See the photos

A Michigan chapter of Planned Parenthood, located within CBR’s September target zone, sees the Reproductive Choice Campaign rooted in scare tactics. ‘Their goal, obviously, is to scare women; scare particularly, I’m sure, young women and give them an impression of what abortion’s about,’ said Margy Long, director of development for Planned Parenthood, Mid-Michigan Alliance.

‘I think it’s unfortunate,’ Long said, ‘that anybody wants to use scare tactics and what I think is exploitation to try to prove their particular political point of view.’

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'I don't think that any woman who's contemplating what to do about an unintended pregnancy doesn't know that there is a developing fetus in her uterus. So, it's not something that women don't already know about,' Long said. '[However,] we have to remember that this is a developing pregnancy and it is not the same thing as a child,' she said.

Now here we have world-class double-speak. If women already know their “fetus” is merely a “developing pregnancy,” (which Ms. Long says is “not the same as a child,”) why would they be “scared” to have us show them a picture of it after an abortion? Can this lady be listening to what she is saying?

Planned Parenthood can’t have it both ways. If abortion is a good thing, how can it be “exploitative” to show pictures of it? What is it we are “exploiting?” People’s sense of guilt and shame? We certainly hope so.

World Net Daily, August 3, 2001, reported a story entitled "Controversial Billboard Trucks Roll On."

[S]aid Glenn Mones, spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Federation of America …'The bottom line is that most Americans believe that the government shouldn't interfere with the private medical decisions of women, and this [the CBR, RCC truck project] isn't about to change that.'

Perhaps Mr. Mones is concerned that people who see our trucks will no longer think of abortions as “the private medical decisions of women.” Maybe they will begin to think of abortions as acts of violence which kill babies.

In a story called "Pro-Life Caravan Targets Florida," The Miami Herald reports in its September 5^th edition that:

‘Their [CBR's] ignorance is profound,’ said Patricia Baird Windle, a retired Central Florida abortion clinic owner and author of a book on abortion rights. ‘Sometimes the pictures will upset youngsters but grown women will say “Oh isn’t that disgusting” and they’ll go on their way,’ Windle said.

Ms. Baird Windle is wrong. Countless "grown women" have told us that these pictures have changed their minds about killing their children. We cite many examples below and could cite many more.

The Contra Costa Times, November 27, 2001, carried a story which began “Anti-Abortion Display Hits The Road.”

Calling the trucks a ‘sensationalist demonstration,’ a Planned Parenthood official said accurate information on birth control -- not gore -- will help reduce the number of abortions.

‘Let’s face it -- the real purpose of this kind of demonstration is to stir up emotions,’ said Mitzi Sales, vice president for external affairs at Planned Parenthood’s regional headquarters in Concord [CA].

Ms. Sales is only half wrong. We are trying to stir up emotions -- such as regret -- among those guilty of complicity or complacency in the deaths of babies.

THE TRUE MEASURE OF EFFECTIVENESS

Not everyone, of course, thinks the trucks are ineffective. An educator recently sent us an E-mail expressing the opposite point of view concerning the likely impact of the photos on her students. She said:

I teach 8th grade English at a public school and want you to know that the majority of my students see nothing wrong with abortion. I have long believed that if they actually saw the results of "choice" that most would be sickened and would change their minds. I cannot show this kind of photo at school, but the kids of today need to see just what abortion does do to a baby. Thank you for doing what I legally cannot do.

Our pictures are also effective with college age students. The Detroit Free Press, July 26, 2001, ran a piece about CBR under the headline "Billboards On Trucks Carry Graphic Photos:"

The mobile billboard project is the second national campaign by the Center to bring graphic images of abortion to audiences that haven't sought them. The first is a college campus display called the Genocide Awareness Project [GAP], which has visited universities nationwide and in Canada. It was displayed at the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University last fall and prompted angry opposition at both campuses. Andrew Shirvell, a U-M senior and president of Students for Life, said the project gave a tremendous boost to his organization, however. 'It raised the issue to a level it has never been before.'

The reason for this “boost” can be seen in an article appearing in YahooNews, Thursday, September 6, 2001. It quoted a South Florida motorist who spoke while looking at our trucks:

'These pictures are horrible. But you know what, it makes you think twice about actually …[having an abortion]. It really does,' bystander Margo DeJesus said.

On Friday, November 16, 2001, we received yet another encouraging E-mail from a pregnant college student. She had just seen on our Website the same aborted embryo and early fetus pictures we display on the trucks. Some of these photos had initially been E-mailed to her by a friend (apparently aware of her dilemma) who had come to our site via Yahoo:

I am a 22 years [sic] old Spanish girl. I got pregnant by my ex. He wants me to get an abortion and he says that he is not going to be responsible for my child. I was thinking on it because I am in college and I don’t have anything done yet. But I was looking at this [sic] pictures and this is horrible. I don’t know how people can easily kill like this. I’m going to keep my baby.

Literally a moment ago, I received two similar E-mails, the first from a young woman who had also just seen our abortion photos. She said the pictures “opened my eyes as to what truly happens during an abortion -- which [sic] I had known this ten years ago.” We are left to wonder whether she is referring to an abortion she thinks she would not have elected had she been showed the truth back then. The second note came from a woman who said “It is impossible to walk away from seeing these pictures without being seriously effected [sic].”

Through our Website, we have received countless messages confirming the transforming impact of aborted baby pictures. Here are just a few:

-- I was thinking of [having an] abortion because may [sic] children are gonna be less than 2 years apart but after reading everything and looking at the pictures I can't do it.

-- Your photos changed me from pro-choice to pro-life. More has got to be done to educate the public on the true horrors of abortion. Please continue to spread your word any way you can. This is truly a cause that cannot be ignored. I think it should be mandatory for every woman who is to undergo this surgery to see photos like these so they too would understand exactly what is taking place.

-- Today, as I returned from lunch, we were behind two of your trucks that were followed by a police car. I was amazed. I had seen abortion pictures online before but seeing them in public is stunning. I visited your Website and read much of the literature offered there. I am glad that your organization supports crisis pregnancy centers and other loving alternatives to abortion. Love does conquer all .… These depictions are horrific and offensive, but they do have a value by grabbing our attention .… I have always been a vocal opponent to abortion and thought I was doing my part by voicing my opinion and discussing it with my family and others. But seeing your trucks, and visiting your Website, made me question if I am really doing my part. I am newly resolved to provide financial and prayer support to the local crisis pregnancy center to partially fulfill my responsibility towards 'the least of these.'

-- I was driving to work this morning at 8am on the 405 freeway Northbound alongside of the convoy .... I read the trucks and I noticed the law enforcement type car following behind. I noted the Website, and looked it up when I got to work. I read the article and got chills. I think it is a very graphic and straightforward way to get the point across but you are absolutely right about what abortion is and what it does. It was a very sobering visual affront, but people need to know. I have had an abortion and I can tell you this ... I could feel the life being pulled out of my womb and almost as though my fetus was screaming .... I think your campaign will help many women choose NOT to have an abortion.

PHOTO FRAUD

Neo-Nazi skinheads respond to photo evidence of the Holocaust by asserting that the pictures are fake. Abortionists sometimes do the same thing with abortion photos. If our pictures are accurate, they know they have no moral argument with which to defend abortion. The following E-mail quote from a frustrated young woman is typical: “Your photos are complete and utter fabrication, a fetus at 8 weeks has no fingers, [expletive], how dense do you think people are?" First of all, at eight weeks the baby is an embryo, not a fetus, but more to the point, this lady is apparently unaware that every embryology text teaches the following: The digital rays which become fingers begin to form in the embryonic hand disk five weeks after fertilization and deepen into ridges and grooves during the sixth week. Webbed fingers then emerge and begin to separate through the seventh week. Fully individual digits have formed by eight weeks. People who are pro-abortion want greatly to believe that the baby doesn’t look like a baby. Our pictures prove otherwise.