. . . because action speaks louder than words.
League history, NOW v. Scheidler, Action News, Joe Scheidler, League staff
Q & A on abortion, the unborn child, where we stand on the issues and more
Helping abortion-bound women choose life for their babies
Unmasking the truth about abortion in the public square
Our youth outreach, raising up a new generation of pro-life leaders
Abortion industry converts tell the inside story
News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
For the first 15 or 20 years of my involvement in the pro-life movement, the argument from abortion advocates was generally that the unborn baby was not a baby at all, but some lesser form of life they liked to call a “fetus.” Never mind that fetus is simply one of the many stages of human life.
But it seems in more recent times that occasionally the truth comes out of the mouths of the vocal defenders of abortion.
Case in point: last Wednesday, at the League’s Truth Day in Arlington Heights — As we stood along Rand Road at Arlington Heights Road an irate woman drove into the parking lot in front of where I was standing. She got out of her car and started yelling about how her one-year-old daughter had just seen a graphic abortion picture at the intersection.
As it happened a large “Choice” sign was positioned just in front of the woman’s car, so if her one-year-old was likely to be traumatized by a graphic abortion picture, she was getting as much exposure as possible as her mother continued to rant about it.
I tried to explain that a one-year-old was more likely reacting to her mother’s response to the graphic than to the graphic itself, but she would have none of it. Finally she announced “Anyway, abortion is legal. And if I want to kill my unborn child, it is my right and my responsibility.” At that she jumped in her car and sped away.
She did not couch abortion in any delicate terms or pretend that it is not a child who dies in an abortion. She was very clear about what abortion means to her. Perhaps she had a personal experience with abortion and knew very well what abortion was. I’m sure I will never know.
At another demonstration a few years ago a young woman from the School of the Art Institute held a quickly penned poster that said, “Kill More Babies” (see picture above, at left).
My daughter Annie went up to talk to her because the placard was unusually jarring. She admitted that she didn’t really mean that more babies should die, but she was trying to be shocking. It worked.
But what she didn’t realize is that she was, in fact, telling the truth about what abortion advocates want: More babies killed.
When Cecile Richards “celebrated” 30 years of Planned Parenthood in Cedar Rapids, IA last week, she made no bones about the fact that Planned Parenthood is working to expand abortion “services.” In plain English that means more dead babies, so if a woman wants to “kill my baby,” Planned Parenthood wants to make that more convenient for her.
As science and technology make it more difficult to hide the truth about fetal life and the reality of abortion, its proponents don’t have much choice but to just say it like it is. As the abortionists themselves confirmed at our “Meet the Abortion Providers” conferences, “I am a murderer,” describes a person who does abortions.
Note: Visitor comments do not necessarily reflect the views of the Pro-Life Action League.
We welcome a free and open exchange of ideas on the Pro-Life Hotline, from all points of view, but we request that you restrict your remarks to the topic(s) presented in the entry above.
To ensure constructive dialog, the following will not be tolerated:
You may use HTML code to style your comments.
Anne-typical day w/the signs, right? I do think that we “grown-ups’ forget that our children do not see and process the way we do. How often have we heard the little ones ask Mom or Dad,” How can people do that to a baby?” I’d love to
hear the answers. I’ve never had a child yell, or act frightened by the picture–
only by their parents yelling and cussing.And kids know. I don’t know if it was a CD from PLAL or another source that I was listening to. But it was a study on kids and abortion. So many were drawing that extra child-they intuitively knew that a sibling was missing—help me here, if you know the study,please. Very enlightening, we don’t give our children enough credit. We adults need to own our feelings, and not put them on the child.Pardon my goofiness-but I was discussing this with another pro-lifer last night. If kids are having night terrors over the signs, as one mom quoted….then we need to put up warning signs at parties and circuses. Do you know how many kids are terrorized by clowns? Should we ban them, too? But back to the signs. I have never been on a “tour” where a woman did not go balistic. We know what that reaction means- she’s usually a post-abortive woman who needs healing, and was never offered it. Those signs allow us to talk to her ,also. To be be gentle, not judging. As Fr. Pavone has said,”We love them both-mom and baby”. These signs allow us to also reach out to the moms. Please, look at all of the good that these signs do-I truly feel that the good outweighs the bad by leaps and bounds, or I would not do it. Holding up the signs is not fun, but it is something that we are called to do. To help the least of these….. And we are helping. 4 LIFE!
Posted May 26, 2010 at 4:16 pm
For me it was a very difficult thing to let my kids see the graphic pictures for the first time. I remember the first Face the Truth tour that I took my kids on. My oldest was only six and he understood right away what the picture was of. I told him that because people are killing babies we have to do what we can to fight against abortion. All of my kids eagerly engage in pro-life activism when the opportunity presents itself.
I remember seeing graphic abortion photos from when I was very young, maybe even three or four. There was a pamphlet that had a living baby on the top and an aborted baby of the same age at the bottom. It was very compelling to me, I would look at it closely but it was so upsetting that I knew that this had to stop.
I think the pictures are enlightening for people who don’t think much about it and inspirational for those of us who are already pro-life. The thing that needs to be further understood is the fealing that people get when they see these images. Some pro-lifers think they are more caring because they are so uncomfortable viewing the images that they are opposed to the images being shown. I am upset by the images everytime I see one but these are real people who were killed. When I die I hope that people don’t shrink away from my body in horror or disgust.
But let’s think about this; who is more caring, the person who can’t handle seeing an old man with worms on his body lying in sewage so she turns her head and prevents her children from seeing him or the nun who searches for him, picks him up, removes the worms, cleans him and lets him know that he is loved? Sometimes the right thing to do is not the most comfortable thing to do.
Posted May 26, 2010 at 5:25 pm
Ann, I recently spoke to a Planned Parenthood street canvasser downtown in Chicago, and he was surprisingly agreeable to many of my arguments. I argued that abortion is a tragic choice that many women, in their heart of hearts, don’t truly want. He responded: “I know no woman really wants to kill her baby.” And I hadn’t even used that phrase myself. Amazing how readily some of them admit what an abortion is.
And thank you again for being at the Holy Name book club last month.
Posted May 29, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Great post!
Posted October 21, 2010 at 8:49 pm