T
TheRealJuliane
Guest
Thank you for your response. I don’t care about people’s sensibilities, on this thread. I am only concerned with what ultimately saves babies. The posters DO NOT WORK. They only drive the women INTO the clinics and away from us faster. At the clinic is not the place nor the time for these images. I have been repeating ad infinitum that the GAP - Genocide Awareness Project - takes this HUGE posters all around the country, educating college students about what is taking place in abortion clinics, usually PP and usually near the campus. When a young woman is not in the situation, she can consider the photos more carefully and with less defenses set up against them. Once she has already been to PP or whatever clinic, she is already preparing herself for the event. It is somewhat akin to beating on the shell of a turtle at that point - it won’t come out no matter how hard you pound. But if you are quiet and wait, it might just let down its defenses and poke its head out again.
If there were more of either type of pro-life worker - either the ones like me, who believe that prayer and sidewalk counseling affect more lives than loud and aggressive protesting, or the ones who want to hold the signs - were to be AT THE CLINICS 24/7/365, I am convinced that abortions would decline, if not stop altogether. It would not be the method used, but the presence of WITNESSES to the act that would make the difference. The women who were viewing the signs would be somewhat more traumatized than the ones who had been prayed out of going in, and I think it would take longer to reach those women. How many people on this thread, who have been offering their viewpoints, have actually done either one? I’ve been present at both, and the one that affects the clients, the PP workers and volunteers, and passersby, is being in prayer and offering an alternative. No one wants to be attacked and that is exactly what PP tells women that we do, and then after someone has used the signs, we have to work twice as hard just to get access to give women the directions to the CPC which was RIGHT BEHIND PP. The volunteer death-scorts tell women all sorts of lies about our motivations, and the technique of yelling at the women and exposing them to the photos plays right into their hands.
On the other hand, when I talk to a woman through the fence, after she has had the abortion and is throwing up, and the PP volunteer does NOTHING, if I offer her tissues or a bottle of water, and then I call the volunteer over to help her, does that appear to the woman as if I am angry at her or as if I truly care? One little chink in the wall of lies that PP tells can break down that wall and that woman can also affect others by telling them that “You know, those people who SAY they care really don’t, but the people praying were the ones who helped me when I was sick.” You may not see that at the time, but there were a lot of people who didn’t understand what Jesus did, either.
I ask you once again to consider whether Abby Johnson, the former director of the Bryan Texas Planned Parenthood, would have considered approaching the pro-lifers outside her clinic, if they’d been holding graphic signs and shouting at the women entering PP. Would YOU do such a thing? She was already freaked out by having seen an abortion taking place while she was holding the ultrasound equipment - and needed a welcoming, kind atmosphere in order to really walk away from that job.
I assume you meant to use everything in our power to stop abortion except violence…And I do consider the signs to be a kind of violence. I RECOGNIZE that the baby is experiencing the worst kind of violence, and believe me, it breaks my heart in half. Many times I have prayed for God to take me in replacement if it would stop abortion. I have offered myself again and again, and always have to resist the urge to whip myself in distress (literally). But this is also something I resist, knowing that the clinic would use my self-abuse as a joke, not understanding the motivations for such things.
There is theory, and then there is what really works. Jesus told us to pray for our enemies, did he not? Trust me, it’s a lot harder to pray for those escorts and even the abortion doctor, than it is to yell and scream and get your own frustration out that way.
I don’t think the two camps will ever see things the same way. It’s Operation Rescue v. 40 Days for Life. As I stated before, both could be helpful IN LARGE NUMBERS. Showing the women that a LOT of people disagree with what they are about to do, and that it is wrong to make that “choice.” Ultimately, I think having hundreds of praying Catholics, and Protestants would be actually more disturbing and threatening to the clinics than any pictures ever could be. We heap burning coals on our enemy’s head that way.
If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the Lord will reward you.
Proberbs 25:21-22