Scott Tibbs
Submitted to the Indiana Daily Student
October 10^th, 2005

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Graphic abortion photos change hearts and minds

If the prisoner abuse at Abu Gharib has been revealed newspaper articles that did not include pictures, would the scandal have had the same impact? The U.S. Senate recently voted by an overwhelming margin to change the law regarding prisoner abuse. Would the measure have passed at all if not for the pictures of prisoner abuse at Abu Gharib? We are a very visual culture; those pictures made the story "real".

When the news media ran pictures of human rights abuses committed during the course of the civil war that broke up the former Yugoslavia, it stirred many people to demand that the U.S. and our European allies stop the killing. We have all seen the pictures of the Nazi Holocaust, and those pictures make us say "never again". Pictures of lynchings were important in forcing the American people to recognize the evils of how black people were being treated. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals frequently uses pictures to expose animal abuse.

So, if you wonder whether or not graphic images work, the answer is yes. Whether the IDS (October 10 staff editorial) wants to admit it or not, graphic pictures of babies murdered by abortionists are forcing people to recognize the very real horror of abortion. Abortion ceases to be an abstract issue when you are forced to face the reality of "reproductive freedom".

When IU Students for Life invited the Center for BioEthical Reform to campus four years ago to present the Genocide Awareness Project, I stood behind the barricades and watched the reaction. In the years since GAP visited IU, I have seen local pro-life activists use the graphic signs and I have seen them work.

Americans are in denial of what abortion is. They do not want to face the reality of 1.2 million deaths each and every year, including the deaths at Bloomington's Planned Parenthood every Thursday. I admire CBR for exposing that reality.

Finally, you might want to check your facts more closely. The CBR trucks were not in Bloomington "for a week or so", they circled campus for two days.