Whether the pro-life guy’s protest is harmful or not, ineffective or not, he has the right to be there and a right to do so unhindered by others. Unless there is a law which deems his action unlawful, the ones blocking him are in violation of his exercise of free speech. If you don’t like what someone is saying, you seek to shut them up by using the proper channels. Even if both parties are wrong, the ones blocking him with blankets are more wrong in this case.

Two thoughts. First those who are blocking the pro-life protester are wrong. I agree with Gary here. There are other ways to register their disagreement.
But on the other issue – the poster protest (i.e. those holding the abortion posters) – I think that this is largely ineffective. I pass by such a protest on my walk every Tuesday – a protest not against abortion but to free Palestine, stop support for Israel, and get out of Iraq and Afghanistan. No one pays attention.

Gary,
You’re making a very common mistake with regard to the First Amendment: It protects us only from actions by the government, not from fellow citizens. “Congress shall make no law…”
Unless those women with the blankets are agents of the government in some capacity, there is no First Amendment issue here.

I had a law professor who was most certainly not a Christian that commented on the abortion issue that he believed the number of abortions would be dramatically reduced if the fetus were visible. It’s easier to believe that the thing being killed isn’t human if one doesn’t look at it.
Whether we’re talking about aborting the unborn or not feeding the hungry, I think he’s right. Out of sight, out of mind.
Similarly, I had a friend in law school who’s wife had an abortion during one of the terms because the baby had downs. It was a mutual decision. He said they were given the opportunity to see the aborted child. He said to me afterward (again he was not a Christian) that people could say whatever they want, but after seeing the child, no one could convince him it was not a baby.
I don’t always like seeing these protests myself, but I think they provide valuable visual information that changes people’s opinion about what is happening in an abortion, just like the pictures of what’s happening to children in poverty stricken areas does, just like the pictures of Vietnam did.

I think the protester’s time would be more effectively spent developing the type of friendship with someone living a lifestyle that could create an unwanted pregnancy so that trust and permission are earned to lovingly encourage him or her to make better choices.
If this person has time to stand and hold a sign, this person has time to provide free childcare for a single mom to go to work to provide for the child who wasn’t aborted.
If this person has time to stand and hold a sign, there is time to love a young lady who has made the choice to carry her unwanted child to throughout her term and remain friends with her after her child has joined another family through adoption.
But hey, it IS easier to hold a sign…even if it’s hot outside.

Charles-
You may be right, but the person may think she can impact much more people, thus potentially save many lives, by using the sign (for the reasons T mentioned).

The mode of protest is debatable but his right to be there within the Law is not. Those holding up the blankets reflect what is all to often the attitude of pro-choicers toward those who are pro-life – shut them up.

sorry- should say “impact more people,…”

Yes, it’s easier to stand and put up a sign saying that abortion is evil.
Someplace I saw a video of a guy talking to anti-abortionist asking the question “What should we do with the mothers who have abortions?”
If abortion is to be illegal, should they not go to jail?
You should see how they fail to answer “yes”. Or say something like, well, the mom has paid for her crime and that is between her and God. Yet these are the same type of people that want to put judges on the stand and put things into the law that others do not.
The way the laws of man are set up, and if abortion=murder, as it is, then the moms and doctors should be put in jail. My own opinion is we should take care of each other and respect that woman or man in front of you as the image of God. We need to teach, AT HOME, that human life is worth more than a cheap night of loveless sex.
This is what I was taught, but still people are going to do what they are going to do, unless we, who follow Jesus, show them the way. HIS WAY!

To me, a photo of a healthy, growing fetus would be a more effective visual display. Let people fill in the blanks themselves, rather than trying to shock them, which is likely only to make them turn their heads and keep driving.

I think holding up a picture of an aborted fetus that looks like a baby gets into a person’s mind. For some maybe it sits in the mind and nags. For some maybe they’ll start wondering if it is a baby.

This reminds me of fire-and-brimstone street preachers vs. using your own life as a model of Christ-likeness: which draws more converts? The best tool we use to dissuade pregnant moms from having an abortion is getting them a fetal ultrasound. Once they see life, they usually choose life.

I walk to work in Downtown Chicago, and protesters are often out lining whole blocks with more than a dozen of these posters. The people who walk by turn their heads away and sometimes even run. I’ve seen pamphlets swatted out of hands in anger too.
I agree that visibility is at issue here, but I still feel extremely uncomfortable with this tactic. I’m not sure what it is accomplishing.
What does freedom of speech cover as far as graphic materials in public places? Sometimes my two year old son comes downtown, and I often see kids walking by these things. Maybe I’m way off here, but the indecent exposure thing bothers me.
I’ve had conversations with Christians and non-Christians alike at my work about the tactic, and everyone I’ve spoken with really dislikes it. Different reasons, but universal negative response (in that small sampling).

The problem with holding signs, as this protester did, is that it makes it easy for you to be dismissed as part of a lunatic fringe. I agree that it makes MUCH more sense to use pictures depicting LIVING unborn children than dead fetuses, perhaps asking the question: Is this child merely a “product of conception?” than to use pictures of aborted fetuses for their shock value.
Further, I think the protester’s time could be spent more productively cultivating relationships with people, and advocating through relationship. That’s Christianity 101, people!
Finally, I found the other students’ blanket response both creative and peaceful. Of course, things could change if the sign holder weren’t outnumbered….

I’d second what T (#4) said but also agree with Kyle (#10).
There is a place for different approaches. We reach different people via different methods.
I’d like to see him add a poster with another method — the phone number for a local crisis pregnancy center.

@RJS Interesting you were able to name specifically four ‘protest’ signs of which “[n]o one pays attention”.
By simple existence of the post today, the person with the posters is having an impact. Are minds changed? I don’t think so according to the 10 comments as of this entry.
@Steven Parents are not taking responsibility for the spiritual development of their children. The droves of what I once considered “drop-off-at-the-babysitter” parents of children in youth ministries across the US and beyond is what added to my cynicism towards Youth Ministry as a meaningful venture. I’ve since moved to the opinion that it isn’t my job to be frustrated with the parents for not ‘raising their kids properly’. They can’t do what they aren’t being taught, and God is pretty specific about parents teaching kids. We’re going at it backwards. But this is a bit off-topic…

We agree with “T”—the picture may do what kind, civil, let’s-not-offend-them–approaches will never do–expose a person to the truly human being in the womb. If one baby is delivered and not aborted, then the protester’s advocacy for the unborn is validated. Julie and I served in a pregnancy resource center in Grand Rapids, MI and we, too, felt we needed to do more than stop abortions, so we took into our home unwed pregnant teens who wanted to keep their children. And, I wonder, if the accusation against mere protesting rather than helping unwed, teen mothers falls victim to the same accusation–it’s easy to say, but are those who make that accusation actually welcoming unwed teen mothers into their homes?

Seems to me the main reason abortion is permitted by the public at large to continue is that it is surrounded by so many euphemisms and obfuscations that people lose sight of what is actually happening. As Mike M said, show an expectant mother her baby in utero and she has a much harder time (usually) choosing to murder it.
The posters remind me very much of the scene in where Wilberforce essentially tricks some of his “allies” into coming into direct contact with the horrors of a slave ship. Yes the posters are offensive, but being offensive is not the greatest evil one can commit. Sometimes people need to be shocked out of their complicity with evil.

I think it is astoundingly ironic that those who are so pro-abortion get weak stomachs and feel offended when what they affirm is actually put before their eyes. Face reality, folks. Why can’t pro-choicers stomach what they advocate? Someone said above that it is “indecent exposure” to see a ripped apart baby. Let’s face it, Americans are the most squimish people on this planet when it comes to death. We are almost totally and willingly oblivious to it. A culture that “worships” therapy will not tolerate the ultimate end of our “wrecked-ness” which is death. Hide it behind curtains in hospitals, in coffins from the battle field, but glorify it in bloody, bloody action films. We are royally screwed-up.
In the case of the abortion protester, I think a picture is worth ten thousand words. Why can’t the young ladies with the blankets call people over, point happily at the picture, and celebrate what they affirm–abortion?

In Mt. 10, when Jesus commissions His disciples, it seems pretty clear to me that He expects them to act humble, wise, generous, and modest when they are among non-believers. I firmly believe Christians should be coming beside unwed mothers and supporting/encouraging them, developing relationships with them… letting them know that God is on their side. Holding signs of dead fetus’ and screaming and chanting at passerby’s doesn’t seem to be in the same spirit – not even close.
In fact, it seems that time and again in the Bible, the people Jesus offended were the religious. So, if people insist on holding those signs… instead of doing it in public, maybe they should be parading through our church sanctuaries on Sunday mornings. Let us Christians see the results of our inaction to love, of our refusal to reach out in humbleness to those that are lost. Follow it with a message: “If you refuse to love and help others in their brokenness, this will continue.”

In my view, this is not “speaking the truth in love.” The deeper and more difficult path is to patiently express and live a rich pro-life ethic. This is an issue, I think, on which pro-life Christians are in “exile,” so to speak. I don’t think our primary task on this issue at this time in history is to seek aggressive macro public policy transformation so much as to seek micro cultural change. I agree that there is important room in this to lay bare the graphic evidence of what really results from abortions. I’m not sure, though, that this is the best way to do it.

There are a few people in our community who sit on bridges over the freeway and hold those signs. They also wanted local youth groups to participate with them.
At first I was frustrated by their approach for various reasons. But when I learened that they also took pregnant women into their homes and helped them as they went through pregnancy, I was amazed. After seeing what they did, I was ok with their signs

Christians do many things that are crazier and less productive than holding up a pro-life sign at an intersection, and this person has a perfect right to express his opinion in this way.
And the people holding up the blankets have at least as much right to do what they are doing as those who shout down dialog at public meetings.

Amen Brian. I wonder if instead of these sort of tactics that we as Christians could make a better statement by being more obviously radically committed to life. Finding a way to lean into the issues at hand – the majority of abortions in this country are due to economic reasons – what resources/education/support do these women need to give them other realistic options? How can the church help? What if we took in the all the foster kids in this nation? Took in unwanted babies, unwanted pregnant teens? Helped a single mom pay for childcare so she and her child could survive? Stop being judgmental so they all would feel safer coming to us for help? Having healthy, mature men pursue relationships with the fathers of all these unwanted children to help them to step up to their responsibilities (vs. using women or simply controlling them)? These things would be active, positive statements (and cost us our own money and comfy live-styles) instead of trying to keep it a battle of wills or a clash of values. That has done nothing to change laws. If anything, these things would help us live more like Jesus and make a LOUD statement on what is truly sacred to us.

A few months ago I presided over a funeral for a beautiful baby who was born premature and died within 24 hours. This was a tragedy and my heart continues to grieve with the parents of this baby.
The day after this funeral I was visiting a popular beach town where I live. There was an organized demonstration against abortion and it included someone holding up a similar sign. I was thankful that the grieving parents were not with me on this walk. Just think how they would have felt if they had chosen too “get away” and visit the beach on a nice and sunny day. As I looked at the poster and as I looked at the crowds I wondered how many mothers were there who had experienced the tragedy of a lost child.
While they had the right do be there this type of protest is counter productive and potentially harmful to people who have suffered the tragedy of the loss of a baby.

For followers of Jesus, far more effective actions are caring for women in crisis pregnancies, volunteering at rape crisis centers, helping victims escape domestic violence, and, most of all, adopting the children whose parents are unable to care for them.
There are lots of older children and special-needs children who need loving homes, many of whom “age out” of the system without ever finding a family. Most public libraries in New York State have a set of 6 (or more) 2-inch binders with pictures and biographical information on children awaiting adoption. In my 15 years in NY libraries, the number of kids awaiting adoption never decreases.
Holding up a sign is an easy, commitment-free way to protest abortion, but those who have adopted children have far more credibility. Self-sacrificing love has genuine authority.

I’ve heard, though I can’t site it, that there was a study done for driving safety that indicated real life pictures of accidents didn’t change behavior. Pictures of dummies in accidents were far more effective. The real life pictures produced more avoidance of the issues and hence no change. The pictures of the dummies invited viewers to see and think about the consequences of unsafe driving without shocking them. If what I’ve heard is correct, this would be worth thinking about.

“What you do to the least of these, you do unto me also.” Jesus
“Fingernails.” For those of you who have seen the film “Juno”.
I’m fascinated. Unless I am reading wrong, the blog post and the several replies that I read are mostly Christians and seem to be against calling attention to the true cost of abortion. Abortion seems to be justified as a necessary evil to make up for failures of society to guide young men and women in moral sexual conduct. No surprise since liberalism has seen to it that God and any black and white/right and wrong morality has been replaced by “Self” and relative morality in our schools.
I had a very, very liberal friend/co-worker who came and sat in my cubicle one morning incensed by what she had seen in the parking lot – a bumper sticker that said “Abortion Stops a Beating Heart”. “Why do they need to take it to that level?”, she asked. Because that is what it is all about – abortion is 100% fatal to the baby.
I’m also fascinated at the suggestion that parents who were mourning the loss of their baby would somehow be hurt or offended by the anti-abortion poster. I’ve known people who have lost children before birth – they can’t understand who someone could cause that loss intentionally, that is what offends them. Would the parents who had lost their child be less offended by a pro-choice poster?
My questions: Why do pro-choicers protest so vehemently when a pro-adoption advocate shows up outside an abortion clinic? Why do they fight to prevent adoption agencies from setting up shop in close proximity to the abortion clinic if they really are about “choice” and not abortion? Why will pro-choice activists not engage in debate over the actual life-cost of abortion but rather will only debate abortion as a “womens rights” issue?
Consequences, and mitigating them altogether, seems to be the goal of Liberalism. As a society we teach our children that sexual activity is normal, natural and acceptable. We then teach them that any consequences can simply be dealt with a pill or a medical procedure – no consequences! No responsibility! Free Love!
Another responder opined that we need to teach fathers to stay with their women (preferably “woman”) and be responsible for their children, but the same Liberalism has also created a welfare state in which the government replaced the father as the “provider”. Where is the need for fathers anymore? In the minds of some of these “sperm donors” they probably think they’ve done the woman a favor by getting them pregnant as now they can get a bigger check from the government.
Where is the biblical teaching that supports all of the liberalism that has created these problems and then created heinous solutions to them like abortion? Understand that I am not questions intentions but, it’s results that matter, intentions are just pavement.

@ John Howson
Thank you for being articulate and loving.

There are no more abortions now that they are legal than before they were. i hasve cared for hundreds of young women who had a botched abortion got infected and died.
women feel quite different from men on the subject
A book 25 years ago of essays on abortion by churched women was interesting and we were brave enough to edit ( Pt was with my support.) in my part of country the churhes put up hundreds of white crosses on their lawn,
They should get a life and let God be the judge, why do certain folks feel that they must advise God and” tell him what we are going to do..”
We should devote our life to folloing the love that we are told to share with all..yes even our enemy. Killig doctors and bombing amd endangering other … I dont find that in the covers of my Book. done as pretence of being good people. Are they Christian they do not follow the teaching and example of Christ
SAM TICKLE MD lUCY TN

Let me get this straight: We want government to be large enough to tell a woman she has no say about the fetus within her body, but not so large that it can provide health care for that pregnant mom or the baby after it is born.
I could get on the pro-life bandwagon a lot easier if I didn’t see conservative Christians championing a anti-life agenda on items like the death penalty, occupation and war, torture, child hunger and lack of public health care.
When we pick and choose our pro-life issues, we really aren’t pro-life. We’re pro-situational ethics.

Jjoe,
Let me get this straight: You want a government so big that it can decide who is allowed to be born or killed in the womb and don’t think that same government will also take the power to make the same decision at the other end of the age spectrum?
I believe that the reason abortion debates end up being non-productive is because of the different focus of each side: Pro-choice focuses on the rights of the mother and pro-life focuses on the life, and right to life, of the baby.
We will agree to disagree and will each continue to fight for what we believe is right.

I am anti-abortion/pro-life so relax.
How do you feel about this kind of protest to abortion? They have a right to protest.
Is this an effective protest? Don’t know. How would you measure it?
What is their main objective? Ask them yourself.
Who are these people? Same as above.
Do they represent the church? Same as above.
Do they do more harm than good? Matter of opinion after sensible questioning and observation.

John (#28), and others — why is it that any time anyone raises a question about the tactics, rhetoric, etc., of some parts of the pro-life movement, the “Liberal” word comes out? I’m not at all “Liberal” on this particular question: I am firmly pro-life. But I think these aborted baby posters usually represent a pretty significant breakdown in the pro-life “side’s” ability to offer its arguments in a reasonable and compassionate manner. In the long run, I think this hurts the pro-life cause and discredits pro-life advocates.
Maybe I’m wrong about this. Maybe what these people are doing really is akin to publicizing photographs taken inside concentration camps and the like. And obviously, these protesters have first amendment rights, so there shouldn’t be government censorship beyond reasonable time, place and manner restrictions. But is the level of anger so high that even raising a question about what it means to protest and discourse in a civil, loving fashion has to wear a (supposedly) derogatory label?

“A bigger check from the government” by having another baby? Maybe, but the pay is greater if you’re an executive of a company that gets a bailout or signs a defense contract with the government. Now THAT’s a real man!

Just like street-corner evangelists, I feel that if people are called to that kind of protest, fine. Personally, I don’t know that it achieves much, but you never know… There could be that one person who looks at the posters and rethinks their decision. I prefer to deal with people through personal relationship and sharing my own experience with abortion. I think that will have a greater impact on someone’s life than the protesters. But again, to each his own.

The real evil and horror of abortion only became truly evident to me after my wife became pregnant with our first child. Looking at a 4-D ultrasound of my boy profoundly affected me. There he was, little arms, little legs, and, most dramatic of all, he had a perfectly formed little face. When the nurse handed him to me in the delivery room I almost broke down. To think that in this country there are places that would have allowed him to be killed even up to his birth brought tears in my eyes. To think of all the little ones who have been lost because their parents did not realize what they were doing to them! So that’s where I am coming from.
Having said that let me say this about the protester above. First, I think it is wrong to suggest that this man is wrong because he ought to be doing domething else, e.g., forming friendships. How do you know that he is not doing that as well?! How incredibly judgmental! In fact, though I do not do this sort of thing, I know people who do. For them it is not an either/or issue. They form friendships AND they protest.
And it cannot be said that this man is not making an impact. Holding such signs can accomplish much good. My sister has a coworker who went to an abortion clinic, fully intending to have the procedure, however, upon seeing a picture, was horrified. She gave birth and deeply regrets ever considering even having an abortion–she loves her daughter very much, and though she is a single mother, can’t imagine life without her. She never told the person with the sign what an impact he had made–she never saw him again. That one story made how ever many hours that one man stood holding his sign worth it–even if he never knows it.
So at least that protester is doing SOMETHING. How many hours of our day do we waste on ourselves?! Some life might be saved because of him. Let’s not condemn him.
At the same time, I must admit that I agree with those who think bloody pictures are less effective than ones with live unborn children. The former seem to be an attempt at ‘shock value’ which I think simply make it easy to dismiss as reflecting ‘extremist’ positions.
Secondly, I think holding signs and protests should NEVER replace friendship and, even more important, prayer. Changing hearts and minds is not something we ultimately do–in the end, it’s God’s grace. The besetting danger in prolife activism is pelagiansim. ‘Yes we can’? Actually, no: only God can, so get on your knees and stop thinking it all rides on you. Prayer and activism are not opposed in principle, both are needed–though prayer is more important.

That last post was from me–I mispelled my name.I’m typing this on a blackberry while waiting for a flight at an airport.

Thanks to everyone for joining in on the discussion. I’m the one who took the picture and asked the question about the effectiveness (not the legality) of the method. I’m not at sure why the young people with the blankets were there that day–it’s possible that they were from a Sociology class or maybe it was performance art–this is a college.
T@4–these posters don’t look like “babies” they are bloody masses–could be anything–they are also extremely enlarged.
Chas @ 7 We don’t really know if the blanket holders are “pro-choice” or if they just didn’t like this method.
Kyle @ 10 I could support that too.
Jon @ 13–Yes, I’m glad I didn’t face this when my daughter was a youngster.
Don @ 14 Yes, the blanklet holders were peaceful–actually while I watched they folded up the blankets and walked away (like I said it’s a long light) There was no shouting by either side–it was very quiet.
Chris B @ 15–Our Pregnancy Resouce Center is always in need of more of everything.
John & Julie @17 Yes I think that Christians should all be willing to care for unwed moms and unwanted babies.
John @19–I’m sure sure that the young people with the blankets were celebrating abortion–
dopderbeck @21–Yeah, I’m not sure either
Ellen @ 24 and AMEN to you also
Nancy @ 25 Actually a letter to the editor of our local paper was from a women who had miscarried and expressed that same point.
Craig @ 27–Yes “Thinking about consequences” is hopefully the real goal of the protest.
john @28–I (the poster) am 100% pro-adoption. I was adopted as a baby and that fact has molded my views on this subject as well as my ethical behavior for all of life (and I’m old–older than Scot:))
Thanks again for having this conversation.

I don’t understand why this subject is so difficult. Life begins at conception. We are killing live babies when we abort them. What am I missing?

Julie,
I don’t read any post on this thread that disagrees with you.
the discussion was about how, as Christians, should we communicate this–and how effective is the method of displaying graphic posters?

The only communication should be how we should save these babies. Not what is sensitive or what is proper or what is ad nauseaum…….

Have you recently held a newborn in your arms? Have you thought about the seconds before she was born she could have died at the hands of an abortionist? Oh how He loves us! Forget the rhetoric and love the…………

Brab,
Neat way to summarize it all at the end. Not sure I;ve ever seen that done before.
Thanks for the opportunity to air our views!
God Bless.
John

Barb: older than Dr. McKnight? Next you’ll be telling us you like Abba or some such nonesense.

I have no idea if such signs are effective, but I’m kind of surprised at the apparently one-sided opposition here to that approach. I’m not a sign holder, and frankly have a gut check response against that sort of thing, but I can’t help but wonder if God doesn’t use the grand variety of our gifts… those who hold signs, those who staff pro life pregnancy clinics, those who support pregnant women/moms in all sorts of ways, those who form personal relationships with pregnant women, etc. Makes me think of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians about spiritual gifts… “If they were all one part, where would the body be?” If we were all sign holders, that wouldn’t be much help, but if we were all out there forming personal relationships (my inclination), maybe one of us needs to be waving a sign.
I serve with a homeless ministry. My gifts are to hang out, develop personal relationships, serve food, and do some health counseling as I’m a nurse. But maybe someone needs to wave the sign so that the community in which we serve SEES that the homeless are among us.
So my question… is it our Christian walk to JUST/ONLY feed the hungry (visit those in prison, save from abortion.. fill in the blank with your fav ministry)? Or do we also have a responsibility to help make those we save/serve/protect more visible… ie, to wave a sign?

Dianne@46: your responsibility is to use your gifts (talents) most fully. God bless your ministry: He does say “well done, my child.”

In response to comment #9… I think many (most?) pro-lifers hesitate to call for punishing the mothers as if they were murderers, even though most pro-lifers will say “Abortion is murder,” because I think deep in their hearts they are aware that it is just wouldn’t be appropriate, even if they can’t put their finger on why. There is a point of view I would like to suggest for consideration that supports punishing abortionists, but not the women, and certainly not punishing abortionists with the same penalty as first degree murderers. This view is that the biblical evidence is not 100% clear-cut as to when life begins. But, to repeat an illustration from John Frame, just as a hunter who sees something moving behind a bush would be engaged in reckless endangerment of human life if he were to shoot without definitively ascertaining that it was not another human being he was shooting at, so also the life of a fetus should not be taken. To my knowledge this view has not gained widespread support among pro-lifers at the conscious level, but I think it jibes with the instincts of most that abortion should be illegal but not punished in the same way as we punish premeditated murder. FWIW.

Hey, at least the guy wasn’t laying on his side burning dung…