The Speaker’s Platform lawn was covered with large images of aborted fetuses Monday, sparking debate among Cal State Long Beach students.
The nonprofit organization Center for Bio-Ethical Reform visited CSULB for the first time to present the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP), a series of displays comparing abortion to, for example, war and the holocaust. There were also images of the Ku Klux Klan, Pearl Harbor and lynchings, while some photographs of aborted fetuses included coins for size comparison.
According to Don Cooper, director of the center, the display is meant to educate people about both prenatal development and abortion.
“We want to present abortion in a greater historical context and challenge the students here on campus to look past forms of genocide and see how they compare to abortion as it’s practiced today,” Cooper said. “We aren’t saying that any form of genocide is identical, but there are certain similarities, and with abortion it starts with the large masses that are killed.”
The center also came to CSULB because “universities are a place where our government leaders and world leaders are produced,” Cooper said. “We want them to be informed on these bioethical issues like abortion.”
He said the center wants to reach both men and women of the younger generation.
The organization was asked to visit CSULB by the campus organization Catholic Newman Club. According to Alma Samson, a member of the club, the center was invited “to spread knowledge and truth, and to dispel ignorance.”
Some of the club members volunteered to pass out brochures and talk to students near the display, along with volunteers from various pro-life groups, according to Ma’May Faucher, director of donor and volunteer support at the center.
Samson said the club has participated in other related events in the past, including 40 Days for Life, in which members would gather outside of abortion clinics and pray.
“We want to force a consensus about who the unborn child is and what abortion does to them, so our first goal is to really force people out of the fiction — or out of the lie — that they’ve been told that this is just a blob of tissue,” Cooper said. “We’re not forcing a person to do something, we’re just giving them the facts … and most people, we’ve found, are more ignorant than they are evil when it comes to killing somebody.”
There were also signs put up by the center for the National Life Center’s “crisis pregnancy hotline” and a “Free Speech Board” put up by the center next to the display, which allowed people to write their thoughts.
One person wrote, “[This display] is not at all helpful. It is the incorrect message to send to the public. The images are offensive … don’t you think this is a form of terrorism?”
Students stopped by the display throughout the day, though they did not all have the same opinion on abortion and the displays.
“It’s pretty shocking; it’s sad,” said Elena Gomez, an undeclared freshman. “You may hear about it and stuff, but to see it put this way, it has a big impact on me.”
Akinsanya Kambon, a CSULB professor, also saw the display and said he had experienced genocide as both a Vietnam War veteran and someone who had visited Rwanda in 1994.
“I’ve seen hundreds of bodies hacked to pieces in a church in Rwanda, so I’m familiar with genocide,” Kambon said. “I’m pretty much against abortion, but this brings it home a little more.”
Brieana Gonzales, a junior communications major, said she is pro-life and agrees with the message being communicated.
“The pictures are so graphic,” Gonzales said. “It usually takes something really graphic like this to get people’s attention.”
Other students feel that the display will not change anybody’s minds.
“I’m just cynical enough to wonder whether even seeing this is going to do any good because people … can be so selective about what they see,” said Tracy Kale, a junior history major who initially expected, after seeing the “Warning: Genocide Photos Ahead” signs, that the event was either a Darfur or anti-Israel rally.
Kevin Schwed, a business marketing sophomore who said he has not taken a strong stance on abortion, agreed that the display would not sway students one way or the other.
“I guess I’m glad people have strong feelings about this, but I think a lot of people tend to go overboard,” Schwed said. “By this time, a lot of people have made up their minds — I don’t think displays are going to change anything.”
Brenda Portillo, a freshman kinesiology major, was one student affected by the display.
“I used to be pro-choice and then with this, it’s like, kind of made me rethink that’s pretty immoral,” Portillo said.
Some students were bothered by the displays and how people were presenting their information about abortion. Many pro-choice students argued the controversial topic with others, including the center workers and volunteers.
Cooper said he hoped that “most people, if they have a functioning conscience and they’re intellectually honest, they’re going to come to the conclusion that [abortion] isn’t something they should do and this is something of such an evil that the government should restrict it.”
“It’s just going to be an ongoing debate forever,” said Devin Wilson, a senior history major.
According to Wilson, a volunteer had eavesdropped on a conversation he was having with other people and tried to “induce an argument,” he said. “That’s not cool.”
Members of the Feminist Organization Reclaiming Consciousness and Equality (FORCE) also attended the event, armed with posters such as “Get your religion out of my uterus!” and “Against abortion? Don’t get one!” Members of FORCE also had a poster for pro-choice students to sign.
“They have a right to be here, and so do we,” said Justine Schneeweis, chair of FORCE. “I think it’s good because it ignites people to think about it and to argue with them.”
She added that she thought the photos were staged, taken during extreme circumstances or altered using Photoshop.
“Personally I think the pictures are a little extreme and alarmist; they’re not all like that — these are extreme examples,” said Anna Johnson, a sophomore anthropology and geography major. “I think they’re making extreme claims and comparisons, and obviously it’s getting attention but I don’t agree with it.”
Darius Hardwick, northwest regional director of the center, argued that the photos have an affidavit from the photographer and were confirmed to be real by an abortion doctor.
“I think it’s a little bit ironic that the people putting this on are men and they have never had a uterus or have been pregnant when they didn’t want to be,” Schneeweis said.
A fence surrounded the displays to protect them and people working with the organization, according to Cooper. They also set up video cameras to monitor the area. Cooper said that once, prior to using barricades, a student at another school had driven their car into the display.
“Although students might be upset or offended, they do have an opportunity to walk away and not look at the photos, steer clear of the exhibit completely,” said Jeff Klaus, director of Student Life and Development. “So as much as it might offend some people, being offended by something doesn’t necessarily mean that anybody is violating any of our campus guidelines.”
The display will also be on campus Tuesday from 8 a.m. to approximately 4 p.m.
Opposition to the display will rally at noon.
To ‘B-man’-
I can hardly believe your statements!! “If we want to rape, then let us rape! If we want to kill, then I say let us kill! Let us just do whatever is best for ourselves!” All religious or political philosophy aside, your way of thinking is far, far, FAR, more obscene and shocking, than anything CBR (or Christianity) has ever shown or done! You are a sad and disturbed individual, if you really feel this way. I don’t think even the most liberal, progressive thinking person in the world would think that your type of moral anarchy would be in any way justifiable, under any circumstances! You need help, dude! Be it from a psychologist, Jesus, or both! It doesn’t matter, you have some serious problems. I will be praying for you as well as any others who hold to this same type of anti-societal doctrine.
Honestly, no one can really tell a person who gets an abortion that it’s wrong or an act of genocide because you don’t have to live their life, apparently there is a reason for an abortion either you can’t take care of your baby because your not financially able to and because you may not be ready for a child
Maria, I’m very happy that you were lucky enough to find comprehensive sex education everywhere you looked. However, you have to recognize that not everyone has the same experiences you do, and what’s worse is that they don’t know that their sex education is incomplete. How about working to help them out instead?
I can’t believe people still believe that contraceptives and “sex education” is the answer… how much more of this do we need!?! ITS EVERYWHERE AND THE NUMBERS ARE GETTING HIGHER!!! Condoms are thrown at us during school, sex education is everywhere. What it really boils down to is respect and responsibility! We lost respect for women because we have made them into sexual objects. Modesty has become a thing of the past and women complain how guys treat them! Women are worth a lot more than their body. Also sex is a tremendous responsibility! Some people are simply not ready to have sex because they do not understand the worth of the woman, the worth of a child, and the gift of sexuality and above all LOVE. Didn’t love and sex use to go hand in hand!?! None of the pro-choice people would ever talk about love??? And the pro-life side is always about loving the child and the mother! Honestly sometimes I feel that media has made our generation over stimulated when it comes to sex and its like giving a 9 year old a tank and saying here ride it and learn through experience, oh and if you kill someone along the way its ok! Patience people… trust me you won’t die if you don’t have sex, but someone can die if you do have sex without understanding what sex really means.
If you don’t like abortion, STOP CREATING AN ENVIRONMENT FOR THEM. Let’s promote better sex education, let’s fight for legislation to make contraceptives available to everyone. Let’s encourage conversation and self-confidence instead of shame when talking about sex. Then maybe pre-marital sex won’t be frowned upon, we won’t have unplanned pregnancies, and everyone’s happy.
I think this group’s funding would be put to much better use trying to treat the actual situations that engender abortion instead of shaming it. They’re treating a symptom.
Until then, I am happy that abortion is legal. That way our women can have the care of trained professionals, instead of unscrupulous quacks.
Joe:
So what if the bioethical site is God based? It doesn’t mean everything they are showing is FALSE.
Lisa: your claim that babies in utero don’t feel pain is flat-out, scientifically WRONG. And so is killing another human being, regardless of what stage of life or development that person is in.
if one goes on the “bio ethical” website you can tell right away that they are in fact a reglious group with photos of jesus and phrases from the bible.
I am greatly appalled that someone would say that “[abortion] is nothing at all like killing real people.” Yes, I have been raised Catholic but did not take a stance towards being Pro-Life until the last couple of years when someone finally made it clear to me that choosing life does not in any way take away any rights for women. Rather, it gives another human being the right to live. Religion has very little to do with it really. What it does come down to, I think, is our own responsibility as a PERSON to not commit to the vile and destructive acts of abortion.
Pro-life will win at the end no matter what, but not in the way many people may believe… The secular culture cannot sustain itself. If you look at the clear mathematics of it, secular cultures birth rates are too low to sustain it’s culture. For every 2 parents in America there is an average of 1.8 children. So why is there a population increase in America? Immigration… and the people coming in are not pro-abortion, they have large families and their own culture. The muslim and hispanic populations are two of the largest populations that are allowing America to continue to grow, but the typical W.A.S.P America is killing itself. Trust me, if you look to France where their birth rates are around 1.3, and see the huge muslim growth in France, we will see France as a Muslim country. Good or bad? who can say, but secularism will die out like all lies do.
“The anti-abortionists abandon all integrity when they hitchhike on the misery of others for mere shock value.”
There would be no gruesome photos to show if no abortions were committed.
If it weren’t for these pro-lifers yesterday, I wouldn’t have thought of some more good dead baby jokes!
They want to force a consensus…. as long as it agrees with them.
What about the women who are forced to have an abortion? By their mother, father, boyfriend, husband? I dare you to stand outside an abortion clinic for a day and watch women cry in pain because they want to keep their baby but are forced to abort. Talk about choice…
And don’t forget to ask the abortion clinic how many women have DIED from an abortion.
Genocide: the deliberate and systematic destruction of a national, racial, religious, political, cultural, ethnic, or other group defined by the exterminators as undesirable. (Webster’s New World Encyclopedia, 1992) With abortion, the group being exterminated is unwanted, unborn babies.
lmao people honestly believe this stuff is photoshopped!?! I mean common! There are even videos of these fetus being removed out there from the womb, and trust me it looks just as bad! DO YOUR RESEARCH. This is sad… the safest place to be in the world should be in a mother’s womb.
Responding to Lisa (part 1a of 2): Lisa claims that killing a very young human being is not like “killing real people.” Perpetrators of genocide have almost always justified their acts by claiming that their victims were subhuman. Nazis called their victims “untermensch,” which means “subhuman.” Killing them was not like killing real people.
Responding to Lisa (part 2 of 2): Lisa goes on to justify the killing by saying that “there is no shortage of babies being born.” To the Nazis, there was an excess of Gypsies, Poles, etc. in the “lebensraum” (living space) that they coveted for themselves. So, they just liquidated them. Which they justified because, after all, it wasn’t like killing real people.
Finally, Lisa goes on to justify abortion as free people exercising “choice.” But those who kill others always view their actions as a legitimate “choice.” When Stephen Douglas debated Abraham Lincoln over the issue of slavery in 1858, he claimed that he personally opposed slavery, but he believed that the Southern states should have the right to choose whether to be slave states or free states. Which they all justified because, after all, it wasn’t like the Africans were real people.
I’m tired of these pro lifers! Telling me to respect a person’s right to live over the good of myself? HA! It’s about high time those religious nutjobs stop trying to implement their belief system onto the rest of us. If we want to rape, then let us rape; if we want to kill, then I say let us kill! We don’t need religion or philosophical morality, which is the same thing.
Let us just do whatever is best for ourselves!
Props to the editor of this article! You did an excellent job in getting the perspectives of both sides.Very unbiased and not distorted at all. Excellent journalism skills in presenting the truth on what was said by both stances that day!
What was up with the feminist holding up signs that said, “get your rosaries away from my ovaries?” Not everyone there were Catholic. The feminist were very quick to judge/assume. Never once did I hear the pro-lifers preach about God. These CBR folks really knew their facts and from talking to them, I can see that they did a lot of scientific/historical research unlike the feminist who just stood out there laughing and screaming obnoxiously, I don’t think they even take their stand on “pro-choice” seriously…if standing up for “choice” really meant something to them, they wouldn’t be presenting themselves in such a humorous way. I gotta say, they were hilarious to watch and listen to.
Pro-Choice? Choose Life. I challenge YOU.
How do you know that a baby fetus has no senses and no feelings? By six weeks, an embryo already has brain waves and by 8 weeks this developing human being already has all of his/her body systems which are functional. This is based on scientific facts…I don’t think you really “know”, Lisa. Even single celled bacteria can sense when they approach harsh conditions through chemotaxis. We are looking at a developing human being that is multicellular. I’m curious to know where you got your stats on saying that there “is no shortage of babies”. The National Counsel for Adoption has reported that there are 2 million couples each year who want to adopt, but only about 150,000 children in America were adopted. Don’t you see the trend of Americans going overseas to adopt?? Why do you think that is? Because there IS a shortage in babies in America! And please don’t go on and say that we don’t have enough money to support all these babies. We spend more money on beer than we do on pediatric care for children!
What quackery! These pro-lifers would like you to believe that there is a common theme present between cases of genocide and abortion. This theme, they will tell you, is the devaluation of human life.
They want to characterize pregnant women who consider abortion as being filled with hate — as if what fuels a decision to abort is on par with what Hitler felt when exterminating Jews. But to mischaracterize the act of abortion as an act of hate and premeditated violence is to marginalize the real tragedies against humanity.
So the pro-lifers turn to telling us that unborn fetuses comprise a “national group”. This is the other parallel they offer between abortion and genocide. Clearly they do not understand what it means to comprise a national group. Apparently, they want to create the picture that fetuses have gathered to share in their commonalities — their plight. Yet, this tactic is merely a consequence of their inability to distinguish between beings and persons.
The demonstration on our campus is nothing but an act of sophistry. The organization behind the displays would like simply to incite a purely emotional response at the site of their graphic images. They take images of fetuses (usually advanced fetuses) and hope that visitors will be incapable of detaching the idea of a fetus from the idea of one’s own mother, father, sister, or brother. They say that they want to save you from your ignorance, yet it is your ignorance that they prey on.
They want you to think that pro-choicers are untouched by the potentiality for human existence and that such an emotion is flatly incompatible with abortion. This is simply not true. To encourage such an outlook is to turn a blind eye to the particular conditions surrounding a given abortion. It is to take your stock in life and cast it upon others in the form of a moral condemnation.
Honestly, I’m so desensitized to those abortion photos thanks to the PETA videos, I think the pro-lifers need to up their game a bit.
“An affidavit form the photographer” hardly qualifies as credible. What photographer in his/her right mind would say the photos are doctored and hope to get future work? The photos are manipulated; take it from an expert in PhotoShop – me.
“Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.”
The anti-abortionists abandon all integrity when they hitchhike on the misery of others for mere shock value.
The more I see so-called abortion photos, the more desensitized I become. They don’t even bother me at all anymore. I know that an early fetus has no personality, no senses, no thoughts and no feelings, so it’s nothing at all like killing real people. Comparing abortion to genocide is awfully silly, because there is no shortage of babies being born in this world. For every one abortion in the US, there are four births. Letting women choose for themselves is not genocide.