Dear Partners and Friends,
 
This month, we complete our 2-month series on Fall 2004 GAP.  The University of North Carolina at Asheville was the second school we visited.  This event was so successful, Life Advocates, a pro-life group based in Asheville, has committed to starting their own GAP program for North Carolina universities.  In fact, they have already raised about 20% of the funding they need!

Fletcher and Jane

GAP Makes First Visit to University of North Carolina at Asheville
 

The beauty of autumn in the mountains forms the backdrop for the horror of abortion.
On October 26-27, 2004, CBR took the Genocide Awareness Project to the University of North Carolina at Asheville (UNCA).  We worked with Life Advocates, an Asheville pro-life group that has been displaying aborted baby pictures since 1990.  However, this was only the second time such pictures had been shown on the campus.
 
New Student Group.  To our detriment, the pro-life movement has done almost nothing to stimulate pro-life activity on the college campus.  CBR is using GAP to start vibrant pro-life student groups everywhere we go.  At UNCA, we helped form the Students for Bio-Ethical Reform (SBR),      a group we pray will continue to expose evil and bring healing to that campus.  Please pray with us toward that end.
 
Intense opposition.  Pro-aborts are never happy about GAP, but the resistance is a bit more “lively” at some places than others.  UNCA was one of those places!  They jeered, “Go home, you Medieval Christians!” and “Go away you right-wing nutsos!”  Pro-aborts can’t figure out how to respond to GAP.  On one hand, they can remain silent and force people to think they have no coherent response to the pictures.  Or, on the other hand, they can open their mouths and remove all doubt!
 
African-American students explain genocide.
Support.  There were also words of encouragement: “Keep up the good work” and  “I am glad you are here.”
 
Another changed heart and mind.  It happens so frequently, we almost forget to mention it.  And the converts are not just young people who have never given abortion much thought.  At UNCA, an elderly woman told us, “I had been pro-choice my whole life until I came out and saw the display.  I never knew abortion was so horrific and violent, and to see it has made me change my mind to pro-life.”
 
Confusion.  One student was overheard commenting on GAP, “What they don’t understand is that abortion is a Constitutional right.”  His statement is both incorrect and irrelevant.  First of all, the Constitution says nothing about abortion.  Nowhere does it say anything about “trimesters” as a basis to regulate abortion.  All of that was a fabrication of a Supreme Court that simply wanted to stop the public debate and dictate the outcome.  But even if he were correct, he should know that slavery was considered a Constitutional “right” for this Nation’s first 90 years, even longer if you consider the Colonial period.  But all of that changed because a small group of people cared more about stopping injustice than about their own personal peace and prosperity.  We applaud those people, even as we seek to emulate them.
 
Clear thinking.  UNCA faculty member and child abuse prevention advocate Cheryl Alderman was right on when she said, “Yes, it is shocking, sad and violent, and yes, those people have a right to voice their opinion in the manner that they have. ...  [An] equally shocking, sad and violent display could be made about child abuse...”  In the early 1900s, Lewis Hine developed and displayed just that kind of exhibit.  His pictures of adolescents and early teens working 15-hour days  in coal mines and textile mills helped end abusive child labor practices.  We applaud the important work of  Ms. Alderman and others who work to end the various forms of child abuse that are a part of our contemporary culture of death.
 
The handiwork of a college student at UNCA.
The First Amendment.  It is encouraging that people still support the First Amendment.  Associate Chancellor Pat McClellan sent an e-mail to the entire student body stating that the Students for Bio-Ethical Reform was recognized by the university and had complied with all school regulations necessary to host the 2-day event.  Still, some of the more intolerant students circulated a petition asking that GAP be removed from campus.  One of the students protesting GAP resisted the pressure to sign it, “I wouldn’t sign that petition because then I would jeopardize my right to counter demonstrate against GAP.”  Amen.
 
Energizing the active.  GAP is an excellent project for activating and energizing pro-lifers to greater levels of commitment.  First, the pictures are convicting to people who are simply not doing enough.  Second, the success of GAP encourages pro-lifers by helping them see that we really can win.  Sharon Daniels, an Asheville volunteer, put it this way:
I have been in the pro-life movement for almost 15 years and have never seen pictures on that measure.  They shook my very being.  They move you—move your stomach, intestines, move your heart, move your head to bow and to ask forgiveness, and move your feet to get going and do what you can and must do to defend life at its most precious and innocent beginnings.
Several pro-life students were inspired by GAP.  In fact, at least 30 of them signed up to be members of SBR.  That represents nearly 1% of the entire UNCA enrollment!
 
Going forward.  We are pleased to report that Life Advocates was so impressed with GAP that they have now committed to purchasing their own display and taking it to colleges and universities all over western North Carolina.  The more people out there who will show the pictures, the more lives will be saved and the more hearts and minds will be changed.  Thank you, Life Advocates!
 

GAP Makes Return Visit to the University of Maryland
 

Hornbake Plaza at the University of Maryland.
In October 2003, CBR took the Genocide Awareness Project to the University of Maryland (UMd).  We worked with Defend Life, a local pro-life group based in Baltimore.  On November 16-17, 2004, Defend Life returned to UMd with their own GAP signs.  It is exactly the result we hope for every time we take GAP on the road.  To read more about both of these events, go to www.diamondbackonline.com and search for “Genocide Awareness Project”.

 
Thank you!  Thanks to all of you for your prayers and financial support.  You are making a huge difference in the lives of others, including the preborn and the already born!

To arrange your automatic monthly bank draft to support our work:

1. Download and print the Electronic Gift Transfer Authorization:
http://www.abortionno.org/...GiftTransferSE.pdf
2. Fill out the form.  Make sure you designate the gift for "CBR Southeast"
3. Enclose a voided check or deposit slip bearing the account number of the account we should draft.
4. Mail the Transfer Authorization form and a voided check (or deposit slip) to CBR Southeast, P.O. Box 20115, Knoxville, TN 37940.

Please pray that God will raise up others to help you support this life-saving work!