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By John McDonald
Kelowna Right to Life this afternoon set up a series of banners along Highway 97 depicting graphic images of aborted fetuses.
They conduct the roadside campaign twice annually, but new this year for group will be similarly graphic television ads set to begin running on CHBC on Monday.
Kelowna Right to Life leader Marlon Bertram says that while controversial, the images of mangled fetuses are of proven value.
“We know that graphic images work,” he said. “We get emails, phone calls, testimony from women who have see the graphic images and changed their minds about having an abortion. They are especially effective on the young whose minds are’t yet made up.”
Bertram said other social reform and aid groups have used graphic imagery to good success, including most recently those involved in the Haitian earthquake relief effort.
“We’ve all seen in the last two weeks countless disturbing and graphic images coming out of Haiti. The response has been immense and appropriate to what’s going on down there. Without those images, people would not have a clear idea of the reality of what’s happening,” Bertram said. “That’s true of abortion, as well. These images bring reality to the surface. People’s hearts and minds are moved by them.”
While there seemed to be little negative reaction from passing motorists during Saturday’s protest, Bertram says it does happen.
“They evoke strong emotions, specifically amongst people who have abortions in their past, and there’s a lot of them,” he said. “There is repressed anger and grief and remorse and animosity towards those expose the truth of what they have been a part of.”
Some negative reaction even comes from within the pro-life movement, acknowledges Bertram.
“There are quite a number of pro-lifers who don’t agree with the tactic,” he admitted. “I understand their concerns, but I think in the end, if we refuse to show these images, we are actually having a hand in hiding the injustice. There’s nothing the other side would want more than for these images to remain hidden.”
Bertram also admitted the pro-life movement still has a long way to go before it can hope to reach its goal.
“Recent polls suggest that the majority of public opinion is still pro-abortion and that’s why we’re out here today,” he said. “Once we have public opinion on our side, then legislation will come into play.”
Kelowna is the only place in the Interior Health Authority where abortions are performed, during a once-weekly clinic at Kelowna General Hospital. Health authority officials say the clinic performs about 700 abortions a year.
john@kelowna.com
250-575-0521
33 Responses to “Abortion foes expand campaign to television with graphic ads on local station”
Tags: abortion, anti-abortion, graphic images, kelowna general hospital, kelowna right to life, pro-choisce
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While I am pro-life myself, I could respect the people who chose to partake in that prayer-group a few months ago (Bound for life, if I recall…)
But this is wrong!
Genocide Awareness Project, the group the came up with campaign, has been banned in a number of post-secondary institutions and other public places. I find the images insulting to the groups of people who have endured genocide (Jews, Rwandans, etc.) This is just so wrong!
SHAME ON YOU!
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Nothing like getting the ugly truth out there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8K6Qv9hFl5Q
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My CHILDREN were driven past this display today. What is wrong with you people??!
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It’s so sad that the radical members of the pro life community keeps on doing stuff like this and alienating their allies.
I’ve talked with a number of people in the last few years who wanted to help out the people in front of the hospital – and every single one of them has been turned off by tactics like these.
I understand that these people are passionate, I understand the reason why – but people have to realize that being angry, confrontational and “in your face” to complete strangers doesn’t help your cause at all…
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Shame on this group – this does nothing to support your cause. Only causes outrage at your tactics and makes you appear radical and idiotic. Marlon Bertram – I hope I never eat dinner next to you.
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To compare this to what is going in Hati is ridiculous.
Yet for some of these pro lifers it is alright to kill an adoption doctor so they talk what they want out of religion for their own agenda.
There is the recent case I have posted below about the doctor who was killed by a pro life religious terrorist. When this doctor was killed it is also considered murder.
Roeder guilty on all countsSTORY HIGHLIGHTS
Scott Roeder convicted of first-degree murder
Jury reaches verdict after about 40 minutes of deliberation
Roeder testified he does not regret killing Dr. George Tiller
Tiller ran a women’s clinic where he performed abortions in Wichita, Kansas
(CNN) — A Kansas jury deliberated just 37 minutes before convicting an anti-abortion activist of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of an abortion provider.
The jury found Scott Roeder, 51, guilty of gunning down Dr. George Tiller, who operated a clinic in Wichita where late-term abortions were performed. Roeder, 51, faces life in prison when he is sentenced on March 9.
Tiller’s family said the jury reached a “just” verdict.
“At this time we hope that George can be remembered for his legacy of service to women, the help he provided for those who needed it and the love and happiness he provided us as a husband, father and grandfather,” the family said in a written statement.
A day earlier, Roeder told jurors he had shot Tiller in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church as Sunday services began. Testifying as his only defense witness, he said he believed he had to kill Tiller to save lives. He said he had no regrets.
“There was nothing being done, and the legal process had been exhausted, and these babies were dying every day,” Roeder said. “I felt that if someone did not do something, he was going to continue.”
“His testimony was delivered very matter-of-factly, but its contents were chillingly horrific,” prosecutor Ann Swengel said in her closing argument. “He carried out a planned assassination, and there can be no other verdict in this case … other than guilty.”
Quick verdict surprised prosecutor
Prosecutors initially fought to keep abortion out of the trial, claiming that Tiller’s death was a straightforward case of premeditated murder.
Eventually, the abortion issue took center stage as prosecutors portrayed Tiller as a target of Roeder’s anti-abortion agenda, and defense lawyers attempted to mitigate his culpability under the theory that he believed Tiller’s death was justified to save the lives of others.
Defense attorney Mark Rudy told jurors in his closing argument that Roeder “thought that the babies kept on dying” and he had to stop Tiller from “killing more babies”
Another defense attorney, Steve Osburn, said Roeder was “disappointed,” with the verdict. But he added, “He’s known that this day was going to come, I think.”
Osburn said his client “feels remorse toward the family, but not for what he did.”
The trial drew activists from both sides of the abortion debate to the courtroom, and a van plastered with slogans and photographs of fetuses was parked in a prominent spot in front of the courthouse.
Among the attendees were the Rev. Michael Bray, whose history in the anti-abortion movement includes 1985 conspiracy convictions in connection with a string of clinic bombings, and Katherine Spillar, executive vice president of the Feminist Majority Foundation.
Congregants from Reformation Lutheran testified that they had seen Roeder at church several times before the day he killed Tiller by shooting him at point-blank range in the head.
Jurors heard emotional testimony from church-goers who rushed to Tiller’s side and attempted to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation as he lay in a pool of blood. Others, meanwhile, followed Roeder into the church parking lot, where he threatened to shoot them.
Roeder also was convicted of aggravated assault in connection with threats he made to two ushers, Gary Hoepner and Keith Martin.
As Roeder pulled away in his car, Martin testified, something moved him to throw the coffee cup he was holding at the vehicle. “Frustration, I guess, lack of accomplishment, nothing else to do.”
Prosecutors also called employees of the pawn shop where Roeder purchased the .22-caliber Taurus pistol believed to have been used to shoot Tiller. The gun was never found, but surveillance video and receipts showed that he purchased the gun on May 18 and received it on May 23, the week before he shot Tiller.
Roeder’s defense team did not dispute much of the factual evidence. Roeder testified that he chose to target Tiller at church because it presented the best “window of opportunity” to attack Tiller, who traveled in an armored vehicle and whose clinic was a “fortress.”
He admitted bringing the pistol with him to Lutheran Reformation on May 24 with the intention of shooting Tiller, but the physician did not attend services that day. So, Roeder testified, he returned the following week.
“Do you feel as though you’ve successfully completed your mission?” Sedgwick County District Attorney Nola Foulston asked Roeder on Thursday.
“He’s been stopped,” Roeder answered.
His testimony was intended just as much for the jury as it was to convince Judge Warren Wilbert that evidence existed to support a possible conviction of voluntary manslaughter. A conviction on the lesser offense, which is defined as “an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force,” would have set Roeder free from prison after five years.
Earlier in the trial, Wilbert said he would rule after hearing evidence in the case, acknowledging that he felt the defense faced “an uphill battle.” Ultimately, he rejected the theory, saying testimony did not support the defense claim that Roeder’s beliefs justified using deadly force against Tiller.
“There is no imminence of danger on a Sunday morning in the back of a church, let alone any unlawful conduct, given that what Tiller did at his clinic Monday through Friday is lawful in Kansas,” the judge said
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Tammy, I gather from your comments you don’t really believe the unborn are people, like Jews, Rwandans, etc.
You say you are pro-life, but I believe that you believe abortion is wrong like stealing or lying is wrong, but not like genocide is wrong.
Am I right?
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The other point I wanted to make is that someone should start posting photos of all the doctors who have been muredered by pro life terrorists. I would say that would be pretty graphic too.
Again to remind you people that abortion is still legal in this country under our lawsn and you are not going to change that so deal with it.
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Maybe the Right to Life group would like to raise the children??? They seem to have all the answers so let the babies be born and then have the “socially right to life” adopt them and raise them….thats a win win for everybody!!
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Adoption is not a win win situtaion.I deal with adoptees as well as bio families and know the pain and suffering they endure. It is not a win win situation except for adoption agencies who make money off these children and for pro lifers who find this as an easy soulution to being pro life.
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These people are disgusting.
I have young children who would be traumatized by this vulgar display. At least the images coming from Haiti typically have a warning before hand so that we have the option to filter the content before our children have to see.
While I support your ‘right’ to protest, I think your tactics are completely immoral. For people who preach morality and compassion, you certainly seem to be lacking those very qualities.
Do you really think that displaying images like this is going to sway more people to your side of the debate? I think you are delusional. All you do is further dilute your credibility.
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Funny how some people seem more concerned with the feelings of their own children than they are with the very lives of those children being butchered by abortion.
Think about it. What’s worse: tearing a child to shreds by abortion, or showing a picture of a child ripped to shreds by abortion?
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Mary comes across as an anti-adoption fanatic.
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“Don’t believe in abortion, don’t have one.”
“Don’t believe in slavery, don’t own a slave.”
“The fetus is just a clump of tissue- a “non person.”
“The African is not fully human – a “non person.”
“If you’re not prepared to take in and care for all those slaves, you have no right to protest slavery.”
“If you’re not prepared to adopt all those unwanted children, you have no right to protest abortion.”
“Abolishing slavery will lead to economic collapse.”
“Our system can’t afford to support all those single moms.”
“Slaves will lead lives of poverty and abuse if we were to just set them free.”
“Unwanted children will lives lives of abuse and poverty if we don’t abort them.”
“We have the right to own and do what we want with our own property (slaves).”
“Women have the right to control their own bodies (and the unborn).”
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As someone who is pro life, I understand that it takes many different fronts to raise awareness of any human rights issue. As individuals we are fighting for the same thing… to see an end to abortion in Canada, to stop the blood shed, to bring awareness to this issue. Why are there still no laws surrounding abortion? How can it be that Canada is the only western Nation with NO LAWS on this issue? It is estimated that 30% of the generation under 30 years of age never made it past the womb, that is, 30% of my generation is missing, members of my extended family are missing, they were not given the choice to live.
Let’s not argue or debate about what is more effective and who is right, let’s join together and be unified for LIFE.
When seeking justice in the area of Human Rights it takes all sides:prayer, books, songs, images, media, poems, etc. NONE are wrong, but everyone has a part to play. Let’s focus on the real issue here, LIFE & fighting for the unborn!
God, have mercy on Canada.
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Bless you guys for your courage!
Keep it up!
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Thanks unity, 1000% agreed!
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Algore
as long as there is money involved in the sale of children which is called adoption it will be unethical.
I am not anti adoption, I want to see the expolitation of children stopped. If I was a fanatic I would be one of you killing abortion doctors and making outrageous commercials.
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These images are vital if the public is to be informed about abortion.
If there is any move against it in public opinion, these images are the movers
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These graphic displays are one of the only things that sometimes bring about a change of heart in people. Of course, they do provoke others to outrage, but lives are saved. But that they were not necessary…
I would also comment on adoption as not being a perfect situation, but if the alternative is death (abortion), then it is definitely the lesser evil.
Thank you for your courage!
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This shouldn’t be about which side is the right side. Everyone holds different views on the world. Everyone has their own opinions and beliefs. Do the people who protest on the side of the road affect me directly? No…therefore, I should not be concerned about it. Do the pictures on their signs affect me? Yes, but that’s for me to deal with. Do the pictures on their signs affect my young child? Yes, in a negative way, so I turn it into a teaching moment about tolerance and acceptance.
Do people who fight to take away my rights affect me? Yes, and that’s what I feel so passionate about. No one has the right to tell me what to do with my body and my life. I make my own decisions and I live with my choices. Thank Goodness I have a choice. I have the ability to think for myself and I can pass that along to my child. I can’t imagine living in a place where I wouldn’t have choices…those places exist and they help me feel grateful about where I am. Life is all about choices…good ones and bad ones. Each individual lives with the consequences to each and every choice. That’s what my life is all about. I will fight for my rights because that is what is important to me. I won’t tell you how to live your life so please don’t tell me how to live mine.
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Well, I guess I’ll be boycotting CHBC. Sorry Rick and Mike.
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First of all: It’s just a cop out to group all prolifers together as “doctor killers”. Come on now. Use some common sense.
Secondly: These protesters are working within a culture that wants to muzzle any and all evidence of it’s own outragious legalized scandal. For anyone to experience any amount of discomfort in exposing the atrocities is a very small sacrifice. The protest is a desparate attempt to STOP the slaughter of precious unborn babies. This is very serious and unmasking the evidence is the only way to WAKE UP a culture steeped in hedonism. Angry or not, the brave protesters have a job to do. Let us support them in it for the sake of all the babies tortured to death by abortion.
Thirdly: History is repeating itself in the worst way. The lesson yet to be learned AGAIN: systematized clinical killing of human lives is NEVER an answer to problems.
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choices?
talking about two heartbeats. not one….definately two
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Hmmm….funny that the head of this organization is a MAN…a person who CANNOT get pregnant and therefore will NEVER be in the situation of having to make this difficult decision….
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Where is all the upset at billboards dipicting all sorts of sexuality, scantely dressed woman, sexual sugestions etc…Maybe these billbords and magazines, and alot of T.V. shows are practically telling are youth this is ok and fitting in is conforming to this immoral behavior! This is a war, and war is ugly! Somebody has to take a stand for the people who have no voice to speak for themselves, I believe when you decide to engage in sexual intercourse, make sure you are aware that something could happen where you could end up pregnant, make your decision before your actions, be mature and responsible. Remember, if you are not prepared for accepting these big decisions then maybe intercourse can wait. I know alot of people who actually survive without it! What are you willing to accept, pregnancy? or abortion?
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Is every aborted baby so unloved so unwanted that we as a human society cannot think of any other options other than killing? I call B.S. when people pretend they are looking out for the welfare of these unborn babies by “KILLING” them??? I hear alot of me, my, I, how can death to an innocent baby be the best solution, this is not for the baby, but for our selfish, greedy, so called perfect society! Give me a break! What would Jesus do? I’m ashamed of humanity,this is a genocide of unforgiveable perportions, shame on anyone of use who do not defend life!
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People do “NOT” need sex to survive, it’s not a right it’s a privledge. Do you think before you have sex? “what if I get pregnant”? Is sex so important that you’d be willing to have an abortion if an accident happened? if your sexual activity cannot be sacrificed but a baby could, you need to check your morals. I would die for any of my children, why should your child die for you? There are no gaurantees in life, we are all equals, including the unborn babies. It’s funny how we are so proud of our canadian army for fighting for our freedom, or our government for sending millions of dollars on different crisis all over the world, but there is no hope for our children? What is so sad about that? EVERYTHING!!
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We have got to play hard ball now. Lives are at stake.
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The pictures show what is happening to unborn babies; they show that the ‘blobs of tissue’ have hands, eyes, hearts. If the photos are so disturbing, be disturbed that society accepts this violence so easily.
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Abortion lessens the sense of personal responsibility both men and women take in preventing pregnancies. Much to the pleasure of those who make money off abortion – Planned Parenthood and abortion clinics. It’s an easy buck when any woman can walk into a clinic and the government will pay for the abortion – no questions asked. Many women have multiple abortions…it is their contraception of choice.
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Pro-Choicers: Look long and hard at those photos and challenge yourselves to fully explore why they disturb…why they evoke so much emotion and anger. You say abortion just removes blobs of tissue…so why all the fuss over the photos?
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I am happy to see those ads are banned. These types of ads should not be allowed to be shown. They are disturbing and disgusting.
Please continue discussion on the forum: link