Center for Bio-Ethical Reform volunteer Gary Johnson and abortion victim posters that saved a baby in Knoxville.
By Fletcher Armstrong
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.
Fletcher Armstrong runs the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform in Knoxville.
Passersby gaze uneasily at photos of slain people in Market Square in downtown Knoxville. (Photo Center for Bio-Ethical Reform)
