Last week former Planned Parenthood director and now pro-life advocate Abby Johnson was in here in mid-Missouri to give a lesson in sidewalk counseling outside abortion facilities. I got quite a bit of video from it that I’m just now getting uploaded. In this one, Johnson explains why graphic abortion pictures are not very helpful tools – at least not outside the abortion facility. This is an ongoing debate among pro-lifers. If you watch the whole video you’ll notice she doesn’t say that they’re not useful at all, but in front of abortion facilities is probably not the best place in her experience:
Her personal conversion brings an interesting perspective to this debate. As she says in the video, she saw the dead children on a regular basis – in person – at her abortion clinic when she would have to help put together the body parts to make sure nothing was left in the uterus after an abortion. The graphic images on posters were nothing new to her and, as an abortion advocate, she did not think that these children were living human beings to begin with, so seeing their dead (not living) bodies, as sickening as it is to us, did not have much of an impact on her. It wasn’t until she saw the ultrasound-guided abortion and saw the life of the child she was helping to kill that her heart was changed.
I’ve never been much of a fan of using the aborted fetus pictures, but after watching the documentary Unborn in the USA (which is a little biased, but I don’t think our side came off too bad in) and seeing some videos from various “Genocide Awareness Project” set ups on college campuses, I see how they can facilitate some good conversation between those on both sides of abortion. And that’s never a bad thing.
Over at the Register, Jen Fulwiler has 4 Tips for Using Graphic Abortion Images Effectively
3 Comments on “Abby Johnson on Use of Graphic Abortion Images During Clinic Prayer Vigils”
Part of the difficulty in using photos of aborted human persons is that pro-aborts believe that the “right” to abortion is an infallible and unchallengeable objective truth of human existence and that the pro-life position is a subjective belief that people need to keep to themselves. They look at pro-lifers as trying to impose their personal/religious beliefs on others. We need to present reasoned, philosophical arguments that defend the inviolable dignity of every human person and expose the “pro-choice” argument as self-defeating. There is a way to use photos effectively in the process, as Fulwiler explains. Let’s continue to ask the Holy Spirit to guide us.
Like the photo with you and Abby, by the way.
God bless.
I read a summary of Abby’s book ‘Unplanned” and how do you know that through all the people’s prayers, all the people in Abby’s life – like her mom and her husband who proclaimed God’s word and all the pro-lifers protesting against abortion in front of the clinic (including all the pictures of the aborted babies)…..didn’t continually disturb her conscious (like the nun Abby spoke of on her knees, praying and crying, that barely moved the hearts of the people working there-but somewhat did) and then one day when she was seeing the baby struggling for its life, while being murdered by the doctor, in that ultra sound it finally hit her. Maybe it took Abby that long to hit her that abortion is murder, but who says that everyone thinks like Abby. Some people reject our Lord’s works of Mercy and truly there are many different ones, that came Abby’s way. Many people have converted by just seeing pictures of aborted babies. (or by counseling,(and all the hidden prayers),MANY. Many moms and dad flee from the clinic after seeing these pictures, maybe the hardened workers don’t, but many women going in for the abortion, flee after seeing these graphic pictures and babies lives are saved. Truly, is Abby only concerned about saving the hardened workers? Truly, all the people working IN Jesus, all have different gifts of the Holy Spirit, regardless if they are praying, counseling, using graphic pictures, ultra sounds machine etc…and are truly stirring peoples hearts. We need all the works of mercy possible. Graphic pictures saves babies lives and seeing the truth, helps people who are not so hardened to FLEE, from these murderers and liars (so called doctors of health care). Abby needs to stop, attacking pro-lifers who are saving babies through graphic pictures (it is not just about Abby and how she was saved, it is about saving babies, period) so maybe these workers all need to see the ultra sound etc… then do so, but don’t forget the many babies lives that have been saved through these graphic pictures. Father Frank says they work and any work of Mercy is needed, to end abortion.
Abby Johnson’s daughter when four years old saw a graphic picture of an aborted child at a pro-life walk and handled quite well…..so I hope that this little child example can lead the world and Abby too on how to handle graphic images that are saving babies lives, because moms and dads (whose hearts aren’t as hardened) flee from abortions clinics after seeing these graphic images and MORE babies are saved. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/29/parents-tell-your-kids-about-abortion-the-baby-is-broken/