Is the display of unsolicited, graphic images in public helpful in pro-life education?

Rosemary Connell of Show The Truth Canada defends the use of such displays. In the Nov/Dec '02 issue of LifeCanada News, Carroll Rees argued against their use.

YES
By Rosemary Connell

I read Carroll Rees' opinion piece with interest and appreciate the opportunity to respond to her ideas with some background information and experiences.

I have been active in the pro-life movement for over 25 years - serving on several Right to Life Executives, being a riding rep of CLC, running in a Liberal nomination, side walk counseling, welcoming expectant mothers into our home, speaking on life issues, and challenging the injunction at the Scott's Abortuary in Toronto. I have always searched for new strategies, believing that the movement should be open to all morally correct initiatives.

I spent years studying Show The Truth activism before starting the movement in Canada. Six years ago, I travelled to the States with several other experienced pro-lifers to learn how and why these posters were used, to observe people of all ages reacting to the displays, and to assess the success of such tactics.

Photos of abortion victims are not new. The posters that we use are simply larger than any that have been used in the past. Every person who fights for social justice knows the effectiveness of showing the victim. The Jewish Holocaust and the Vietnam War are two of the best known examples in which photographs of the victims played a major part in ending human suffering. So why do we neglect our strongest tool for ending the slaughter of children in the womb?

There are those who claim to speak for the pro-life movement who say that our goal is "to promote a greater respect for human life." I believe that our goal is the flipside of the coin - to end abortion by developing a hate for abortion. It has been argued that the pictures offend people. Abortion should offend people, and pro-lifers should welcome an opportunity to engage in educational conversations with the people who are finally offended enough by abortion to want to discuss it.

Show The Truth is a part of the larger pro-life movement, even if many pro-lifers do not feel called to participate in these visual witnesses. And while we do not need the permission of the entire movement to engage in our activities, thankfully, we do have the support of many branches of the movement. Many Right to Life groups from Ontario to Prince Edward Island have welcomed us into their homes and church halls, have prepared tremendous meals for us, and finance us on a regular basis. They advertise our activities in their newsletters and encourage their members to join us when we "come to town." Father Pavone and Priests for Life are organizing their own "Show The Truth"-type missions, believing that the time has come for nations to face the reality of "Choice." Campaign Life Coalition has always encouraged us by having Show The Truth members speak at various conferences. Campagne Quebec-Vie has invited us for the fourth year this summer, and they are beginning local activism modelled on our activity.

Now all opinion aside, it must be said that success speaks for itself. While I could write a book about all of our successful missions, I will keep my comments brief. Babies and mothers have been saved from abortions that were booked. Post-abortive people have found a listening ear to pour out their grief to. Hundreds of thousands of people have had to face abortion as never before, and the most common comments are, "Is that what abortion really looks like? It's terrible!" We receive extensive media coverage, including the images being shown on television and the front pages of newspapers. Thousands of pieces of literature are distributed when we travel on missions. At one presentation alone at Union Station in Toronto, in one and a half hours, we distributed over 2500 pieces of literature! And feedback tells us that such literature reaches homes, churches, workplaces, and high schools.

Finally, I would like to address the issue of children seeing the signs. We have done over 500 Canadian presentations, have studied and recorded children's reactions to these posters, and interviewed parents. We have been able to assess children's responses according to age.

Young children (approximately 5 and under) do not react to the photos but rather to their parents' responses. When parents respond quietly, which most of the parents at the March did, young children hardly notice the images or can be easily distracted.

Slightly older children (approximately 6-9) generally recognize the truth of the pictures and, like the child in "The Emperor's New Clothes," they are quick to speak the obvious truth and ask questions such as, "What happened to the baby?" or "Who hurt the baby?" At this age, they are generally concerned about their own safety and the safety of other children. Most often all that is needed at this age is a simple reassurance from their parents that they are cherished and have been protected since the moment they were first made. Children of pro-life families can be given the added comfort of knowing that their parents and grandparents do everything they can to take care of other people's babies, too.

Pre-teens still recognize the truth in the photos, but one of the main reactions at this stage is wanting to do something themselves to help the babies. One 9 year old boy wondered why the police weren't stopping people from killing the babies. Another 11 year old boy said, "When I grow up, I'm going to become Prime Minister so I can stop that!" Children of pro-life families can be given practical ways to act out of their natural concern. This is the time in their life when they begin to realize that there are real injustices in the world, and so it is the perfect age to develop healthy, pro-active ways of dealing with evil.

We have come to the conclusion that at no age are children harmed by seeing the photos of aborted children. It is their parents' reactions to the posters and answers to their questions that affect them. When parents become visibly agitated, yell, swear, make threats, or try to give them pro-abortion rhetoric, young children are naturally disturbed by the commotion and older children are confused and disturbed by the misdirected anger. These types of parental reactions are what cause true anxiety in children. When pro-life parents respond in the ways that I have described above, the children are consistently calm, untroubled, and the older pro-life children become convinced to join in their family's mission.

Our pro-life children need all the tools they can get as they go out into the world to defend life. One 10- year-old child of a very actively pro-life family saw our posters and said, "Is that what abortion is?" For the first time, he realized why his parents poured so much time, energy, money, emotion, and prayer into fighting this otherwise abstract issue. This child is now 14 and joins our Show The Truth presentations.

We cannot treat abortion so "graciously" that no one feels angered or saddened enough to fight it. If our children are empowered to defend babies through work and prayer, they will not be afraid to look at the faces of those for whom they are fighting.

If any parent is concerned about children seeing the photos, please contact me. We always offer to talk to children with the parents present, or we have material available for parents who want to educate their children themselves.

In conclusion, I believe that pro-lifers can either contribute to the social peace that surrounds abortion, or we can stand up to the culture of death and proclaim the truth, shattering that social peace and protecting human lives.

Rosemary Connell started the Show The Truth movement in Canada . If you have questions about Show The Truth, you can contact her at: R.R. 2, Burnt River , Ontario , K0M 1C0 ; Ph: 705-454-1109;

Email: rconnell@lindsaycomp.on.ca

Readers are encouraged to share their own opinions on this issue by sending letters to the editor at bjmcadorey@aol.com. A selection of responses will be printed in future issues of LifeCanada News . If you have a suggestion for a future "Subject to Debate," we'd be happy to hear from you.