TO THE EDITOR:
Why is GAP on campus? Yesterday and today, the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform (CBR) put the Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) on exhibit. GAP consists of large photo murals comparing abortion to other forms of historical genocide, including the Holocaust of Eastern Europe, slavery and the Jim Crow era in the United States and the Cambodian killing fields.
What is the purpose of GAP?
GAP's purpose is to make it as difficult as possible for students to maintain that an unborn baby is not a baby and abortion is not an act of violence that kills that baby. We want to spare women from the grief that follows abortion and spare unborn children from extermination.
Is abortion genocide? Webster's New World Encyclopedia defines "genocide" as "the deliberate and systematic destruction of a national, racial, religious, political, cultural, ethnic, or other group defined by the exterminators as undesirable." This definition readily applies to abortion. The "national group" is America's "unwanted" unborn children now being destroyed at the rate of nearly 1 out of every 3 conceived.
Why are graphic pictures necessary?
Words fail us when they attempt to describe unimaginable, inexpressible horror. This was true with the European Holocaust of the 1940s; it is also true of abortion today. Pictures make it impossible for anyone with a shred of intellectual honesty to pretend that the unborn child is not a baby and abortion is not an act of violence that kills a baby. Graphic images have historically played a significant role in social reform movements (e.g. the civil rights and anti-Vietnam war movements).
What gives CBR the right to be here?
The First Amendment protections of free speech are fundamental, even if that speech is offensive to some. The University of North Carolina is not a private social club but a tax-funded institution designed for the free exchange of ideas. CBR is here at the invitation of registered campus organizations to expose the truth about abortion.
