Got a call from Michael Homula yesterday.  He wanted me (and you) to know about their mobile pro-life ultrasound ministry.

Please comment:  Where would you take this ultrasound bus?  OK, the mall, but where else?  People going to a clinic usually have already made up their minds.  What about places where lots of newly pregnant young people are likely to be struggling with the decision to abort?  Where do you suggest?

ICU Mobile – The Pioneer and Leader of Mobile Ultrasound Ministry

Globally, one in five pregnancies will end in an induced abortion.

One ministry plans to GO change that.

ICU Mobile (pronounced I See You), the pioneer and leader of mobile ultrasound ministry, is a non-profit ministry sharing love, grace and truth to serve women all over the world. Founded in Akron, Ohio in 2003, the ICU Mobile mission is simple: reveal life at the crossroads of decision. The approach is equally simple: reveal truth via ultrasound at a time when a woman is in the decision making process. They provide women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy the free opportunity to confirm that pregnancy via a limited obstetrical ultrasound and see her unborn child in order to make an informed life-affirming decision and hear the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As part of their core values, ICU Mobile delivers this free service without judgment, hate, coercion or politics.

The ICU Mobile fleet, currently at 15 across the country and growing rapidly, is made up of passionate and dedicated people brought together by a common goal to serve women in the name of Christ. As the very first mobile ultrasound ministry, more than 8 years of experience has refined their approach and defined a series of best practices to reach out to women who are confused, scared and unsure with love, grace and a message of hope. Revealing life, life knit together in the womb and eternal life through Jesus, they see hearts and minds change every day. Sure, the free ultrasound draws women to an ICU Mobile, but it’s the love and compassion while revealing life that gives women hope for a better future.

But the why behind ICU Mobile will always be Jesus Christ…God. Because of the unfair trade Christ made for us, our sin for his righteousness, ICU Mobile follows His command to GO (Matthew 28:19a).

GO to abortion-minded women. GO save the unborn. GO make disciples of all nations.

ICU Mobile Effectiveness

Since 2003, the Lord has used the ICU Mobile fleet to serve thousands of women, save thousands of babies and bring thousands to faith in Jesus Christ. In 2010 alone, 87% of women who were considering or planning to have an abortion chose life in the fleet of ICU Mobile. Of the people who heard the Gospel and were invited to follow Christ, 43% made a decision to commit their lives to Jesus as Lord and Saviour.

Go(ing) Mobile

ICU Mobile makes affiliation with their ministry simple, easy to access and provides a turnkey ready to deploy mobile solution for qualified pregnancy centers and ministries. As a non-profit ministry, the only goal is to deploy more mobiles to the mission so they have developed an affiliate plan that actually enables the deployment of the next mobile in the fleet. It is self-replicating.

While it may seem intuitive to park the mobile in front of abortion clinics, and ICU Mobile certainly does that, they have come to know it is better to be involved in the decision making process rather than trying to reverse a decision at the last minute. ICU Mobile credits their effectiveness to God and the fact they GO to where women are, where those who are likely to experience an unplanned pregnancy typically hang out. Leveraging their experience, research and neutral brand, they carefully place themselves where they can have the most effect on the decisions women make.

If you are a pregnancy center who would like to learn more about why mobile ultrasound ministry with ICU Mobile makes sense go to the Go Mobile page on their website.

If you would like to get involved with ICU Mobile please visit the Get Involved page.

To learn more general information about the pioneer and leader of mobile ultrasound ministry please visit http://www.icumobile.org/ or email info@icumobile.org.

I got this from Michael Silva of Imagi-Motive in Magnolia, Texas. And you thought only Disney had imagineers!

A Mobile Crisis Pregnancy Center

Society is ever-changing. What worked yesterday may not work today, especially when it involves ministry. Of course the message, the truth, remains the same, but the vehicle that we use to deliver the truth often needs a fresh face.

Imagi-Motive is a family-owned company that has a reputation for being innovative in the vehicles they design for extreme tailgaters or companies looking for a mobile marketing solution. However, the Mims family also has a heart for the unborn, and they have put their talents to work in the battle to save lives.

As you may know, Houston, Texas, unfortunately, houses the largest Planned Parenthood facility in the world. However, what may be news to you is how the Houston Coalition for Life is impacting Planned Parenthood‘s efforts. How are they making a difference? With a Mobile Crisis Pregnancy Vehicle!

In mid-January of this year, Imagi-Motive completed the mobile crisis unit, and the Houston Coalition for Life increased their presence in the community. They began seeing dramatic results right away. Within the first twenty-two outings, nearly seventy women had been ministered to, counseled, and given pregnancy tests. And, those who were contemplating an abortion were provided the opportunity to have an ultrasound. Most importantly, the lives of seven babies, who were already scheduled for abortion, were saved. Seven!

But, that is not all. One lady, scared for many reason and struggling with her decision to abort, got up from the abortion table, went back outside to the Mobile Crisis Pregnancy Vehicle, and chose life! All I can say is thank God for this ministry tool!

Imagi-Motive is on a mission to let every crisis pregnancy center in America know about these units and how they help save lives.

In Matthew 28:16-20, we are given The Great Commission by Christ. He instruct us to go—that’s right, go—and make disciples. There are many ways to impact the communities in which we live, and the Mobile Crisis Pregnancy Vehicle helps us achieve this directive.

Praise the Lord for lives saved!

For more information on this ministry tool, contact us at msilva@imagimotive.com.

Michael Silva
Imagi-Motive LLC
Magnolia, Texas

One of the most curious things said at the debate was Dr. McLean’s charge that pro-lifers are responsible for a network of “fake clinics.”  Dr. Mclean struck me as a fair-minded person, so I have to attribute this charge to spending too much time on uber-left websites in the hours leading up to our debate, because this charge clearly originates from radically pro-abortion groups who are committed to only one choice for women, and that’s abortion.  There is perhaps no charge that is more comcially hypocritical this that one.

I responded that when we are on campus, people routinely demand to know what we are doing to help women in crisis pregnancies.  I tell them we do quite a lot.  Pro-lifers run a network of centers where women and families can go to receive guidance, resources, referrals to doctors who will treat them for free, referrals to housing, etc.  In fact, pro-lifers spend many, many times more money on these activities than on educational projects like we do at CBR.  So, in response to all of this, we are to be condemned for running a network of “fake” clinics?  If that’s the game, we can’t win, because were damned if we do and damned if we don’t.

Secular ProLife and Students for Life of America have published a flier, Fake Clinics: Myth vs Fact, to respond to this charge.  Some of the text:

Claim: CPCs are “fake clinics.”

Pregnancy centers come in two types. The first is a traditional crisis pregnancy center or pregnancy resource center. They are not clinics and do not pretend to be, although in most states they are able to offer pregnancy tests and prenatal vitamins. They provide numerous social services, including parenting classes, options counseling, baby supplies, and other financial aid. The second type is a Pregnancy Help Medical Clinic. These are licensed clinics working under the direction of an M.D. Medical services provided vary from clinic to clinic, but often include ultrasounds, on-site prenatal exams, and/or STD testing. In neither case can these be considered “fake clinics.”

Claim: CPCs only care about preventing abortions.

CPCs serve a variety of women; not only the abortion-minded, but also women who have chosen adoption or parenting parenting, women whose babies have already been born, and women struggling with a prior abortion.

Claim: CPCs use volunteers, who are unqualified.

CPCs do utilize volunteers– and so does Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider and one source of this claim! All CPC volunteers undergo training to ensure that they are qualified.

Claim: CPCs have religious affiliations.

Some do and some don’t. Many respectable non-profits have religious affiliations. People who make this claim are usually implying something further: religious discrimination. This is patently false. No CPC will refuse a client on the basis of her religion.

In her opening remarks, Dr. McLean asserted that the fetus is not a human. She made several other assertions and arguments that I rebutted, but this was the most glaring error of the debate. As Daniel Patrick Moynihan once said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.”

My introductory comments were posted yesterday. In them, I challenged Dr. McLean to prove her assertion that the fetus was not human. I would accept almost all of her points. I would agree that abortion should be legal, that abortion should be covered by insurance, that I would even quit my job and find another career. I would do all of this, if and only if she could present conclusive scientific and/or philosophic evidence to show that the preborn child is not human. As you may be aware, no such evidence exists.

To rebut the myth that the unborn child is not human (or that life doesn’t begin at conception), I quoted both medical textbooks and pro-abortion sources:

Zygote. This cell results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm during fertilization. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being (i.e., an embryo). … [The zygote] marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual. (Keith L. Moore and T.V.N. Persaud, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 7th ed., Philadelphia: Saunders, 2003, pp 2,16)

It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoan and resultant mingling of the nuclear material … that constitutes the culmination of the process of fertilization and marks the initiation of the life of a new individual. (Bradley M. Patten, Human Embryology, 3rd ed., New York: McGraw Hill, 1968, p 43)

We of today know that man is born of sexual union; that he starts life as an embryo within the body of the female; and that the embryo is formed from the fusion of two single cells, the ovum and the sperm. This all seems so simple and evident to us that it is difficult to picture a time when it was not part of the common knowledge. (Alan F. Guttmacher. Life in the Making: The Story of Human Procreation. New York: Viking Press, 1933. p 3.) [Alan Guttmacher is a former president of Planned Parenthood.]

Perhaps the most straightforward relation between you and me on the one hand and every human fetus from conception onward on the other is this: All are living members of the same species, homo sapiens. A human fetus, after all, is simply a human being at a very early stage in his or her development. (David Boonin, A Defense of Abortion, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002, p 20)

In the top drawer of my desk, I keep [a picture of my son]. This picture was taken on September 7, 1993, 24 weeks before he was born. The sonogram image is murky, but it reveals clear enough a small head tilted back slightly, and an arm raised up and bent, with the hand pointing back toward the face and the thumb extended out toward the mouth. There is no doubt in my mind that this picture, too, shows [my son] at a very early stage in his physical development. And there is no question that the position I defend in this book entails that it would have been morally permissible to end his life at this point. (David Boonin, A Defense of Abortion, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003, p xiv)

Case closed, but if you want more proof, check out this article: When does life begin?

More coverage to follow in Part 4.

I was on George Korda’s State Your Case radio show earlier today. During a break, Mr. Korda forced himself to watch the video at the CBR website.  In the hour we had, we hit many of the standard questions.

One issue that Mr. Korda brought up was the “unfairness” to the father of the child. If the mother decides to abort the child, the father has no say. If the mother decides to keep the child, the father is legally required to provide financial support. In the fog of give-and-take that is live radio, I didn’t get to respond to that comment. I had fielded a similar question in my debate at Eastern Kentucky University—more on that later—a couple of weeks ago.

Fairness to the father is not the issue. If the preborn child is less than human, then the father has no rights to the “blob of tissue” that the mother carries within her own body. Since she is the one carrying the “blob,” it would be her right to decide whether to keep it or not. She has more skin in the game, if I can say it that way. But if she decides to carry, then the father is absolutely liable to support the child financially, not because of her decision to carry, but because of his decision to have sex in the first place.

But if the preborn child is a human being—science tells us he/she is a living human being from the moment of fertilization—then it is the baby’s rights which are at stake, not the father’s. If we treat every human being with equal value and dignity, fairness demands that the baby’s life be protected, regardless of whether or not the child is wanted by the father. If both father and mother freely chose to engage in the reproductive act, then they both share the responsibility to support the child.

Either way, fairness to the father is not an issue.  Fairness to the unborn child (and her mother) are of paramount concern.  Having your life stolen from you because you are “unwanted” is the ultimate unfairness.

GAP turns heads at the University of Kentucky.

We always love our time at the University of Kentucky.  It is a very diverse student body, with many students representing every position on abortion.  Students are generally respectful and willing to listen.

Our free speech board was a huge draw, as was our poll table.  I don’t have exact numbers, but the list of students who identified themselves as pro-life was several pages long.

Media coverage already!

New video from Abort73.com.  See astounding images of 1st trimester baby.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-6VLUVglG8

Karine John Hardin

We are indebted to the Pro Life in TN blog for this story about the newest member of the CBR family!  Four-year-old Karine is the latest arrival at the Hardin household, whose members are fixtures on the GAP circuit.

How many of those pro lifers ever adopt?

Well the Hardin family, whom I am proud to call friends, are as pro life as they come.   Just take a look at their van covered in pro life stickers … their 8 home-schooled children … their entry into pro life oratory contests … avid and trained sidewalk counselors and  in several  pro life arenas … I can count on them  to march in the parade and help with any pro life event.

They have worked and fund raised for over two years to raise the money to adopt this special needs child from Armenia who had never been outside her orphanage in her 4 years of life. While the prayed and waited for the bureaucracy  to move, they almost lost her as Kathy Hardin received a call to make an emergency trip as  their to be daughter, Karine was critically ill.

She  was sick and down to only 15 pounds.  The is hospital was without the basic necessities to treat her. I must admit when I received  the broadcast email of what was happening, I was greatly discouraged. The Hardins have a strong faith and when they finished the email by telling us to take a front row seat and watch what God can do, I must admit I felt that she could not possibly survive even if  they were able to raise the funds for an air ambulance from Armenia to Nashville.

Fast forward … they were able to get the adoption accomplished in an emergency period of time, fly home on a commercial flight, get her into Vanderbilt for the needed surgery literally in the nick of time. Yea God !!! … Slap me across the face for my lack of faith.

Channel 5  covers the story here, here, and here.

“For two weeks it was pretty touch and go and I was working on adrenaline,” Hardin said.

Karine suffers from Spina Bifida and lives with a shunt to reduce swelling in her brain. Just weeks before she was scheduled to make the journey, the Hardin’s said she underwent surgery to correct the shunt, then developed meningitis, and lost nearly 20 pounds when the Armenian hospital withheld pain medicine and antibiotics.

If you’d like to help with her medical costs, you can make a donation to the Karine John Hardin fund at the Hendersonville branch of Regions Bank.

You can also visit the following Facebook page for updates: http://www.causes.com/causes/588490-rescue-karine-hardin

Seth Drayer

We are indebted to CBR’s Seth Drayer for sharing this encounter with a student at Florida State University.

“She called me up and told me she was pregnant, that she was going to keep the baby. Two weeks later, she called and told me she’d gotten rid of it.”

I looked at the young man standing before me. “How do you feel?” I asked.

“Oh, man . . . I don’t want anyone to feel what I feel.”

Moments before, I had withdrawn from GAP to catch my breath. The verbally violent protestors, the student playing the accordion loudly in front of me to stifle conversation: all of it was choking my love for the students at Florida State University.

After reflection and prayer, I returned to the display. And then I met Chris.

“Do you have pictures of an 18 week-old?” he asked.

Immediately, I knew why he was asking. “Yeah, follow me.” I led him to our prenatal development sign and pointed to the 18 week image: a close up of the baby’s face. “Is that how old your baby was?” I asked cautiously.

Chris nodded. His eyes began to water. “It’s not right,” he said. “I’m the kind of guy who always protects. And here, the one person I was supposed to . . .”

And then he asked me a question I did not want to answer: “Did he feel it?”

I wanted to tell Chris that the baby felt no pain during the abortion, to mask the barbarity of it and lessen Chris’s own suffering. But, he needed the truth. When I shared it with him, he could only shake his head in defeat.

Then, I told him that I know what it feels like to be a father stripped of his duty. I shared with him the empty powerlessness I had felt when Aubrie and I lost our own child by miscarriage. Fathers are meant to protect their children—yet neither Chris nor I had been able to do so.

“Remember this, Chris,” I told him, “you are and always will be a father.”

Chris returned the next day. His countenance had changed completely. He told me he had accepted the reality of his pain. He had brought a friend to show him the picture of “his” 18 week baby. He was even smiling.

Chris had needed someone to validate his pain. I had needed someone to remind me why I was there. I praise God for allowing us to meet.

Gov. Mike Huckabee at Knoxville Convention Center

Great event Monday night at the Knoxville Convention Center with Gov. Mike Huckabee.  We had more than 700 in attendance, and we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback about the event.  More about Gov. Huckabee’s remarks later.

Media coverage:

• WATE TV
• WBIR TV
• WVLT TV
• Knoxville News Sentinel
• Knoxville News Sentinel – Greg Johnson column
• UTK Daily Beacon
• Tennessee Journalist
• Politico
• WSMV TV
• Metro Pulse
• The Weekly Standard
• LifeNews.com
• CNN Political Ticker

A good crowd of 40 or so protested outside.  The importance of this should not be underestimated.  First, how fortunate we are to live in America, where the right of every person speak his or her mind is protected. The public debate and dialogue is a healthy process that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Second, the presence of protesters is another affirmation that our strategy is working. If the abortion photos had no effect, the pro-abortion folks would just ignore us as irrelevant. In fact, showing abortion pictures is the one thing that pro-aborts fear most, because the pictures make it impossible for people to ignore or trivialize abortion. The images raise awareness and force the other side to defend an obviously horrifying act of violence against a defenseless human being.

BTW, our new video was very well received:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Rk44gn824

CBR is following the model of social reform demonstrated by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Lewis Hine, the American abolitionists of the 1800s, and William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson, who helped end the slave trade in England.

Dr. King found ways to show people what racism really looked like. Pictures of racist attacks on TV and in magazines opened people’s eyes and helped end segregation in less than 10 years.

CBR uses this same model of social reform to open people’s eyes to the truth about abortion.

Here is the video we’ll be showing tonight at our Celebrating Life event.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8Rk44gn824

Great column in the Knoxville News Sentinel this morning by columnist Greg Johnson.  Be sure to add your comments at the bottom of the column.

By the way, here’s your last chance to order tickets to Celebrate Life with Mike Huckabee on Monday night.

This BBC report on the battle over abortion in Northern Ireland features pro-life activist Bernadette Smyth.

From the BBC report:

What makes the biggest difference to Bernie Smyth’s campaign is what turned her into a pro-life campaigner in the first place: pictures like these.

Check it out:

http://www.belowtheradar.tv/abortionwars.html

.

JillStanek.com is a pro-life blog that is read world-wide.  Readers are burning up the comment lines on two recent postings featuring CBR:

1. My post, Use of graphic pictures not optional.  This post generated more than 100 comments.  Please go add your own!  This post was a good lead-in to this next one …
2. Jill’s post, Video: The most shocking 4-minute abortion debate you will ever see.  A new CBR video juxtaposes shocking, graphic abortion footage upon a soothing videothat was produced by the Northland Family Planning Centers, a chain of late-term abortion clinics in Michigan.  The Northland video describes abortion as an act of “courage.”  The CBR overlay displays the truth.  (Note: the link given here just goes to Jill’s posting, not the video itself.)

America will not stop abortion until America sees abortion.

My response to a pastor who commented on a previous post.

Dear Pastor,

On my blog, you asked if you could use my argument as part of your public requests (pulpit and bulletin announcements) for increased participation in prayer vigils and other peaceful, legal efforts to close the Planned Parenthood facilities in Midland and Odessa, TX. 

Yes. Please. Thank you so much. Please encourage your church members (and your church body) to become involved in activities like this. Please use anything I have written. I put these ideas out there for folks like you to use.

As you are planning your presentation, please bear in mind that most Christians who are doing nothing to stop the killing don’t even know what abortion is. They think they do but they don’t. They are trying to ignore or trivialize abortion, because that allows them to do nothing about it. That’s why you must use abortion images to show them what it is. If they don’t see it, they won’t understand it and won’t do anything about it.

Some will complain about this and assert that you only need to show pretty pictures of preborn children. If that were true, a photo of a Jewish family picnic on the Rhine would be adequate to convey the horror of the death camps. I’m sorry, but I look at a nice Jewish family photo, and it tells me nothing about Auschwitz.

If we are going to ever stop the killing, we must correct three adverse conditions:

1. Christians need to know the truth of it. They don’t. (That’s why the abortion rate even inside the “pro-life” church is so high.)
2. Christians need to care enough to do something about it. They don’t.
3. The Church must lead. It doesn’t.

It is my belief that correcting #1 is critical to correcting the other two. Let me emphasize this point:  To understand it, your church needs to see it!

Dr. Martin Luther King said, “America will never stop racism until America sees racism.” That’s why he organized marches, knowing that the peaceful marchers would be attacked with dogs and water cannons. It was pictures of these attacks, on TV and in magazines, that changed America. I can tell you that America will not stop abortion until America sees abortion, and there is no place more fitting than our churches to begin this educational process. Babies will die in your church if you don’t show pictures.

When guiding your members how to act in holding back the children on the way to slaughter (Proverbs 24:11-12), encourage them to use graphic abortion images in their work. It’s not important that all use graphic images; but it is important that those who oppose their use are not allowed to dissuade others who might be agreeable.

If you need ideas how to counter objections or have any other questions, feel free to contact me.

You might want to check out the slides from my talk this weekend to the Students for Life of America conference in DC.

We’d be glad to provide a speaker for your church anytime.

Thanks,

Fletcher