Clueless in the Face of a Great Gift?

Conversations: The Monthly Letter of Justice For All

Christmas 2016

Mine was a small gift, but they missed it.

One of my favorite panels from our new Art of Life Exhibit juxtaposes a classical painting of a woman holding her daughter with the words “Embracing child and career” and “better than abortion.” 

At the University of Oklahoma this fall, though, one free speech board (image nearby) showed that this panel made no sense to some viewers.  They pointed out, confidently, that sitting for a portrait isn’t a career, and a woman in 1786 couldn’t possibly have had a career anyway.

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Comments on Free Speech Board: “In 1786 this woman did NOT have a child and a CAREER!” and, [sarcastically], “Sitting for portraits is a career?”

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Panel from JFA’s Art of Life Exhibit (Image: Madame Vigée-Le Brun et Sa Fille, by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, France, 1786; More information: Art of Life web page)

Had these students looked with just a bit more curiosity at the panel in question (image nearby), they would have found etched just next to the date of the painting in the bottom right-hand corner the only clues they needed in order to discover the point of the panel — the title of the painting and the name of the painter: Madame Vigée-Le Brun et Sa Fille [by] Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun.

This translates to Mrs. Vigée-Le Brun and Her Daughter [by] Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. 

Yes, indeed, there is little sense in displaying this lesser-known painting from the 18th century to illustrate the idea that a woman can embrace her child and her career, unless, of course, the woman pictured in the painting is...the painter...and the painting is her self-portrait!  A quick look at the website found on the panel (www.debate2dialogue.org) reveals that Vigée Le Brun was Marie Antoinette’s chief portrait painter.  Yes, at least one woman had a “bona fide career” in 1786!

I don’t recall talking to the students who wrote these comments.  When I came across the photos of the free speech board later, the fact that these students missed the point of the sign made me angry, and for a moment, I wanted to mock them and point out how foolish they were.  But then I caught myself.  Isn’t sadness a more appropriate response?  These dear people are missing out, after all. 

When people outright reject or miss the point of our outreach events, our good-faith attempts to dialogue with them, the beautiful wonder of life in the womb, the truth about human rights, or any other gift we offer, it makes me sad — sad, first, that they missed the gift, and second, that I, in my weaknesses, have sometimes made it harder for them to get it.

This reflection reminds me of another gift, a gift that is not only magnitudes greater than some of the gifts I’ve just been discussing, but indeed, it’s also in a category all by itself.  I’m referring to the gift of the incarnation of Jesus.

God’s gift was a great gift, but have I missed it?

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This page from The Psalter of St. Louis (circa 1191-1212) alludes to two very different responses to the gift of Jesus.  Above, Herod (right) talks with the magi and prepares to attempt to kill Jesus.  Below, the magi bring gifts to Jesus, showing a much more appropriate sense of awe and appreciation for the gift of Jesus.  (See Wiki Commons for more information about the image.)

I know I have missed it to some degree.  I know, because although I respond to the gift with private awe, I don’t often respond with public acts of sharing the Savior I know.  I am usually silent.

Contrast this timidity about the gift of Jesus with the confidence I feel when I am standing near the Art of Life Exhibit and have a chance to tell people about the point of this “Embracing child and career” sign.  I am so taken with the sign that I can’t wait to tell people about it.  I want them to experience that moment of wonder, that moment of recognition that comes when one sees that this woman is embodying the embracing of both child and career, all at once, right there in the creation of this painting.  I want them to experience the beauty of the optimism of the panel, the optimism that says women don’t have to kill their children in order to actualize their abilities.

My eagerness to share the truth about Christ, on the other hand, is somehow just barely limping along, even though the incarnation was a much more wondrous embodying — the embodying of God himself.  Perhaps my eagerness is suffocated by the dark skepticism and mocking spirit of the culture.  To be sure, I also fear that the gift will simply be rejected.  Is this the appropriate thankful response to God’s gift — a private hoarding and a repetitive withholding of the truth from others?  The troubling answer is a confident, “No.”

So, let’s resolve, shall we, to share our experience of this beautiful miracle of the incarnation of Christ — his taking on human nature that he might ultimately redeem us through his death and resurrection.  Let’s resolve to share this news more publicly, even if only in small moments with strangers or friends, when we have the choice clearly set before us: Do I now allow this moment to be mundane, or do I transform it by just saying something, taking the chance that this person will join me in a moment of recognition and wonder?

Let’s resolve not to wait, then, for only those few people we’re confident will appreciate Jesus.  And let’s resolve also to strengthen our confidence in the greatness of the gift of Jesus through study, reflection, and prayer, so that we may speak more boldly.  I have a hunch, though, that trusting God by going through the motion of “speaking forth the mystery of Christ”  (Colossians 4:3) might itself do the work of strengthening our confidence to continue to speak.

When I think about how God is patient with me in my reluctance to share all I know of his marvelous gift to me, I’m thankful for his mercy and forbearance.  Perhaps I’m just as clueless as the students who mocked the Art of Life sign.  Perhaps more.  Yet, God is patient with me, a seeker who longs to appreciate his great gifts with the response they deserve.  If God is patient with me, clueless in the face of his great gift, how much more can I be patient with those whom God has called me to engage in conversation, especially when they reject the gift I am offering them?

In awe of God’s great Christmas gift,

Steve Wagner

Executive Director,

Justice For All

After a Recent Workshop at UNK

Comments after a Recent Workshop at the University of Nebraska at Kearney (UNK):

"I feel like I could apply most of this in a conversation." – Sierra

"I feel a lot more confident now with talking to other people about abortion.  The dialogue practice with a partner was especially helpful." – Marilyn

"[The day after the workshop, during a class discussion on abortion], I didn't know if I was going to say anything, but finally decided to use the argument I had learned [the night before]." – Megan

The day after the JFA workshop, Megan found herself in a class discussion of whether or not it is morally acceptable to abort children diagnosed with Down syndrome in utero.  See "Megan Schools Her Classmates on Abortion" by Jeremy Gorr for the whole story, including what Megan said, how it impacted her class, and a picture of Megan at the JFA outreach event later that same day.

You Can Help JFA Bring about Stories Like Zachary's

A Special Message from Steve Wagner

Dear Friend,

Whether you read JFA’s letters on a monthly or occasional basis, and whether you read them in paper form or online, I hope you see in every communication from JFA our passion for finding pro-choice advocates, starting conversations with them in a natural way, sharing a defense for unborn children, and responding to objections, all within a framework of loving concern.  Our work is some of the most difficult work pro-life advocates can do, but it’s also some of the most important, if we are ever to see a day when all unborn children are loved as equals. 

In our November 2016 Impact Report, “Small Decisions and Big Results,” I share the story of Grace, Clare, and Zachary, and then I close with a comment about the importance of small decisions.  As you read the last paragraph there, you might feel like the idea of participating with us “on the ground” creating conversations seems out of reach.  Perhaps encouraging your community to learn more about JFA or becoming an intern seems impossible.  Still, you can be a catalyst to help make all of these aspects of JFA’s mission happen – by giving financially to support JFA’s work.

You can be every bit as much a part of JFA’s mission by making a generous special gift or monthly commitment today.  At our Donate page, you can find everything you need in order to become a monthly partner with JFA or to give a special gift.  There you’ll also find information about gift designations and what your gift will accomplish, how to give online using a credit card, and automatic giving options. 

Your gifts to support a staff member designation, our Training Program Fund, our Intern Scholarship Fund, or to support our area of “greatest need” directly impact how many interns we’re able to hire, how many outreach events we’re able to produce, and how many relationships we’re able to build with churches, schools, and other organizations.  These things in turn directly affect the number of pro-life advocates we’re able to train and the number of pro-choice advocates we’re able to engage in conversation so that they can come to their own settled conclusion that abortion is unthinkable.  Thank you for considering partnering with JFA. 

In Christ,

Steve Wagner

Executive Director, Justice For All

P.S. I hope that when you read “Small Decisions and Big Results,” you will be just as encouraged as I was to see active, young pro-life advocates creating conversations that make abortion unthinkable.  I hope, though, that you and I won’t stop there, thinking that this is just the job of young people.  The task is too big, and the need is too great.  Please instead consider a small decision to partner with JFA and trust God with us to use each small decision to bring about the “impossible” result of making abortion unthinkable for millions.

Teach or Talk...or Do Both

JFA’s mission is to train thousands to make abortion unthinkable, one person at a time.  We have two simple ways to show that we are making progress on that mission.  We must teach others to talk to pro‐choice people about abortion, or we ourselves need to talk to pro‐choice people about abortion.  Sometimes our speaking events end up accomplishing both of these goals.  Below is a sample of reflections from high school and college students who attended a presentation, workshop, or seminar this fall.  Some of these students felt prepared to have conversations on their own.  For others, the content of our presentations made abortion unthinkable in their minds.

The video showed today really sealed the deal in my head that abortion is 100% murder.  It’s not that I wasn’t pro‐life, I just believed it [be]cause I was told to.  This video helped me form a complete opinion...that abortion is never the answer—very good presentation!

- High School Student, Presentation, St. Cecilia’s Catholic High School

To see five more student quotes and more commentary from Paul, continue reading The Kulas Kronicle, November 2016.

“I am pro-life, and I have marched in Washington D.C. with the pro-life march the past two years. I enjoyed the experience so much, but [I] never knew how to communicate with others. Thank YOU for teaching me how to talk about pro-life to people who are pro-choice.”

— High School Student

The letter also includes a picture collage of Paul's conversations in 2016:  Click here to see those pictures.

Small Decisions and Big Results

Grace Fontenot and Clare Lavergne, two young women from Louisiana, had only been interns with JFA for two months, but they had already been inspired by JFA’s emphasis on creating conversations about abortion every week.  The goal?  Help those who are pro-choice come to their own settled conclusion that abortion is unthinkable, and help those who are pro-life become active advocates for unborn children.

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How did Zachary (second from right) get here?  Click here to read the story.

Seeing that there was one week in their internship with no outreach event scheduled, Grace and Clare grabbed a survey clipboard and headed to Wichita State University to start conversations.  Clare described what happened next:

“After a few surveys that resulted in one lengthy conversation about abortion, we asked a few more students to take our survey, but they declined.  So we decided to ask one final person before leaving campus.  The student whom we happened upon was Zachary Lee-Watts.  

Continue reading the story in our short November 2016 Impact Report to see what happened next for Zachary, Clare, and Grace.

Small Decisions and Big Results

Impact Report, November 2016

Grace Fontenot and Clare Lavergne, two young women from Louisiana, had only been interns with JFA for two months, but they had already been inspired by JFA’s emphasis on creating conversations about abortion every week.  The goal?  Help those who are pro-choice come to their own settled conclusion that abortion is unthinkable, and help those who are pro-life become active advocates for unborn children.

Clare (blue, behind table) and Grace (right) interact with Wichita State students.

Seeing that there was one week in their internship with no outreach event scheduled, Grace and Clare grabbed a survey clipboard and headed to Wichita State University to start conversations.  Clare described what happened next:

“After a few surveys that resulted in one lengthy conversation about abortion, we asked a few more students to take our survey, but they declined.  So we decided to ask one final person before leaving campus.  The student whom we happened upon was Zachary Lee-Watts.  

“Right off the bat, Zachary told us he was completely pro-life.  He then shared with us that he was raised by a single mother in an impoverished area in Los Angeles.  He felt that his mother’s situation had made him a prime target for abortion.  Not only that, but he has also seen firsthand the lasting psychological effects of abortion on women who are very close to him.  

“Zachary was so excited to meet people his age who were passionately pro-life like he was, and he asked us how he could get involved.  We invited him to a seminar that took place the next week, and shortly after that, he accompanied us for two days of outreach at Oklahoma State University (OSU), where he engaged in many conversations of his own.  Then he attended another outreach event, this time at Wichita State.  He truly believes that God intended for him to meet us that day on campus and that our friendships and JFA have already had a great impact on his life and faith journey.”

Zachary shared a bit about his experience:

Clare (right), Zachary (second from right), and Grace (third from right) interact with three Oklahoma State University students at JFA’s recent Art of Life Exhibit at OSU.

“At OSU we set up an exhibit titled The Art of Life, which is beautiful in itself, and is quite impacting.  The entire experience was beautiful, insightful, passionate, and just awesome.  Speaking to students about such a ‘controversial’ topic never seemed so peaceful and amicable.  Not just that, but to also be able to connect with individuals on a personal level was splendid. 

Zachary, right, near JFA’s Art of Life Exhibit at OSU.

“I recall speaking to a young guy named David, who was more aligned with the pro-choice side, but we connected because we came from similar backgrounds.  Eventually, I convinced him enough to at least keep his mind open and do research himself on the personhood of the unborn and their intrinsic value.  There was also this fellow named Brent with whom I had a really in-depth conversation.  He was pro-choice.  He said his opinion didn’t matter because he was a guy.  I found that quite ludicrous, so I managed to persuade him that his opinion did matter; that the subject of abortion was not just for women...that it was for humans in general.”

Grace Fontenot interacts with a student at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, in September 2016.  Grace is raising support to work full-time with Justice For All.  You can support her work with JFA by making a donation here (look for Grace's designation or put her name in the notes).

Zachary also described his approach to abortion prior to meeting Grace and Clare, and prior to participating with JFA:

“Admittedly, on any given day I was not one to prompt the seriousness of abortion.  I did understand why it was wrong, and in a general sense how to defend my belief, but not sufficiently enough.  After listening in on JFA dialogues and reading the JFA Exhibit Brochure, I understood how to convey the seriousness, and how to treat individuals who were opposed to my stance in a more comforting way.  I felt more urgency to bring up the seriousness and assured that I could do so more wisely.”

The story of Grace, Clare, and Zachary is really just a story of small decisions, small decisions which ended up yielding big results.  Grace and Clare made a decision which probably seemed somewhat insignificant at the time, a small decision to go and do the hard work of creating conversations about abortion.  In the course of their impromptu outreach event, Grace and Clare happened upon a pro-life advocate, Zachary, who wasn’t doing much to make abortion unthinkable.  They befriended him, encouraged him to participate in our training program, and now he has begun to create conversations about abortion.  He has now made his own series of small decisions to seek to change minds about abortion and encourage pro-life advocates to do the same.

Clare Lavergne discusses the value of the unborn child with a student at Oklahoma State University, while a deacon from a local Catholic parish listens in.  Clare is raising support to work with JFA again in Spring 2017.  You can support her work with JFA by making a donation here (look for the Intern Scholarship Fund or put Clare's name in the notes).

If you think about it, each one of us in our own small decisions each day can have the same big impact, as we prayerfully trust God for help.  Indeed, JFA’s big, “impossible” mission of “training thousands to make abortion unthinkable for millions, one person at a time” can only be accomplished through the small decisions of each one of us.  What part can your small decisions play in JFA’s mission?  Are you able to give one or more years to work as an intern with JFA?  Are you able to partner with JFA financially?  Are you able to pray regularly for our team?  Are you able to encourage others in your community to learn more about JFA?  Are you able to participate in JFA outreach events, creating conversations that change hearts and minds?  Each of these activities requires only a small decision like the decision Grace and Clare made that day to just go out and talk to students at Wichita State.  Yet one of these seemingly insignificant, small decisions can even change the course of someone’s life, someone like Zachary.  When we reflect on the fact that Zachary is now doing the same for others, by God’s grace, JFA’s mission no longer seems impossible at all.

- Steve Wagner, for the JFA Team

The Impossible Feels Attainable

This past June my roommate Catherine and I had the joy of hosting a seminar. It was the first seminar to take place in our own home! The invitation list was limited because of space, but we crammed 13 participants into our living room using a little creativity and the skills we learned from playing Tetris as children.

After the seminar, participants were given the option to write a “Thank You” to the financial supporters who had made the event possible. Today you are receiving a “Thank You” written by a seminarian, Michael, who wrote that you have helped prepare him for what he had previously considered “an impossible task.”

““Dear Justice For All Supporter,

I’ve always been pro-life, but how in the world do I share that message in a culture that isn’t?…an impossible task!

After attending a JFA seminar, the impossible finally feels attainable. I have practical, simple tools to engage someone in a productive dialogue on abortion. Thank you sooo much for providing support to make that possible! God is good!” ”

— Michael

Is There a More Important Question than the Voting Question?

If I had five minutes to discuss the election with you around my kitchen table, I’d spend it proposing that there’s one question we can’t afford to neglect as we go to the ballot box.  Which question?

Understandably, Christians all over the United States are pondering and discussing many questions about the presidential election:

• For whom should I vote? Is there a right answer?

• Should I vote for one candidate in order to make sure another candidate loses?

• Should I “vote my conscience” or should I be shrewdly pragmatic? Are those the same thing?

• If we avoid the ballot box due to the presidential election, won’t this harm the other elections?

• Which issues are most important? Which candidate will protect religious freedom, which will help the cause of the unborn, and which will nominate good justices to the Supreme Court?

• Is there a candidate whose character is fit for the presidency?

All of these questions are worthy of consideration, of course.  I’d like to suggest, though, that a different question is more important than any of these.  Take a short rabbit trail with me to New Hope Christian Church in Monsey, New York, where I preached a sermon on October 2.  My sermon wasn’t about the election.  It was about Jesus and his approach to focusing on the right question.  As we’ll see, though, his method can help us focus on what’s most important as the election approaches.   

Jesus Transforms the Lawyer’s Question

During my sermon, we looked at a familiar passage – perhaps so familiar that we are apt to miss the point.  In Luke 10:25-37, a lawyer asked Jesus, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus responded by asking the lawyer to expound on his area of expertise: “What is written in the law?  How does it read to you?”

The lawyer summarized the law: we are called to love God with all of our being and love our neighbor as ourselves.  Jesus mysteriously replied, “Do this, and you will live.”

Predictably, the lawyer was not satisfied with this answer to his question.  The text says that “wishing to justify himself,” he asked, “and who is my neighbor?”  It’s as if the lawyer was saying, “How?  Tell me what to do…specifically!”  This sounded noble and innocent enough.  But as Jesus responded with the story of the Good Samaritan, it became clear that the lawyer’s question was not so innocent after all: 

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Jesus flipped the lawyer’s question, Who is my neighbor?, on its head: Who proved to be a neighbor? (Image: The Good Samaritan by Jacopo Bassano, ca. 1562, The National Gallery, London; Image downloaded from Google Cultural Institute via WikiMedia Commons)

As a priest and a Levite walked on the road to Jericho one day, each saw the man left for dead by robbers, and each passed by.  As Scott Klusendorf pointed out to me many years ago, we can imagine that these two passersby felt pity, but they did not actually take pity on the man.  Only the third passerby on the road that day, the Samaritan, stopped to help the man.  The Samaritan allowed himself to be completely put out by the project of meeting the needs of the person in front of him. 

Jesus then asked, “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the robbers’ hands?”  Jesus’s response brought into focus the much more sinister meaning of the lawyer’s question.  Ironically, although the lawyer appeared to be asking “Whom should I love?” he was actually asking the opposite question: “Whom can I not love?  Whom can I safely ignore?”

This was the wrong question, of course, and Jesus flipped it on its head.  From Jesus’s perspective, we should not ask, “Whom can I exclude?” but rather, “How can I become the sort of person who is a neighbor to anyone in need?  Who should I become?”

Moving then to a point of application in my sermon, I shared some of the ways that the people in our JFA community have sought to “prove to be a neighbor” to two groups of people who have been forgotten and left for dead, literally and figuratively, on today’s “road to Jericho”: unborn children and their parents.

Transforming the Election Question

During this election time, many Christians are asking the question that seems most pressing: “For whom should I vote?”  I wonder, though, if a more important question is, “What sort of person should I be?”  This cuts to the heart of the election, bringing it into focus:

• Whoever becomes President of the United States, how can I become the sort of person who helps unborn children myself rather than relying on politicians to do the entire job for me?

• How can I become the respectful, humble sort of person who stands for the right of those who disagree with me to speak freely, trusting God to change hearts and minds?

• How can I become the sort of person who speaks up for those who can’t speak for themselves, even with family and friends, even when my own social comfort is on the line?

• How can I become a courageous person who joyfully endures persecution for my beliefs?

• How can I habitually pray that God helps me to become the person he meant for me to be?

I suggest then that as you consider “For whom you should vote?” that you take care not to allow that important question to mask a deeper, more insidious question: “What can I leave to my elected leaders to handle for me?”  Instead, let’s become the sort of people who actively meet the needs of unborn children and their parents by creating conversations that change hearts and save lives.  It’s only by the hard work of thousands of us seeking to become people who change minds ourselves that we can make abortion unthinkable for millions and help to bring about justice for all. 

Want to become that person?  Our events and online resources can help.  Want to help us train thousands to become advocates in the coming months and years?  Your gifts to JFA make this possible.

P.S. As the election approaches, would you consider taking one hour of time that you would have spent discussing the candidates for president and spend it instead on becoming an advocate for unborn children?  Our “Learn at Home” Program can help.

Late-Term Abortion? ... Our Open Mic Archives Help You Prepare for the Dialogue

Did you know that you can watch real JFA open mic conversations at our  "Explore Resources" page?  We've even created some questions to help you practice having similar conversations.

VIDEO CLIP: Late-term abortion has been in the news recently.  Here's a dialogue excerpt from the JFA archives to help you prepare for conversations with your friends. *(See parental advisory below.)

• Step 1: Listen to the first thoughts from this student at ASU. Stop the video.
• Step 2: Think of a question you can ask to build common ground with the speaker. Write your ideas in the comments section.
• Step 3: Now listen to the remainder of the video. Did Steve's attempt at common ground succeed?

*Warning: Parental Advisory. 
The audio/video clips of JFA's Open Mic sessions contain unedited free speech audio and portions include profanity and frank discussion of sexuality.  If you are under the age of 18, please invite your parents to preview this material and approve it for your listening.  Once they've reviewed it, you might invite them to listen along with you!  These clips provide great opportunities for discussing what you think about life before birth, pregnancy, and abortion.

My Presentation at Yale on October 1

I'll be speaking at Yale this coming weekend on the topic "Mastering Dialogue to Make Abortion Unthinkable" as part of the "Vita et Veritas" Conference hosted by Choose Life at Yale (CLAY).  Here's a description of what I'll share in that presentation: 

The pro-life movement is full of good intentions, but without a focus on changing public opinion, we can’t hope that the unborn will ever be protected in law the way other human beings are.  Contrary to popular perception, however, public opinion is not fixed, and it’s not easy to pin down.  It's all over the map, with many people uncertain of their positions.  Many others are certainly against most abortions, but they lack the courage or confidence to argue publicly that abortion is wrong or that the unborn should be protected in law.  While there is value in many pro-life activities, the pro-life movement must at the very least “get back to the basics” of mastering the skills of dialogue that makes abortion just as unthinkable as other human rights violations.  Dialogue cannot be merely a buzzword, however, and its substance must be permeated with genuine love for every human being, including the pro-choice advocate and the women and men personally wrestling with unplanned pregnancy and abortion.  In “Mastering Dialogue to Make Abortion Unthinkable,” Steve Wagner draws upon thirteen years of outreach experience and hundreds of conversations with pro-choice advocates to give the audience a road map for becoming skilled at the sort of dialogue that helps pro-choice advocates change.  Steve outlines the key principles of dialogue, but also gives practical tools pro-life advocates can begin using to change hearts and minds immediately.
 

New Exhibits: Can We Reach More People?

September 2016 Impact Report

In this Impact Report, Joanna Bai (recently married; previously Wagner) shares a story about a conversation at our new Art of Life Exhibit, and other JFA staff members reflect on what it was like to use our new exhibits in April and May to start conversations.  You’ll notice a theme: With three large exhibits now in the toolbox, we’re experimenting with ways to reach more people by attracting to the conversation many people we would be unlikely to reach with only one exhibit.

Note that this is the third in a special series of Impact Reports giving you an experience of JFA’s new large exhibits through stories and pictures without much prior explanation.  Our July Impact Report introduced the new exhibits.  In August, recent UCLA graduate Meredith Boles shared about a conversation she had at the Stop and Think Exhibit.  As I’ve said previously in this series, we are happy to talk to you at any time to give you further explanation of the exhibits, to hear your comments, and to discuss the thinking behind the exhibits.  You can also see our Exhibits page for pictures and additional information about each exhibit.  - Steve Wagner

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At UCLA this spring, “Mark” and “Sarah” came up to the Art of Life Exhibit talking excitedly.  As I walked up to them, I overheard Mark mentioning interesting details he had learned regarding the famous paintings by Velázquez and Van Eyck which were prominently displayed on the thirteen-foot-tall panels in front of him.

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Joanna (light blue) and UCLA students look up at the Art of Life Exhibit panels (above) during a conversation in May 2016.  See the Art of Life Exhibit in more detail here.

I asked Mark what he thought of the message of the exhibit.  In response he said, “Oh, I don't really know what this is at all.  I just saw the works of art and got really excited.  I had to come over here and see it!”  In fact, he had been so excited that he had brought his friend Sarah with him.

I suspected that once Mark and Sarah began to see that there was another intended purpose for the exhibit in addition to the art itself, they might lose interest and walk away.  But much to the contrary, both remained interested throughout my whole tour of the exhibit, and as interestedly as they had shared their artistic knowledge, they began sharing their views about abortion with me.  Both were pro-choice, but they did not hold identical positions.  I talked with them for a significant amount of time.  My recollection is that it was at least an hour, and Sarah and I were so engaged in dialogue that she skipped one class, and I ended up walking her to another class that afternoon as we were still finishing.

The details of the conversation are fuzzy in my memory, but what stuck out to me was how fabulously the paintings themselves worked to interest these students in a conversation about a totally unexpected topic – abortion.  They (Mark especially) loved the artwork, and it seemed to create an openness in both of them to discuss whatever purpose we had in raising the well-known works of art on their campus that day.  The exhibit seemed a uniquely beneficial starting point that helped them enter into talking about abortion.  - Joanna Bai

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Tammy Cook opens the original JFA Exhibit Brochure to refer to pictures of human development in a conversation with a UCLA student at JFA’s new Stop and Think Exhibit.

What I like about the Stop and Think Exhibit is that the subject matter seems current because it addresses topics like feminism which are very important to many women, especially women with pro-choice views.  So, as a woman, it gave me a platform to find immediate common ground; and in turn, this helped most people see me as a reasonable person, and it kept them engaged.  At both Colorado State University (CSU) in April and UCLA in May, I saw more pro-choice people rethinking their views on abortion than at any of our previous events this school year.  - Tammy Cook

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Rebecca Haschke was interviewed by student television during the Art of Life Exhibit at CSU (April 2016).  Watch the coverage here.

I was excited to be sitting in front of a new exhibit that reaches yet another unique group of students.  Several students shared with me that it was the beauty of the Art of Life display that made them stop.  Other students told me they were willing to stop this year because the display wasn’t graphic.  In years past they had avoided coming near the exhibit.  The variety of responses gave me confidence that we are reaching a new group of students with these new exhibits, which is exactly what we want to do!  We desire to have more conversations that change hearts and minds.  To have the flexibility to put up more than one exhibit during an outreach allows us to reach a variety of students we wouldn’t have otherwise had the chance to engage.  - Rebecca Haschke

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I was talking to two students in front of the Art of Life Exhibit at UCLA, and a young woman cut into the conversation asking if she could record our conversation since she is a reporter for FemNews, a UCLA magazine.  I hesitated, knowing that audio recordings can be manipulated, but I decided to extend the benefit of the doubt to her and said it was fine.  She put many questions to me, such as, “What about back-alley abortion?” and “Since people disagree about abortion, how can we make a law about it?”  I think she was surprised by my willingness to give ground, to find points of agreement, and to qualify my statements with concern for women both outside and inside the womb.  I was uncertain what kind of treatment our conversation would get in FemNews, but her report, while confidently pro-choice, ended up being pretty fair.  [See the FemNews article here.]  The pro-life perspective I shared with the people in the conversation was heard, and unlike many articles, I think my words were relayed to the audience verbatim.  So, a whole new audience got to hear some of the logic of the pro-life position, and that audience also witnessed our heart for all human beings, including women and men struggling with unplanned pregnancies.  Not only that, through the images of the Art of Life Exhibit, the FemNews audience saw that we are interested in a different sort of conversation about abortion, one that sometimes uses beauty as a starting point.  I am hopeful for more dialogue in the future with the woman who wrote the article.  - Steve Wagner

***

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JFA trainers Catherine Wurts (second from left) and Jeremy Gorr (right) dialogue with UCLA students about abortion at the Art of Life Exhibit in May.

It made me reflect that in order to make abortion unthinkable we need to reach all kinds of people, and different kinds of people respond to different types of things.  Therefore, it is important to utilize all types of exhibits and approaches to reach all types of people.  I liked how the new exhibits confused people – many expected something else entirely.  This seemed to make some people stop that wouldn’t have otherwise.  I enjoyed seeing and hearing their surprise and, in some cases, delight.  - Jeremy Gorr

Note: Although the actual date of this posting was December 15, 2016, it was back-dated to the original date the letter was sent to supporters.

Mother Teresa to the Supreme Court (1994)

Mother Teresa's 1994 amicus brief, filed by Robert P. George with the Supreme Court, is worth reading in its entirety. 

Note the tone of the entire piece, both praising America for its virtues and calling America to respect its highest ideals.  Mother Teresa is both mindful that she is an outsider and bold to speak from her unique vantage point as one who has distinguished herself in caring for the poor, something most people hold in high esteem.

Note also that here Mother Teresa does not speak about the value and rights of the unborn in a way that pits them against the rights of women.  She see valuing both as being necessarily connected.  She also focuses most of her piece on the underlying principles that drive the American project, namely our concern for freedom and human rights, and then shows how care for the unborn is a natural, practical outworking of those underlying principles.

Then she goes on to name some of the effects of abortion on American culture, but only within this necessary context of discussing the human rights of the unborn:

America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has aggravated the derogation of the father’s role in an increasingly fatherless society. It has portrayed the greatest of gifts—a child—as a competitor, an intrusion, and an inconvenience. It has nominally accorded mothers unfettered domination over the independent lives of their physically dependent sons and daughters. And, in granting this unconscionable power, it has exposed many women to unjust and selfish demands from their husbands or other sexual partners.

Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being’s entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign.

You can read the amicus brief in its entirety at The Witherspoon Institute's Public Discourse blog.

CSU-TV Channel 11 Covers the New JFA Exhibit Project

When JFA debuted its new Art of Life Exhibit at CSU a few months ago, the student television station did a short piece on the exhibit, protesters of JFA (were they protesting the exhibit?), and some of the other responses of students.  You can hear an introduction to the exhibit by JFA's Rebecca Haschke at 1:12.

See our "Exhibits" page to learn more about all of JFA's exhibits, including "Art of Life" and "Stop and Think," created in 2016.

UCLA's Fem Newsmagazine Comments on JFA@UCLA

JFA partnered with Live Action UCLA to bring The Art of Life and Stop and Think, two new exhibits by Justice For All, to UCLA in May.  (See an introduction to the two exhibits here.)  During the day we displayed The Art of Life, I was engaged in a conversation with two gentlemen at the exhibit when Jacqueline Pei, a reporter with Fem, a Feminist Newsmagazine at UCLA, asked if she could record our conversation for a story she was writing for Fem News.  I was hesitant, but agreed, and we had a good discussion.  Another woman joined at one point as well.

Ms. Pei published her report at Fem a few days later.  I was happy to see that although she was confident in a different perspective than mine, she appears to have given my thoughts and ideas an accurate rendering and a fair hearing.  Thanks, Jackie.  I hope we can continue the discussion at some point.

How JFA Helped Me Reach My Campus

August 2016 Impact Report

By Meredith Boles

Introduction by Steve Wagner

INTRODUCTION

In this Impact Report, Meredith Boles describes a conversation that took place at JFA’s new Stop and Think Exhibit (shown below), illustrating how the public display of abortion images, a gracious manner, and thoughtful responses to tough questions can help pro-choice advocates “stop and think” about abortion in a new way. 

Meredith and another UCLA student talk in front of JFA's new Stop and Think Exhibit in May 2016.

Meredith also shares what it was like for her club, Live Action UCLA, to partner with JFA to carry out large JFA events on the UCLA campus two years in a row.  We cherish the hard work of Meredith, Ines, and other members of their club who share our passion for creating hundreds of conversations about abortion in a single day of outreach.  Meredith and Ines helped invite JFA to campus, participated in conversations themselves, and rallied other club members to participate.  The result?  Together, JFA and Live Action UCLA trained more pro-life advocates and reached more pro-choice advocates than either organization could ever have done on its own.

P.S. This Impact Report is the second in a series showcasing our newly-expanded large exhibit outreach program, which also includes another new exhibit that was displayed at UCLA, The Art of Life.  For an introduction to both new exhibits, including more pictures, see JFA’s July report, “Two New Exhibits: A First Look.”

-Steve Wagner, Executive Director

THE STORY

I just graduated from UCLA, and throughout my four years there I was actively involved with the pro-life group.  In both my third and fourth years, I coordinated with Justice For All so that we could bring them onto our campus for a training seminar and then for an outreach event.  I cannot recommend JFA enough for a club event that is both educational for club members and influential for our peers on campus. 

Throughout this past year I had to meet periodically with the staff of the club events office in order to get the training sessions and the outreach exhibits approved, as well as to reserve outdoor spaces, classrooms, equipment, parking, etc.  This process was difficult at times because it was very obvious that the campus administration was not pleased with our event, so it felt like I was pulling teeth at times. It was also difficult because not everyone in my club was comfortable with the idea of displaying graphic images of abortion, and so I did not have enthusiastic support from all my club members.  But with their consent, and the help of two club members who were fully on board, combined with the guidance and assistance from the JFA staff, and the conviction that this was a great opportunity for my last year in college, we made all of the arrangements. 

We had one day of training on a Sunday, and then two days of outreach at two different locations.  We needed one club member at all times present at the exhibit, and we used a group chat to coordinate this.  All of my club mates told me afterwards that it was a great experience, that they had some tricky conversations, some fruitful conversations, and that by the end they felt much more confident about having these conversations.

Meredith interacts with a fellow UCLA student in front of the side of the Stop and Think Exhibit focused on feminism and women's rights.

I myself had a very good conversation with a student named Amanda.  She was walking slowly past Justice For All’s Stop and Think Exhibit when I asked her what she thought of the exhibit.  She said she didn’t really understand what it was about, so I offered to walk around it with her and explain it.  We walked slowly, side by side.  Once we had circled around I asked Amanda what she thought.  She replied, “I know it’s a tricky issue.  It’s really hard to know.  I just think it should be up to the mother.  Do you think that abortion should be illegal even if the mother couldn’t afford to have the baby?”

I wasn’t sure if Amanda was expressing this condition because it was her own story.  All I could do was express my sympathy for a woman in this situation, whether it was her own or not.  I told her I understood her concern – it’s a real one.  Students who get pregnant do not just have to put up with expenses for a year.  They become permanent mothers.  They either need to raise this child, love it, and provide for it, or give it up for adoption.  It’s so, so hard for these women on our campus who find themselves pregnant when they did not intend to.  Amanda was moved and said, “Yeah, I think adoption is an alternative.  People try to say that it’s worse but I think it is a great idea.  After all, a lot of couples want a baby.”

I agreed with her and told her there is even a waiting list for couples wanting to adopt.  Then I said, “Going back to your concern about women who get pregnant while in poverty.  Let me ask you something…”  I trotted out the toddler as we had practiced in the training on Sunday, and finished with, “So I know it’s an extreme example, but you wouldn’t say we could kill that toddler, right?”  She said, “Of course not,” and then paused and added, “I understand what you mean.”

Her voice got a bit more anxious when she said, “I don’t know, it’s just that this whole time I have been telling myself that I was pro-choice, but after seeing that picture…”  She was referring to the picture of the aborted baby on one of the panels of the exhibit.  “Is that really ten weeks?”  I said yes, and she said, “I had no idea.”

“Working with Justice For All bolstered our club in our fight against abortion, and helped spread awareness of our club. I highly recommend it for every single pro-life group on college campuses.”

— Meredith

I told her that the reality behind that picture is the reason why I am fighting to end abortion.  I asked her if she agreed that a procedure so brutal could never be the right option, and so it should not be legal to choose it.  She said yes, but asked, “But if abortion were illegal, would that mean women who get abortions would be criminalized?  Would you agree with that?”  I might have faltered at this point, except that one of the JFA trainers had walked us through this topic at the training.  If I truly believe abortion is killing an innocent human being, which I do, then of course a woman who willingly breaks a law that states abortion is an illegal act of murder should be penalized.  I told her that it may be the case that a woman who committed an abortion was under a lot of emotional stress, and so may receive less grave sentences, but she would still need to be penalized.  She agreed with my reasoning.  She said, “Thank you so much for talking to me about this.  This really helped me.”  I gave Amanda the JFA brochure, and we exchanged numbers.  [Editor’s note: See JFA's Extending Your Learning page for more on this topic.]

Not every conversation goes this well, but JFA gives us the tools so that every conversation is at least civil and intelligent, and almost all of them leave the other person pondering.  The conversations definitely confirm me in my beliefs; at the same time, talking face-to-face with another student who holds the opposite opinion to mine helps me to be more understanding.  It reminds me of the reason why I believe abortion should be illegal: every person, whether it is the pro-choice student who is standing in front of me, or the unborn baby in a mother’s womb, has dignity and ought to be loved. 

Working with Justice For All bolstered our club in our fight against abortion, and helped spread awareness of our club.  I highly recommend it for every single pro-life group on college campuses.

- Meredith Boles, Member of Live Action UCLA and JFA Volunteer