I am writing in response to the opinion article in Monday’s copy of the Daily 49er called, “Ban the abortion fort.” I have just one question:
If the pictures are scarring and viewers are uncomfortable, wouldn’t your next thought be “why?” Why the negative reactions?
There must be something disturbing about what is being photographed. A picture is nothing but a neutral, unbiased portrayal of what is on the other side of the lens.
If it is disturbing, why do we allow it?
ProLife on Campus published the following:
Just a few months ago, during our Genocide Awareness Project display of abortion photos on the campus of U.C. Berkeley, a professor approached me and I braced myself for the usual blast of profanity. Instead, he said thoughtfully, “These pictures are more compelling than I thought they would be.” He then repeated several times as he glanced from photo to photo, “I didn’t know that this is what they looked like.”
He was deeply moved by the pictures and I was deeply moved by his humility. He was in his mid-50s. He has a Ph.D. He teaches at one of this country’s top-tier academic institutions. He didn’t know. If he didn’t know, what chance do his students have of knowing.
Almost no one knows. And almost nothing we are trying to achieve can be accomplished until they do know. And if we don’t show them, no one else will. (from http://www.prolifeoncampus.com/dynamic_pages?page=To%20Stop%20Abortion%2C%20We%20Must%20Reframe%20the%20Debate&id=14)
African Americans were mistreated horribly as slaves and were not considered fully “human.” Once photos started circulating of a runaway slave named Gordon, the tide changed, according to a blog called US Slave (see http://usslave.blogspot.com/2011/10/whipping-scars-on-back-of-fugitive.html).
Americans won’t be repulsed by abortion until they see what abortion actually is … a view inside the womb, as it were.
Abortions are legal in some states up to nine months.
Instead of “Ban the abortion fort” – we should “ban abortion” as we ban murder, human dismemberment and ending someone else’s life.
Indeed, let’s ban abortion and allow women to go back to unregulated and unsanitary clinics so both mother and embryo/fetus/baby die.
God help the country when people like you think it’s acceptable to decide everyone’s fate. We have religious freedom and freedom of speech so you can spout off at the mouth and intimidate, bully, guilt-trip and horrify young people. Women have the freedom to get abortions so people like you don’t destroy lives.
Why don’t you use your position at CSULB to reach out to minority populations and encourage education and birth control? This would be a much more effective means to discourage abortion, to be sure.
Stay out of the bedroom and the uterus.