the enemy, maybe you need to spend some time with God looking in the mirror first.

This is not a call to become one-dimensional. We have all seen people who became so enamored in a cause that they became cynical and abrasive. They develop tunnel-vision and lose their tenderness towards others, their winsomeness and their clairvoyance. That also is not what God calls us to.

But for the majority of us, that’s not the temptation we face, is it? Our temptation is to be silent and passive. Our temptation is to be content with having a political or theological stance, but not taking sacrificial action. We’re comfortable having our bible studies with people who are like ourselves; talking about “discipleship” and “worship,” and being really, really nice people… but doing nothing about the babies being decapitated and dismembered down the street from us.

After WWII, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s best friend, Eberhart Bethge, wrote about the weakness of the Confessing Church in Germany during the war. These were not the liberalized, Nazi-pandering churches, but the Bible-believing ones that still held to orthodox theology. He observed that “it became clear where the problem lay for the Confessing Church: we were resisting by way of confession, but we were not confessing by way of resistance.”

Taking a cognitive stance is not enough. The love of God compels us to act. If we will not take a bold stand against the evil of modern child sacrifice, when WILL we finally stand up? What else would it take?

Yes, it is uncomfortable. Yes, we will get flack for it. We will be mischaracterized and called names. At my church we’ve been studying the sermon on the mount in Matthew’s gospel. In chapter 5, Jesus says: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in Heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” That should put steel in our spines!

“A servant is not greater than his master;” like Jesus, we should not be surprised when we get flak for speaking the truth in a culture that loves lies. When my colleagues and I engage in activism, we don’t yell at people. We don’t call names. We show the truth of what abortion is and attempt to engage in respectful dialogue. People yell at us. They throw things at us. They call us names. But God uses the prophetic message to convict consciences, change minds, and to save lives and souls. And each one of those precious lives and souls is worth it.

Imagine a day when killing preborn children is a thing of the past. We are continuing to support pregnancy resource centers, such as Sound Choices and Seneca, Choices for Life), not because it’s the pro-life thing to do – but because it’s just the Christian charitable thing to do. No other reason. Imagine us getting together like this, not to march for life, but to celebrate the precious lives that are no longer in danger. Imagine standing before the God who purposefully placed you in this time and place of history, and hearing the words “well done, good and faithful servant!”

With that dream in mind, go forward courageously and boldly. Connect with others who are engaging the culture. Let’s stay humble, stay winsome. But let’s also refuse to take no for an answer. Let’s refuse to let up. Let’s stop playing nice.

Submitted by Lincoln Brandenburg

Exposing Planned Parenthood on their annual “pink out” day.

by Jacqueline Hawkins

As a newbie staff member, there’s a certain apprehension that precedes each pro-life outreach.  Questions go through my mind while butterflies take residence in my stomach.

What’s going to happen?  How will people respond to the pictures?  Will there be protesters?  Can I go back home, hide under the covers and come out when abortion is abolished?  These questions raced through my mind as I drove to a local American killing field.

Planned Parenthood (PP) was hosting their national “pink out” day, a celebration of prenatal decapitation and dismemberment.  The local sidewalk counselors and pro-life activists weren’t sure if this particular PP affiliate was going to participate, but they would make a preemptive strike with their presence.  We stood with abortion victim photos across the street.  The 40 Days for Life sidewalk counselors prayed and called for women to escape with their children.

As always, the apprehension died away as we took our places and focused on the task at hand.  In this case, the outcome was low-key.  We held our signs in peace.  There were no pinked-out pro-aborts.  A few passersby beeped their horns and gave us the thumbs-up.  Some used another digit to get their point across.  We call this phenomenon the “digital divide.”  One passenger in a black SUV used her phone to take pictures of our signs as she rode by.

Low-key does not mean hundreds of passersby weren’t confronted with the true horror of abortion.  Every minute of exposing abortion helps win hearts, change minds, and save lives.

That’s why I go forward … even when I’m tempted to go home and hide under the covers.

Jacqueline Hawkins is a CBR Project Director and a regular FAB contributor.

CBR volunteer Debbie Picarello on the public sidewalk near a pro-life rally in Tennessee.  CBR cooperated with rally organizers to select reasonable display locations.

It’s a source of conflict and it won’t go away.  What do you think?  Please comment.

More and more, pro-life activists are showing up at political events, Tea Party functions, Christian assemblies, and even pro-life rallies to display abortion victim photos (AVPs).  We at CBR do it, and so do others.

Event organizers routinely take exception to this, asserting that we are being disrespectful, divisive, disruptive, etc.  They ask us to put away our signs.  “This isn’t the time or place,” they say.

We do it anyway.  It is our duty to expose injustice.  Yet, over and over again, it is never the disaster that rally organizers fear.  Maybe it’s because we always respect the rights of organizers to reserve space for their own exclusive use, and we never disrupt or interfere with any of their activities.  Here is how we do it:

1. We communicate our intent to display AVPs near the subject event.
2. We assure the organizers that we will keep our signs out of whatever space they have reserved for their own exclusive use.
3. We promise that we will not go near the podium nor interfere with the event in any way.
4. We make it clear that we are not there to protest their event, but to deliver our message to an important audience.  We come as friends and co-laborers, albeit determined to fulfill our own particular mission.
5. We even let the event organizers tell us where they want us to stand, within reason.  When they see that we are reasonable, then they are reasonable (most of the time).
6. We send a letter or e-mail to the police notifying them of our intent to display AVPs; we offer to meet with them to discuss locations, rules of conduct, etc.

Why do we show up at pro-life events?  Because the abortion industry is chopping up little babies and selling them for parts, and somebody needs make that point clearly visible and undeniable.

Pro-lifers are an important audience for our message.  We want them to see how serious abortion is.  Almost every full-time pro-life activist can trace his activism back to that day he first saw an abortion photo.

We want to demonstrate how AVPs can be displayed in a respectful way.

Finally, we want to invite pro-lifers to become more active in the movement, perhaps as a vocation.  That’s vocation, not vacation!  The other side has made killing babies a full-time profession, but we have made saving them a part-time hobby.

Yes, pro-lifers are often our most important audience, but there are others.  For example, we want news reporters to know that abortion decapitates and dismembers its victims.  Whether they decide to report that fact is another thing, but at least they will know.

Passersby will wonder what the rally is all about.  We want them to see that the rally isn’t about the abstract notion of “choice,” but instead is about the decapitation and dismemberment of little human beings.

So what happens?  Nothing bad.  In the end, we have never caused a problem for event organizers, despite their initial fear and trepidation at our presence.  They did their thing, we did ours, and we all sang Kumbaya at sunset.  Well, maybe everyone didn’t sing Kumbaya, but nobody has ever claimed that we disrupted their event.

May we respectfully offer the following Rules for Rallies for your consideration:

1. People who organize rallies have every right to set their own agendas.
2. People who organize rallies have every right to control the space they reserve for their own exclusive use.  They get to decide what signs get brought into that space and what signs don’t.
3. People who organize rallies don’t get to control everything within visible sight, however.  Spaces that are still available for general use (i.e., still available for use by the general public while the event is being held) may not be claimed by the organizers as off-limits to AVPs.
4. People who display AVPs have every right to do so on the public sidewalk and in public spaces that are not being used by rally organizers.
5. People who display AVPs have every right to target whatever audience they choose, including people who are going to or leaving a rally, with whatever message they choose.  Just as the pro-life movement (PLM) is fighting against the status quo of abortion in society, some in the PLM are challenging the status quo of the PLM itself.
6. People who display AVPs have as much right to engage people walking toward a rally as pro-lifers have a right to engage people walking toward an abortion facility.
7. Nobody has the right to veto the proclamation of truth.
8. Displaying AVPs near a rally does not disrupt a rally.
9. People who display AVPs should, as a courtesy, notify the rally organizers of the plan to respectfully display AVPs on a nearby public space in a way that does not interfere with the rally itself.
10. Under most circumstances, it is not unreasonable for the rally organizers to ask for a 5-foot buffer between their crowd and the people holding AVPs.

As a matter of course, we always notify the police that we intent to display AVPs.  In our letter or e-mail, we normally offer to meet with them to answer questions and discuss specifics.  This gives the police managers a chance to tell the street officers that we do indeed have the right to be there.

That’s what FAB thinks, but you might change our minds.  What do you think?

CBR Volunteer Gary Johnson and the AVPs that saved Suzanne’s baby in Knoxville.

Occasionally, we encounter the pro-lifer who supports the use of abortion victim photos (AVPs) on college campuses (in an academic setting), but not outside abortion clinics (where they might be seen by pre-abortive or post-abortive women).

To support their position, they cite the observations of former abortion clinic workers who say that such violent photos often frighten and upset women rather than lead them to change their minds.  Abby Johnson’s has stated that women who came into her Planned Parenthood clinic for abortions were not dissuaded by pro-lifers displaying AVPs.

We love Abby Johnson, but these former clinic workers miss the main point.  First of all, we have heard from countless women who did not abort because they saw AVIs (www.AbortionNo.org).  The babies saved by AVPs are very real.

Second, we should bear in mind that clinic workers inside these clinics spoke only to the mothers who decided to go through with their abortions.  Yes, these mothers did decide to walk past the pictures and come in anyway.  That is obvious.  But these former clinic workers fail to consider the mothers they did not talk to, the mothers who did not say to these clinic workers, “I decided to save my child,” because they turned around and left before they had a chance to say anything at all to the clinic workers.

And yes, mothers who went ahead with their abortions might have been “frightened” and “upset” by the truth, but so what?  They were having their own children decapitated and dismembered, perhaps even tortured to death.  The problem isn’t that they were upset; the problem is that they were not upset enough.

Thankfully, we know that some women were upset enough, and their babies are alive today.

Created Equal’s Jumbotron abortion display was recently featured on a TV station in New Jersey.  In the video below, watch as people react to an abortion video on screen.  Link to original report here.  One woman said,

I have friends who’ve had abortions, and they wish they knew exactly what the abortion process was going to be before doing it.

One man said,

I’m never going to forget that for the rest of my life.