Martyred pro-life hero James Pouillon (white cap) holds CBR sign at Notre Dame Obama protest.----May 2009
See CBR’s official press release regarding the murder of James Pouillon here.
THE CENTER FOR BIO-ETHICAL REFORM
September 11, 2009
The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) condemns the murder of defenseless, pro-life activist James Pouillon, shot by a cowardly passerby while Mr. Pouillon displayed aborted baby photos outside a high school in Owosso, MI. The New York Times (“Anti-Abortion Protestor Shot to Death,” September 11, 2009) today quotes law enforcement authorities as follows concerning the shooter’s admitted motive in Mr. Pouillon’s murder: “Prosecutors said the suspect, who is 33, singled out Mr. Pouillon because he disapproved of the victim’s protests in front of children at the school. ‘There was some displeasure with how open he was,’ said Sara Edwards, the chief assistant prosecutor for Shiawassee County. ‘He tended to carry big signs with very graphic pictures of fetuses.’”
Ironically, every student at the school in front of which Mr. Pouillon displayed aborted baby photos was old enough to have an abortion, without parental permission or even parental notice (pursuant to “judicial bypass” procedures imposed by the Supreme Court in every state). But the shooter apparently believed they were not old enough to see an abortion. This non sequitur reflects delusional thinking of the most bizarre sort. Students who are old enough to have an abortion are certainly old enough to see an abortion.
CBR intends to confront the very dishonest double-standard in this country regarding the public display of graphic images. Disturbing pictures of all kinds are seen by children every day in America. Even parents who don’t allow their children to watch violence on television or play violent video games, often take them to the grocery store where check-out lines are flanked with magazine racks whose publications feature cover photos which are inches away from young faces. These photos often exhibit bloody images of dead and dying victims of violence, terrorism, natural disasters, etc. The news organizations responsible for these shocking photos virtually never publish abortion pictures.
Angry parents are often in massive denial about this reality and almost always dispute these facts, so we have put up scores of examples of disturbing news photos on our website (www.abortionNO.org) under “PUBLIC EDUCATION PROJECTS” and then “USING GRAPHIC IMAGES IN PUBLIC.” Some of those magazine covers and newspaper photos are as gruesome as any abortion photo and they have been seen by countless children whose clueless parents never even noticed. The reason they complain about our disturbing photos but not the disturbing press pictures is because many feel more guilt when answering their children’s questions about abortion, with which they may well have some humiliating personal experience, than the feel when questioned about a terror attack for which they bear no responsibility at all.
Although CBR does not specifically target very young children for the display of abortion photos, there is no public venue which is reliably free of the presence of young children and public venues are often the only places we can reach women before they become pregnant and lose their objectivity about abortion. We care about the feelings of born children but we care even more about the lives of unborn children.
CBR has had innumerable women tell us that nothing less shocking than our abortion photos would have sufficed to dissuade them from killing their children. Many more have told us that had they seen these photos before aborting, instead of after, they wouldn’t have done it. Large numbers have confided that it took the photos to force them to stop trying to justify a sin they needed to confess and of which they needed to repent, spiritually. And virtually every person we have ever met in serious pro-life activism had admitted that it was pictures which activated them, making it impossible for them to remain complacent.
Parents and teachers frequently cover-up the horror of abortion. This is a form of child abuse and/or neglect. We aren’t going to allow adults to hide the truth from children who will thereby be more likely to kill a baby out of ignorance. It is the responsibility of the pro-life movement to stop this cover-up whether parents like it or not. The staff of CBR is frequently threatened and/or attacked for displaying similar photos to students and the public generally (see examples of such threats and attacks detailed on our website), and Mr. Pouillon’s murder only strengthens our resolve to show the truth.
The Associated Press reported (“Mich. Man leaves town after cops say he was target, September 12, 2009) that Mr. Pouillon “was a polarizing figure in Owosso….” Praise God for that fact. CBR’s principal objective is polarization. This battle will be lost when the abortion wars are allowed to end. Most Americans cling to the illusory notion that there is a “middle ground” position on the issue of torturing babies to death. Pictures of babies being tortured to death force those people out of the fictional middle, if they have a functioning conscience. Our pictures demand a response. They insist that viewers get off the fence and take sides.
It should come as no surprise that the press has consistently refused to publish the abortion photo which Mr. Pouillon was holding at the time of his murder. That is the cover-up which allows Americans to remain in the “middle” regarding abortion and it is why we must carry on the important work Mr. Pouillon helped pioneer.
But perhaps the ultimate irony in Mr. Pouillon’s murder are the remarks of Matthew Trewhella, a man who claims to be a “pastor” but who is also associated with an anti-abortion organization called “Missionaries to the Preborn.” Mr. Trewhella condemns the murder of Mr. Pouillon (detnews.com, “With suspect in custody, police searching for clues in Owosso shootings,” September 11, 2009) but as a leader of this organization, Mr. Trewhella, on the “Missionaries” website (www.missionariestothepreborn.com), calls Paul Hill, convicted and executed for the murders of abortion providers, “the sanest and bravest man of our age.” He says Hill’s murders were motivated by “rational, Biblical reasons….” He says he did not visit Hill in prison “to condemn what Paul did ….” He adds that Missionaries to the Preborn” will not “disparage those whose use force” in anti-abortion activism.
Mr. Trewhella’s refusal to condemn the murder of abortionists robs him of all moral authority in condemning the murder of a pro-life activist. He is not alone in this moral confusion and the result is tragically predictable. Mr. Trewhella may not have pulled the trigger, but he surely contributed to Mr. Pouillon’s death by glorifying and encouraging abortion-related violence.
We can only pray that an endless cycle of reciprocal violence will not now be initiated. The rule of law is the only responsible way to settle policy differences, irrespective of the dispute at issue.
THE CENTER FOR BIO-ETHICAL REFORM CONDEMNS ASSOCIATED PRESS JOURNALISTIC HYPOCRISY
Lake Forest, CA, September 4, 2009:
The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) condemns the journalistic hypocrisy of the Associated Press (AP). The “disturbing” photo of a U.S. Marine dying in combat is not deemed too “disturbing“ for publication because the AP believes it is in the public interest to “convey the grimness of war and the sacrifice of the young men and women fighting in it.” The AP, however, has steadfastly refused to publish similarly disturbing photos of abortion. They apparently believe that it is in the public interest to suppress images depicting the “grimness “ of abortion and the “sacrifices” being made by the young boys and girls who are being slaughtered for the convenience of their parents. The AP publishes bloody photos of the war against the Taliban because they are anti-war. They censor bloody photos of the war against the unborn because they are pro-abortion. That is why they will publish this:
But spike this:
1st Trimester, 10 Week Abortion
TimesOnline
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/ben_macintyre/article6828145.ece
Here are key phrases from this article on the photo of our Marine dying on the battlefield in Afghanistan which I believe have strong abortion relevance are as follows:
“Defenders of the photograph accused Mr. Gates of attempting to sanitize the conflict, by concealing the grim reality of the war at a critical political juncture.” Our adversaries constantly strive to sanitize abortion.
“The photograph violates one of the oldest taboos, by intruding into the sacred privacy associated with the moment of death. It was published in defiance of the wishes of the dead man’s family and it raises uncomfortable questions about the dividing line between voyeurism and reportage.” We are constantly being accused of violating privacy rights with our abortion photos privacy means nothing to anti-war activists.
“ … [T]heir [photos’] power to shape our collective consciousness is immense. Knowing this, the authorities that wage war have always sought to control the public image of warfare.” Image control is the factor which will also determine the outcome of the abortion wars.
“This desire to control the imagery of war reflects the capacity of photography to convey the blunt truth about conflict in a way that no other art form, including the written word, can achieve.” This is why the political left loves shocking photos when they can be used to make the public anti-war but hates them when we use them to make the public anti-abortion.
“Robert Capa’s photograph The Fallen Soldier similarly evokes the Spanish Civil War: it is irrelevant who the soldier was, and where he had fallen; nor does it matter that the photograph may have been faked, for its power lies in not in the literal evidence it offers, but the greater meaning it conveys.” We are constantly being accused of “faking” our photos but this writer says the symbolic significance of a faked photo can redeem it despite the fact that it literally untrue.
“The picture’s power lies less in its shock value than its demand for a response:” The element of our photos which makes everyone on all sides of this issue squirm is that these pictures demand a response.
“ … [D]aily, dirty, arbitrary violence.” It is the terrible, random, arbitrariness of abortion which makes its violence so “dirty.”
“[H]is [picture’s] influence on history is likely to be profound and lasting.” We are also using pictures to influence history in a profound an enduring way (as regards public opinion which dictates public policy).
OF COURSE, NONE OF THIS MATTERS TO A PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT IN WHICH STUPIDITY AND COWARDOUS ABOUND. IF ONLY OUR PRO-LIFE FRIENDS WERE AS BRIGHT AND BOLD AS THE ANTI-WAR CROWD.
The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) Southeast Region is pleased to report that the relocation and expansion of Planned Parenthood’s (PP’s) proposed abortion business in Knoxville have been cancelled. For now. The story is at: www.knoxnews.com/news/2009/aug/08/clinic-wont-make-move/
This victory was made possible by the combined efforts of the Pro-Life Coalition of East Tennessee (ProCET), along with the various pro-life agencies and people that pulled together to make ProCET work. Special recognition to Tennessee Right to Life, the Diocese of Knoxville, several area Baptist churches, and area crisis pregnancy centers, just to name a few, for their roles in this collaborative effort. You can visit the campaign’s website at www.NoBeardenAbortion.org.
PRESS RELEASE
August 17, 2009
The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform
Contact: Mark Harrington
P.O. Box 219
Lake Forest, CA 92609
Office Phone, 614-759-5195
Cell Phone, 614-419-9000
NEW OBAMA-JOKER POSTER AS OUTRAGEOUS AS OBAMA-CARE
Senior White House advisor David Axelrod spam-blasted a “viral” email Thursday, August 13, 2009, intended to “debunk” what he called the health care reform “lies and distortions” which are currently “flying unchecked under the radar.” The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) announced today that it is responding with its own email reply campaign, intended to debunk the lies and distortions contained in Mr. Axelrod’s email message.
The following statement was issued by CBR director Gregg Cunningham:
Americans don’t want to pay for mandatory insurance which defines baby-killing as “essential care.” They are turning against “‘end-of-life” counseling which is more coercive than consultative. It is becoming increasingly clear that this horrifying plan is designed to reduce the numbers of preborn children who could ruin their parents’ careers and the numbers of elderly parents who might spoil their children’s retirements.
CBR will urge every recipient of the CBR Obama-Care email to also read the short Obama-Care analysis at http://www.abortionno.org/pdf/ObamaCareEssay.pdf. CBR will also encourage recipients to forward this message to their entire email list, as David Axelrod is encouraging be done with his White House message. CBR is additionally working to persuade every opponent of Obama-Care to forward this email message, with the Joker image, to the address, flag@whitehouse.gov. This address was established by the White House to enable snitches to inform on fellow Americans who are expressing “fishy” opposition to this dangerous and disingenuous plan. CBR believes that the “fishiest” aspect of the health care reform debate is the dishonesty with which Mr. Obama and his socialist friends are trying to ram it down the throats of the American people.
The website www.abortionNO.org provides important information on health care policy, including the analysis at http://www.abortionno.org/pdf/ObamaCareEssay.pdf, which exposes the scurrilous deceptions being practiced by Mr. Obama and congressional Democrats. The far left’s campaign to hijack the nation’s health care system is diabolically clever. Mr. Obama is the increasingly scary pitchman whose game is “hide the ball.” He diverts attention from the malfeasance of congressional co-conspirators who draft abortion and euthanasia bills which carefully avoid trigger words such as words “abortion” and “euthanasia.” These Culture-of-Death lawmakers quietly confer on unelected bureaucrats the authority to later broaden abortion access and ration elder care (amounting to constructive euthanasia). All-the-while, the state-run media parrots White House talking points and Democrat Members of Congress hide from constituents whose patriotism and virtue they question when any dare resist.
On June 29, 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported (“Obama’s Health Future”) a conversation Mr. Obama had at an ABC-televised “town hall meeting.” He was speaking with the daughter of a 105-year-old woman who had initially been denied a pacemaker five years ago but successfully fought the denial. The device succeeded in giving her five more years of life. The daughter asked Mr. Obama if his plan would consider the “spirit” of a patient in making funding decisions for treatment and the president pointedly refused to say “yes.” In a mildly scolding tone, he lectured that “…at least we can let doctors know and your mom know that, you know what? Maybe this isn’t going to help. Maybe you’re better off not having the surgery, but asking for the painkiller.”
In the United States, a pacemaker costs about $40,000. Approximately 100,000 patients receive them each year. The total cost of their treatment amounts to some $4 billion. That sounds like lot of money but it is actually less than Americans spend annually on chewing gum ($5 billion). Can we really not afford to give a pacemaker to a spirited senior citizen? In recent years, Americans have spent, per annum, $24 billion on DVDs, $28 billion on candy, $36 billion on tobacco products, $40 billion on coffee, $52 billion on pets, $91 billion on gambling, $93 billion on non-alcoholic beverages, $100 billion on alcoholic beverages, $183 billion on consumer electronics, $390 billion on restaurants, and $457 billion celebrating Christmas. One trillion is a thousand billion, so these discretionary acquisitions have cost us, in the aggregate, about $1.5 trillion per year. That is almost exactly the amount the Congressional Budget Office estimated that Mr. Obama’s health reform package would cost over ten years. It is approximately two-thirds the $2.3 trillion we spend on health care each year and that list doesn’t include sporting goods or vacation travel or countless other non-essentials on which Americans spend hundreds of billions of additional dollars.
The idea that we are so improvised that we must give pain pills to elderly Americans who need pacemakers is absurd.
The Democrat National Committee claims that if we do nothing about health care, insurance premiums will rise faster than paychecks, insurance companies will dictate treatment, insurance company profits will soar as they deny coverage, and insurance companies will require copayments and out-of-pocket expenses which will become increasingly unaffordable. But giving us a choice between doing nothing and doing Obama-Care is a false dilemma of the worst sort.
Real health care reform would amend medical malpractice tort laws to ban junk lawsuits. It would enact prohibitions against insurance exclusions based on pre-existing conditions. It would require portability of health insurance for people changing jobs. It would create a coherent system of electronic prescriptions and records. It would pay doctors based on performance instead of the numbers of procedures they perform. It would revise the tax-code to enable Americans to economically purchase insurance as individuals. And it would increase competition by allowing the marketing of health insurance coverage across state lines. These reforms would improve every aspect of health care, without the government taking control of every aspect of our lives. But that is exactly why Mr. Obama and his left-wing allies oppose reform which empowers patients instead of politicians.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says that Mr. Obama’s dangerous experiment with America’s health care system will increase costs by $1.6 TRILLION over the next ten years. Two senior White House economic advisers recently let the cat out to the bag and disclosed the already obvious fact that Mr. Obama will raise taxes on every American now living and millions still unborn (if his plan doesn’t abort them first) to pay for this boondoggle. Americans can stop this scandal if they read the PDF on the CBR website and send it to their friends and family. It will also send a message to Mr. Obama if opponents of Obama-Care send this email message to the State Security thugs at flag@whitehouse.gov.
This battle isn’t going to end with the defeat of the current range of health care “reform” bills. The dreadful people promoting these frightening initiatives will be back. They understand the power of incrementalism. Problematic provisions such as those relating to end-of-life issues may be modified but if so, the new language is probably going to be deceptive and these provisions are likely to remain troubling because of the utilitarian bias of the bureaucrats who will administer the legislation. Where such language is removed altogether, look for it to pop back up from another committee or floor amendment or conference committee or administrative regulation. This is a struggle between good and evil and it will never end.