Dear Partners and Friends,

This month we complete our coverage of the Spring 2003 GAP tour, focusing on our stop at Ohio University (OU) in Athens, Ohio. You are making a real difference in the lives of others, and we thank you for your faithfulness. As we look back at our last GAP trip, we also look forward to our upcoming Fall GAP tour. Please pray for this important project, and for all of us at CBR.

Fletcher and Jane

 GAP Declaws Pro-Abort Bobcats at Ohio University

Fletcher fielded lots of questions from angry but respectful students. One police officer complimented Fletcher on his ability to respond to hostile questions.
On April 16-17, 2003, we completed our Fall 2003 GAP tour with a stop at Ohio University (OU) in Athens, Ohio.
 
Unpredictable response. We had heard that OU is a party school and would likely be hostile. But our presuppositions are almost always wrong, and OU was no exception. Very little hostility was directed at us, at least not in our personal encounters. Anger, yes, but hostility, no. To be sure, there was opposition, a continual presence of people who protested our display. But even many students who disagreed with us were willing to suppress their anger long enough to come over and hear what we had to say.
 
Predictable response. Even though we can never predict how students will behave on a given campus, there are predictable outcomes everywhere we go: babies saved, hearts and minds changed.
 
The Dark Side. It wasn’t all good. One of the groups who was especially visible in protesting our presence was called A Swarm of Dykes. We must pray for God to shine a light on the darkness and rescue these lost souls.
 
Changing the subject. Because this GAP corresponded with the start of Passover (unintentional), OU senior Heather Lanfranchi voiced her opposition, “These pictures are disrespectful. I mean, I respect a person’s right to believe in pro-life, but today starts Passover. … This is totally disrespectful to history …” Rather than being disrespectful of the victims of the Holocaust, we believe there is no better time to discuss genocide than during Passover. Jews and Gentiles alike should come together to oppose all forms of genocide, including its most contemporary form – abortion. Sadly, many pro-aborts use this to change the subject.
 
GAP’s location at a central pedestrian crossroads ensured large crowds both days we were on campus.
Another baby saved! A pregnant student (apparently facing heavy pressure to abort) approached our prenatal development sign, which shows human development from conception until birth. She asked which of the pictures showed a 4-week embryo. She then said to her friend while pointing toward the 8-week pictures, "That's where I am right now, and he wants me to abort! [Forget] him!!"
 
That exchange, brief as it was, powerfully illustrates the reality that massive ignorance does exist, and that it can be corrected in a moment (for those who are willing to accept the truth). Sadly, if this young woman had not encountered our pictures on campus, God only knows if her baby would even be alive today. She certainly wouldn't have received all the facts from Planned Parenthood, from the staff and faculty of OU, and probably not even from her own church.
 
Activating the converted. We tend to think of GAP as a project that converts people to the pro-life position. It’s true, GAP does convert people, but it does much more than that. GAP moves people all along the spectrum. GAP

1. neutralizes the opposition,
2. converts the neutral,
3. activates the converted, and
4. energizes the active.

GAP at OU was no different. The student group that hosted our visit recruited 30 new people as a result of GAP, several of whom have assumed leadership roles. Not surprising. People will make sacrifices for life-saving projects that actually work.
 
More reactions to GAP. People had lots to say about GAP. Here is a sampling:

I thought it was just a dot at 10 wks. I didn’t know it looked like that, completely formed. — male student
 
I got one of your flyers yesterday. It was really cool and informative. Now I understand. — female student
 
If you can stand there and truly believe that an 8-week. fetus is comparable to a born, a BORN, victim of atrocious acts of violence, then you are even sillier than I imagined. — Abby, member of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
 
I still believe in choice, but I think every woman should see these pictures so that they will be fully informed regarding abortion before they make that choice. — female graduate student in education
 
You did a great job of responding to hostile questions. —- OU police officer (to Fletcher)

Jane was called a “scary, smiling, soccer-mom-looking” member of a “sicko antiabortion group” by Terry Smith, Editor of the Athens News. If Mr. Smith thinks Jane is scary now, he should see her charging the referee!
Changing the nature of the debate. The Athens News, the local daily paper, ran a picture of our own Jane Bullington (complete with GAP signs in the background) on the front page of its Thursday morning edition (similar to the picture of Jane on the flip side of this newsletter). Some of their readers complained to Terry Smith, the Editor, that he had ruined their day by subjecting them to the truth about abortion. Wood Road of Albany, Ohio wrote this:

A picture is worth a thousand words, or in this case, possibly a thousand hours of therapy.

Mr. Smith (possibly feeling some pressure to demonstrate he is not a lackey of the radical right) responded with an editorial in which he (1) defended his decision to publish the picture, and (2) went to great lengths to hold Jane and the rest of us pro-lifers in contempt. He wrote

The photo showed a beaming “Pro-Life” shock-trooper handing out flyers in front of several 10-foot posters depicting parts of aborted children … The photo … expertly captured the jolting irony of this soccer-mom-looking woman standing beneath blowups of some of the most sickening images imaginable. … In this case, the bloody images in the background were relatively small and subordinate to the central subject of the photo, the scary smiling lady. … Whether you sympathize with this sicko anti-abortion group or not, their presence on campus … was news.

Because of GAP, Mr. Smith was so overwhelmed by the truth that he forgot to deny it.
First of all, note that Mr. Smith used the word “children” to describe the aborted babies on the GAP signs. Before GAP, it is doubtful he would have used such a word to describe the unborn. More likely, he would have been quite careful to select words that obscure the humanity of the child, words like embryo, fetus, or products of conception. But because of GAP, Mr. Smith was so overwhelmed by the truth that he forgot to deny it. Not only did he call the victims “children,” he called the abortion pictures “some of the most sickening images imaginable.” He described abortion as sickening! But in order to obscure this fact, he resorted to name-calling and tried his best to change the subject, focusing on Jane’s pleasant personality instead of the real issue, abortion.
 
Now, this guy is definitely not on our side. Nevertheless, GAP had a profound impact on his descriptions of both unborn children and abortion. All the while, he maintained that the pictures didn’t work. Yeah, right.
 
It’s the same everywhere we go: the pictures change the nature of debate. The pro-aborts try to change the subject, but it just won’t work. Oh, and by the way, we don’t mind the name-calling. We’re not trying to win a popularity contest.
 
Please pray that God will continue to give us sweet victories like those at OU. Thank you!
 Abortion is devastating for the babies and the mothers. Thank you, faithful supporters, for helping us help those who are being lied to at every turn.

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