Dear Partners and Friends,
This month, we want to answer some fundamental questions. What is CBR up to? Why does CBR display pictures of abortion, knowing they will make people angry? How can we know this strategy will work? How can pro-lifers best support our work? To address these questions, we thought it best to point out three fatal flaws in the pro-life movement today and explain what CBR is doing about these flaws. We hope this will give you some new perspectives on our work and your role in it.
Three Fatal Flaws in the Pro-Life Movement
and What CBR is Doing About Them
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Fr. Frank Pavone, Director of Priests for Life, has said that CBR’s Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) is “saving babies like nothing the pro-life movement has ever undertaken.” |
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Here we are, 30 years since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion on demand. Immediately after that fateful day, the pro-life movement set about to overturn this egregious assault on human life. So, after 30 years, how are we doing? Are we any closer to reaching our goal? Are we further away? Do we even know what our goal is?
Abortion is more entrenched in the culture than ever. More than 1.3 million children are killed every year. According to the latest definitive survey, fully 60% of the American public supports legalized abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy. People who claim the name of Christ are having abortions at unprecedented rates. Even though Republicans control both the White House and the US Senate, pro-abortion Democrats are using their filibuster to block pro-life nominees to the Federal judiciary. In fact, they are blocking one nominee simply because she upheld a Texas law that requires parental consent for abortions on minor children. These are the same senators who say an abortion litmus test should not be used to block their nominees to the judiciary.
Yes, the rate of abortion may be down a little—and we rejoice over every life saved—but the fact is that we are no closer to our goal of legal protection for every child than we were 30 years ago. We are much further away.
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Instead of just asking, “What can we do to save a few?” CBR also asks, “What must we do to get rid of the whole bloody mess?” |
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We've all heard the saying, “If you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always gotten.” Applying that principle to the pro-life movement, if we keep doing what we’ve done for the last 30 years, then 30 years from now, we’ll be no closer to our goal. But where has the pro-life movement gone wrong? How do we fix it?
The purpose of asking these questions is not to find fault or to lay blame. Many people have worked tirelessly on behalf of the unborn, year in and year out, with no end in sight. The purpose of asking critical questions is to lay the groundwork for future success, so that our collective sacrifices will not be in vain. If we dare not question the failed strategies of the past, then we are doomed to continue to fail. Can we do better?
We believe there are three fatal flaws that are preventing the pro-life movement from being successful.
Fatal Flaw # 1. Most pro-life work is designed to reduce the number of abortions, but not to stop abortion.
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Symbolic presentations such as marches and crosses do little to convince a skeptical public that the unborn child is a baby and abortion is an act of violence. Heavily censored TV advertisements are enough to convince some abortion-minded women to reconsider her personal decision, but there is little in them that will convince people that abortion is a terrible evil that should be illegal. Projects like the Reproductive Choice Campaign (RCC) allow us to deliver an uncensored message. Where we want. When we want. As often as we want. |
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The bulk of pro-life activity is aimed at reducing the number of abortions. Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) convince some abortion-minded women to carry their children to term. Lobbying groups help pass laws that provide for some protections (e.g., waiting periods, informed consent, and parental consent or notification). Political groups work to elect pro-life candidates. These are good things and we rejoice over every life saved. Efforts like these are the modern-day equivalent of the Underground Railroad, a window of opportunity for some to escape. But does anybody think that the abolitionists of the 1800s were content to save just a few? Hardly. Their goal was—and ours should be—to get rid of the whole bloody mess. When pro-lifers argue that we should continue “business as usual” pro-life work—to continue the same things we have always done, to stay in the “mainstream” of pro-life work—they are arguing, in effect, that the Underground Railroad was enough.
That’s why CBR has gone back to the basics. Instead of just asking, “What can we do to save a few?” we also ask, “What must we do to get rid of the whole bloody mess?” These are very different questions and they yield very different answers.
Fatal Flaw # 2. The pro-life movement has failed to learn and apply the lessons from other successful social reform movements.
CBR has studied 150 years of successful social reform movements and has identified certain principles common to all of them. The pro-life movement has violated every one of those principles. For example, many pro-lifers have accepted the myth that in order to be effective, we have to be “liked” or “respected.” Not liked by the hard-core pro-aborts—they will always dislike us—but liked by those who are still neutral and might be converted to the pro-life position. The line of reasoning goes like this, “If people accept us and respect us personally, they will consider the validity of our ideas; but if they are angry at us, they will reject us and our ideas.”
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Successful reformers have invariably used horrifying pictures to dramatize the injustices they sought to correct. |
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The history of successful social reform movements demonstrates that this is untrue. Social reformers have always been unpopular. In fact, they reached the height of their unpopularity at the very time they were being the most effective. In every major city in America today, you can find a street named after Martin Luther King. But 40 years ago, Dr. King was very unpopular. We might expect that he was unpopular among racists and among the vast majority of people who simply preferred to ignore or trivialize racism. But would it surprise us to learn that he was even unpopular among his fellow civil rights leaders? They felt that his methods were too confrontational and would make them appear to be too radical, thus it would be more difficult for them to influence the power structure. In Dr. King’s letter from the Birmingham Jail, he gave an eloquent explanation of why it was necessary to confront the power structure in order to establish “a type of constructive nonviolent tension” that would make the status quo intolerable.
Another critical principle that many pro-lifers haven’t understood is that successful social reformers have invariably used horrifying pictures to dramatize the injustices they sought to correct. Martin Luther King was successful because he brought racism out of the back alley (at night, where it couldn't be seen) into Main Street (during the daylight, where it could be photographed). When people began to see pictures of African-American men and women being attacked with dogs and water cannons, it was much more difficult for them to ignore or trivialize racism. People with functioning consciences were disturbed by what they saw. They began to feel differently. The status quo was no longer acceptable.
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CBR has studied 150 years of successful social reform movements and has identified certain principles common to all of them. The pro-life movement has violated every one of those principles. |
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In the early days of photography, abolitionists used pictures to expose the evil of slavery. At the turn of the century, Lewis Hine developed a traveling display of photographs to expose abusive child labor practices.
That is exactly what we are doing with abortion. We are bringing abortion out of the abortion mill, where it can't be seen, out into public view, where everybody can see it. We hope to bother people with the truth about abortion until the status quo is no longer acceptable.
Fatal Flaw # 3. The abortion industry has made killing babies a full-time profession, but the pro-life movement has made saving them a part-time hobby.
Pro-aborts have made killing babies a full-time profession. They employ tens of thousands of full-time employees. Sure, volunteers help, but full-time professionals do most of the work. The industry can afford it. Abortion makes money. On top of that, pro-aborts give generously to their cause. As if that weren’t enough, the government kicks in hundreds of millions of our tax dollars every year.
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When pro-lifers argue that we should continue “business as usual” pro-life work—to continue the same things we have always done, to stay in the “mainstream” of pro-life work—they are arguing, in effect, that the Underground Railroad was enough. |
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On the other hand, we have made saving babies a part-time hobby. Full-time pro-life workers are quite rare. We simply cannot manage big projects (i.e., GAP, RCC, airborne RCC, etc.) without full-time staff. Of course, our volunteers are invaluable, but these projects must be developed and managed by those of us who are full-time.
There are two prerequisites to the emergence of a new army of full-time pro-life workers. First, a few people must be willing to quit their current careers and go to work full-time in order to save babies. A few of us have taken this step, but we need many more.
Second, for every pro-lifer who jumps into the fray full-time, there must be at least 150 others who set aside money every month in order to provide the financial resources. That is why we must ask you to give—-give until it hurts.
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The purpose of asking critical questions is to lay the groundwork for future success, so that our collective sacrifices will not be in vain. |
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We at CBR are working to strategize, plan, implement, and evaluate projects that are on the cutting edge of pro-life work. We are reinventing the pro-life movement. But we need you to do your part. If you will provide the resources, then with God’s help we will confront the culture with the truth about abortion, and we will do what it takes to make the status quo intolerable.
http://www.kodak.com/US/en/corp/features/moore/attackedFrame.shtml
When people began to see pictures (on TV and in magazines) of African-American men and women being attacked with dogs and water cannons, it was much more difficult for them to ignore or trivialize the injustice.
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/empty.jpg
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/childlabor/dust.jpg
A traveling display of pictures like these pricked the conscience of a nation and helped end abusive child labor practices.
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