Comments on: Poll: Should pro-lifers publicly show graphic images of aborted babies?

By: @CatholicMomVA

@CatholicMomVA — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:41:05 +0000

Taylor, this is a really excellent point. Thank you.

By: @CatholicMomVA

@CatholicMomVA — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 15:39:36 +0000

The worst part of the March for Life is trying to run the gauntlet of those pictures with my two children. I don’t want them to see the pictures, and I don’t want someone else deciding when they ought to. It’s really not that different than the giant Victoria’s Secret signs that hang straight across from Santa at the mall, you know. I should be able to protect my children from images I don’t want them to see until *I* am ready to show them.

In addition to that, there are some women who are newly pro-life and post-abortive. And some of them converted without seeing those pictures. To come across them when you aren’t prepared can be really painful. (I heard this from someone who fits that description, BTW.) I think we run the risk of turning people off more than changing their hearts. For widespread use, I think sonogram pictures, especially those 4-D ones, are far more effective than gruesome pictures of dead children. Show them privately to individuals and groups who are prepared for it, but not in a prayer vigil or public demonstration and *certainly not* on the side of a truck driving down the street where children will see it!

Sorry, Father Pavone. I love you, but you’re wrong on the widespread use of these images.

“If I speak in human and angelic tongues 2 but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing.”
-1 Corinthians 13:1-2

By: Scott

Scott — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:21:05 +0000

I said yes, with one reservation. If you want to use the images during a protest, or outside an abortion clinic, or during a specific event like on a university campus, that’s fine, and I think it’s probably more helpful than not. But I’ve seen them plastered on the sides of vans that drive up and down busy streets, and that’s taking it too far. It’s gruesome imagery, and it should only be used when you have the opportunity to immediately interact with people who are upset by it. If we just upset people and then don’t engage them on the issue, they won’t associate these gruesome images with abortion. They’ll associate the images with pro-lifers, and it will be just another reason to write us off.

By: Fr. Cory Sticha

Fr. Cory Sticha — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:03:33 +0000

I voted yes, but I have a caveat. The images should never be posted an abortion mill. It undermines the sidewalk counselors’ work, as the women are frequently disregard anything the counselor says once they see the images. This has been my experience during prayer vigils where the images are posted, and it has been the experience of several pro-life sidewalk counselors that I’ve spoken to over the years.

Yes, at pro-life rallies and other pro-life events where there is no sidewalk counseling going on, we need to show these images widely. That is where they’re most effective.

By: Jake Simon

Jake Simon — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:18:14 +0000

There are times when it may be appropriate to show these types of images, but I don’t think public demonstrations are one of these times.

By: Taylor Marshall

Taylor Marshall — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 22:06:13 +0000

I’m 100% pro-life and I used to be in favor of these kinds of images.

However, I’ve changed my mind on the matter.

I think that graphic images rob the murdered babies of their dignity. If someone murdered a five year old, I wouldn’t exploit an image of the corpse to fight against murder.

There are better ways to do this. The dignity of the human body must be respected. The ends cannot justify the means, even when the end is fighting abortion.

By: Allen Hebert

Allen Hebert — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:01:11 +0000

Only show those images to those who need to see them, be sensitive to young children and those who may not need to see them to value human life