See the photos

We refused to be intimidated. The Alligator carried another story on Friday, January 15, headlined "Anti-abortion group presents one-sided 'debate'”:

Nothing could stop Gregg Cunningham from doing what he came to accomplish Wednesday night.

Cunningham, executive director of the Genocide Awareness Project [sic], and UF law professor Winston Nagan were scheduled to present "An Open Debate on Abortion and the Genocide Awareness Project" in UF's Chemistry Lab Building.

But Nagan became ill and could not attend. Being that Nagan was the only UF faculty member who agreed to take part in the debate – 28 professors were contacted – no replacement was available.

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Cunningham proceeded to present his side of the debate before about 200 people, showing several graphic film clips of post-abortion fetuses.

Although the audience was forewarned about the nature of the video, sniffles and tears could be heard and seen throughout the auditorium when the lights came back on.

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'Your opinion is despicable, sir. I leave in protest,' said Jerry Williamson, UF's senior chemist in the department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, before abruptly walking out.

DEAFENING BLAST

From our first hour at UF, Mr. Williamson became so obsessed with our presence that he apparently spent every moment of every available work break at our display sites. He quickly identified me as the leader of this operation and would bellow my name at the top of his lungs as he approached from afar. He would then position his face as close to mine as our crowd control barricades would permit (I had to frequently warn him to climb back down from atop them) and continue to shout a rambling diatribe against every point he imagined we were trying to make. My hearing, already damaged to the point of disability by my service in Vietnam, took as severe a beating from Jerry's deafening roar as from anything I have suffered from guns and choppers. You didn't debate Jerry, you simply marvel at his ability to speak interminably without drawing any obvious breath.

TEACHING LAW STUDENTS

CBR also set up our display outside the UF law school. An on-line law student publication called The Law Student's Docket (http://grove.ufl.edu/jmba/docket/volume2/012599.htm) wrote the following of our visit (also describing us as a "controversial group"):

'This display has stirred things up and gotten us [at Planned Parenthood] out here, said … [Thomas Russell, a UF student and Planned Parenthood volunteer].'

'We have to be here to present the facts.' Allison Gilbert, another Planned Parenthood volunteer, said that CBR has used its display to antagonize people. 'They have taken the most gut-wrenching methods for their own reasons,' Gilbert said. 'Instead of a discussion about the facts, they put on this big huge emotional display.'

Some students were disgusted by the presentation and how the group went to such extremes in order to present their message in the pictures. 'I would prefer something less offensive and more tasteful,' said first-year student Christy Etheredge. 'I would like something that would appeal to me intellectually and not emotionally.

'I have a lot of friends who have chosen to stay away from the exhibit and who are offended by it,' Etheredge said.

'I think it is a sensationalist gimmick.'

Some students supported the display as informative and giving people a realistic display of what occurs in a fetal abortion. 'The photos show real fetal parts and puts substance to the process in which a young woman is actually contemplating [sic],' said third-year student Tyrone Adams. 'The display opens up our perception so that a person can make an informed choice based upon actual knowledge.'

Once again, GAP forced the pro-aborts out into the open where their arguments could be decisively refuted. As for Ms. Etheredge, there is no "tasteful" way to prove that a person has been tortured to death. And the argument that "emotion" is off limits when considering genocide suggests that students are heartless robots. It is also difficult to understand her supposedly unfulfilled desire for an "intellectual" approach to abortion when we offered her lectures, a scholarly essay and five days of open forums. Her pro-abort faculty's comforting propaganda may not be as upsetting as the truth but blind dogma isn't "intellectual" merely because it is spouted by Ph.D.s.

BLAMING THE VICTIM

The student press, still calling us "controversial," proved just how "intellectual" our approach was. The Alligator, Tuesday, January 12, reported a story entitled "Controversial group incites nonviolent debate; Students voice opinions on activists' presentation."

UF students chose to peacefully talk and debate with representatives of a controversial anti-abortion group Monday, despite the visiting group's history of inciting violence at universities.

Crowds of students, blocked from getting too close to the pro-life activists by 4-foot-tall barricades, discussed the definition of life and the meaning of genocide with representatives of the Genocide Awareness Project at the Plaza of the Americas.

The barricades protected the activists and their graphic signs – which depicted bloody pictures of mutilated aborted fetuses, Holocaust-era pictures of piles of emaciated dead bodies and images of the swaying bodies of African Americans lynched just a few decades ago.

Debate raged on at the plaza for most of the day, as anti-abortionists butted heads with pro-life [sic], Jewish and African-American students.

'My brother is a beautiful human being that would have been aborted, except (my mother) wanted the child,' said senior Tosha Fernandez, a pro-life activist who supported the material presented at the plaza.

Standing in front of the display depicting what the project calls of genocide,' senior Yael Horowitz said, 'I'm offended that these Holocaust pictures are being used as a means to your end.'

No violence occurred at the demonstration, which primarily featured organization members speaking – and often debating – with the large groups of people that stopped by out of curiosity or because of strong opinions about the issue.

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About four University police officers monitored the crowd during the demonstration.

But officers will beef up patrol if necessary for the event, which will last until Thursday, said UPD spokeswoman Stacy Badics.

As this article suggests, the police officers at The University of Florida were among the most professional we have seen anywhere, but the article also suggests how few students have any sense of history. Racists constantly blamed Martin Luther King for "inciting violence" when all he did was peacefully, lawfully expose racial injustice. Talk about "blaming the victim." It wasn't Dr. King's fault when racists couldn't manage their anger and it isn't our fault when pro-aborts can't manage theirs. But the assumption made by student journalists is that pro-lifers are violent. So they are amazed when they actually see us and discover that we are totally peaceful. They are so shocked that they write a "man bites dog” story. The working press has done a phenomenal job of duping Americans into believing that the mainstream pro-life movement is complicit or at least complacent concerning violence. But what are the facts?

"ANTI-ABORTION" VIOLENCE – INDEFENSIBLE BUT EXAGGERATED

In more than a quarter century of pro-life activism, seven abortion providers have actually lost their lives. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms says that since 1982 there have been 49 bombings and 150 acts of arson at abortion clinics (assuming that each of these property crimes was committed by someone whose motive was opposition to abortion is problematic). Each of the unconscionable killings was tactically stupid and morally indefensible. Each was carried out by a deranged individual acting alone. US Attorney General and arch pro-abort Janet Reno used the vast resources of the Justice Department to impanel a federal grand jury in Alexandria, VA for the purpose of investigating the alleged existence of a nationwide conspiracy of violence against abortion clinics and doctors. According to the March 10, 1996 Kansas City Star, no such conspiracy could be found. And every significant pro-life organization in the country has unambiguously condemned this violence.