Pro-choice demonstrators protest Abby Johnson’s lecture
It is interesting when the people yelling “free speech” won’t let you talk.
~ Former Planned Parenthood employee-turned-pro-life advocate Abby Johnson commenting on the reception she received during a May 3 speaking engagement at the University of Washington in Seattle, via Abby’s Facebook page, May 6
According to KOMONews.com, there were dozens of protesters inside and outside the lecture hall, and there were arrests…
[Photos via KOMONews.com]
Here’s video of the story…
JLS Note: I love Abby’s pregnant belly!
May.07, 2012 6:00 am |
Free Speech |
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
As usual from the pro-choice side: free speech for me but not for thee
I ment to say “censorship of differing views as usual from the pro-choice side: free speech for me but not for thee
I think the protests should be kept outside. Planned speaking events should not be interrupted with protests. And for outdoor events, if you want to protest nearby, do it with a physical presence and signs. If you want to shout, move far away. When people gather to hear what someone has to say, their message should not be shouted down. That’s a nasty form of censorship. This goes for those on both sides of the issue. I don’t like when pro-lifers interrupt events either.
Brought a smile to my face when I saw the picture of Abby and realized that her and her baby in utero were representing life! What is it with those who are proabortion that they don’t acknowledge that the life within them is not their body or their life that they’re killing, that there’s a very young and thriving life within them! In the meantime, let’s continue to pray for them and also that Abby will continue to have the courage to continue this battle for life. God Bless all of you and thank you Jill :-)
Go Abby and baby!! Both of you speak for LIFE!!
The sign that said Safe Legal and Rare??
Really? Abortion isn’t safe!! Certainly not for the baby, nor the mother.
Rare? Why in the world should it be rare? Good grief. If it is a “woman’s right to choose” then why make that “right” rare? And just what plans do they have to make abortion rare?? Have they met with PP? Is that PP’s goal??!!
They have no arguments. Just yelling, swearing, tired slogans and wire hangers.
Lrning,
Totally agree!!
Awww, its nice to see Abby pregnant knowing she longed for another child for so long. All the pro-aborts can do is shriek and try to drown out any meaningful dialogue. You can’t argue with life. They know this so they chant and act like imbeciles.
Off topic but couldn’t think of a better group to ask: I want to ask for prayers for a friend. We’ve been on and off debating abortion for several months and it’s always been clear she’s very divided on the issue, really more clinging to a ‘right’ to abortion than really believing in it. It didn’t make any sense until she admitted she was post-abortive. After weeks of consideration I just sent her a really long email (she’s an online friend) and I am praying she is open to receiving the message contained within and see abortion not as something that needs to be justified on her behalf but as the evil it really is. I included a link to the Silent No More website. I’ve really felt, for months, that she is at heart pro-life and have really felt like she just needed the right trigger to reject her ‘political’ stance of pro-choice, now it seems very obvious she’s just trying to protect herself from internal guilt over her past action. So I know this is a very hard wall to break through, but she really seems like she might be in the right place to do it. (And maybe God will use it to lead her to Him!) So, please, prayers for Tracy.
Jespren, you got it. Prayers coming your way. I may also suggest that you email your friend with a link to the 180 movie. That’s a really good one. And if you haven’t seen it, you should, it’s AWESOME!!! Maybe also give your friend resources to a post abortion healing ministry like Rachel’s vineyard.
Also, about the video, it’s so sad to me to see how much anger the pro-choice side has. The one lady at the beginning said it perfectly, “Rage. I feel a lot of rage.” That is so sad. Vehemently pro-abortion people need more than just to be shown abortion is wrong. They need to be shown Jesus Christ and His love for them. We must love them as Jesus loves us. Minds will change after the heart does.
Abortion is a “sacred surgery for women”?
I thought our side was supposed to be the one about mysticism and spirituality. But, I guess when the science abandons you completely, all you have left to cling to is dogma.
Maybe we should cut them a little slack. It must be difficult to support a movement with such weak intellectual foundations.
Jespren
Praying for Tracy.
Please give her my email.
carla@jillstanek.com
xalisae, the science is up for grabs in the pro-life movement. Pro hormonal contraception people are questioning the accepted science that indicated that hormonal contraceptives are abortifacients. So why is it okay for the pro-contraceptive people to question established science but not pro-choice people?
First of all, Abby, thank you so much for all you’re doing. You and your family are in my prayers!
It is so great to see you so bright and joyful with your little one and at the same time firm in your message.
Jespren I’ll be praying for your friend Tracy. Recently, I read a very beautiful statement by someone involved in the post-abortion recovery. Paraphrasing she said: I know only two types of post-abortive women: those who regret abortion and those who will. There’s hope!
JDC, the pro-abortion folks are not the ones to condemn, the sin of killing human beings is. Sometimes, I would love to sit with each and everyone of the pro-abortion supporters and hear their stories. I bet many of them have very, very painful stories and LOT’S of confusion.
Abby, herself said that she was pro-choice because she wanted to defend women, but then she realized that she was on the wrong side to do that.
Go Abby! Don’t let them throw you off your game!
“But, I guess when the science abandons you completely, all you have left to cling to is dogma.”
So why isn’t the entire scientific and medical community clamoring for an end to abortion? Riddle me that!
And for the record – I don’t think any speaker should be shouted down. That’s the kind of thing that Randall Terry engages in and we know how offensive that is. Protests are fine – that’s what you do outside clinics all the time. But drowning out a speaker flies in the face of tolerance and free speech.
That said, I believe that Abby Johnson’s “conversion” was directly related to her realization that her embrace of the pro-life cause would get her lots of publicity and some serious money as the new pro-life diva. She’s nobody’s fool and her new found fame underscores that!
China has 360 million abortions a year. The world around us is full of life, death, and freedoms that they understand in their countries.
You third world religious zealots, who defile our soldiers who died to make and keep our Constitutions safe from the likes of you, are reeling in graves. What nonesense you are all about, screetching freedom, and overeaching governments, in your posters, blogs, editorials, and Sunday sermons.
How dare you turn your back on some idiot pot smoker who sits in jail because of your rightous laws on freedoms. Shout hate against people that want to share sex under their freedom afforded by the same Constitution you defile. You epitomize our America from the hipocrit you are.
Remember the American Native, the black slaves from the torture and economic of your ilk. You who scream no communism for anyone, then send your neighbors son to die, while your son is “special”, not meant for service.
You killed VietNam, S. Korean, Iraqi, and Afghanistan civilians, with your neighbors sons. Now you reach into another womans stomach, and claim your stake as a Christian.
I am the Christian that you can only hope to be.
I am reason, by the fact that I am a passenger in a violent Universe that went haywire 13 billion years ago. What keeps God alive, is the Universe that surrounds ours, and is the divine one to ours. Now wonder what layer the divine is working on now.
Do you want to see my tax return, or are you a fan of the IRS, to do that?
Seperation of Church and State, or is your Church special, like your son.
Carla said: They have no arguments. Just yelling, swearing, tired slogans and wire hangers.
Carla – you left out violence, genuine OWS, in your face violence.
You know, from the “peace-loving people.”
Who they really need is Jesus Christ.
CC,
I’m hoping you are consistent in your view about nobody being shouted down during a speaking engagement. Conservatives speaking on college campuses have been shouted down a lot. Peace…
Ann Coulter comes to mind.
“I’m hoping you are consistent in your view about nobody being shouted down during a speaking engagement. ”
Absolutely.
Thank you Chris. :)
CC said:
That said, I believe that Abby Johnson’s “conversion” was directly related to her realization that her embrace of the pro-life cause would get her lots of publicity and some serious money as the new pro-life diva. She’s nobody’s fool and her new found fame underscores that!
CC have you read Abby’s book “Unplanned”?
If you had, you would have known that being sued by the abortion #1 provider is not qute a “cup of tea” for a “diva”.
If anything, Cecile Richards’ life can be described as that of a “diva”, being invited to White House and Holliwood rececptions and even considered in the top 100 personalities by Times!
I am sorry, but your “belief” about Abby is unsubstantiated and wrong.
Read “Unplanned” instead.
The title of her speech says it all for me… “Do Women Have Too Many Rights?”
At least she puts it out there.
Just a hunch, but I think you’d probably have to actually listen to her speech to determine what she has to say. There’s probably a lot more too it than an edgy title.
Case in point: Pro-life debater Scott Klusendorf always starts his opening round the same way:
“Men and women, I agree completely with everything [my
opponent] just said. She’s right that abortion is a personal, private matter that should not be restricted in any way. She’s right that we shouldn’t interfere with personal choices. She’s right that pro-lifers should stay out of this decision.”
This sounds like it would freak out virtually any pro-lifer unfamiliar with his style of debate, and it does when taken out of context. But the rest of his speech completely changes the meaning.
“Do Women Have Too Many Rights?”
Remind me what century we are living and what type of government we have? Funny, the same kind of question was asked about African-Americans when they used Civil Rights laws to protest unequal treatment. But yeah, we gals have “too many rights” as opposed to the patriarchy which is there to tell us that we’re just a bunch of mouthy harlots who should just STFU and get back to making babies and making things nice for the menfolk.
BTW, the University of Washington seems to dispel the myth that campuses are becoming pro-life bastions! Those young people aren’t and won’t be pro-life anytime soon.
Elizabeth, I don’t even know why I’m engaging, but I ‘ll just put it out there. If parents had the legal right to kill their already born children, would it bother you if someone suggested parents have too many rights? Because to us, its the same thing. On a tangentially related note, I think if men could get pregnant (and women retained the ability as well, so its not like men and women just traded places) we would have won this debate long ago. After all, the feminist angle has been so important to their side that it’s difficult to imagine them getting anywhere without it.
CC, we are in the 21st century and we are living under a tyrannical monarchy.
“CC, we are in the 21st century and we are living under a tyrannical monarchy”
Really? I guess you haven’t noticed that we still have voting rights and we still have a Congress and a Supreme Court. We also have state legislatures that have, in the last year, passed “pro-life” legislation. And the churches are still open and, judging from the comments here, in great shape with lots of obedient congregants. But please, do tell what tyrannical measures have been imposed on you, LOL. Got paranoia?
And do you, a man, think that those of us with lady parts have “too many rights?”
Ooh, a new troll!
…I’m going to skip past the part where we play with the troll for a while, and get nowhere, and finally Paladin reminds us not to feed it, and go straight to the next part of that discussion.
“But Paladin! He’s all shiny, and new, and isn’t boring yet like the old trolls!” *grumble* “But I suppose you’re right…” *sigh*
…Huh. That was oddly cathartic. :D
”If parents had the legal right to kill their already born children, would it bother you if someone suggested parents have too many rights?”
But they don’t and they won’t as birth puts a “person” in a different legal class. Prior to birth, the rights of the fetus are accrued from the mother. But yeah, let’s criminalize abortion and send those slutty abortion loving women to jail where they belong. Am I right?
CC, the freedoms you’re talking about are being eroded away. Remember…Obama will be much more free to do whatever he wants after re-elections!
I, a man, like you, a woman have the same rights of every human being.
Killing another human being is NOT one of them.
Yes Alice.
Actually, these are recurring trolls.
Some topics are more prone to attract that kind of behavior.
@Richard: This is true. Though, in this case, I have to apologize, as I misread your first post and thought you were agreeing with CC. I’m sorry for mischaracterizing you, as I was clearly mistaken.
CC: “So why isn’t the entire scientific and medical community clamoring for an end to abortion? Riddle me that!”
Why is the medical community split on assisted suicide? Starving Terri Schiavo to death? Other things?
Are patients in hospital beds not really persons, then, either?
There’s a lot of gray hair in that audience. So much for the pro-life movement getting younger and younger.
No problem Alice.
Misunderstandings happen when you don’t get to talk face to face.
Have a wonderful day!
:)
Regarding n l’s post at 1p, I’d just like to say, “Uhhh, what?”
I’m leaving it up because it’s a hysterical and nonsensical rant. Which really proves the point, in a way, of what this post is referring to. ;)
CC confuses philosophy and science an AWFUL lot. The fetus is 100% human. Life begins at conception. This is biological fact. The philosophical disagreements come in when people start talking about “ensoulment,” “is ‘life’ only ‘life’ if it’s sentient,” and other stuff that actually has nothing to do with science.
I guess joanie missed the photos of the March for Life.
Joan, here’s one way of looking at the demographics of the pro-life movement:
http://liveactionnews.org/media/live-action-facebook-pages-attract-younger-members-than-leading-pro-choice-organizations-pages/
Or if you want a more scientific approach than Facebook fancount, maybe this will do it:
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/284725/young-people-s-attitudes-toward-abortion-and-same-sex-marriage-michael-j-new
“I guess joanie missed the photos of the March for Life.”
So did most of the media.
“I guess joanie missed the photos of the March for Life.”
No, I saw them. They looked to me to depict large numbers of mostly-disinterested youth availing themselves of an oppportunity to visit the capital provided by middle-aged (or older) teachers or affiliates of religious organizations–in other words, a field trip.
“Or if you want a more scientific approach than Facebook fancount, maybe this will do it ..”
And yet Gallup finds that 18-to-34 year olds remain pro-choice by a large percentage. The only age cohort that is majority pro-life is 55 and older.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/147734/Americans-Split-Along-Pro-Choice-Pro-Life-Lines.aspx
You used one data point. Consider long term trends and margin of error. You’ll get a different picture.
https://www.jillstanek.com/breaking-new-gallup-poll-the-n.html
oh joan. seriously. just shut up. you are not going to change the minds of anybody that follows this blog. i cannot believe how much time you waste on this site. honestly- it is hilarious.
You know what they say “lies, damned lies and statistics”, and when they say statistics, they refer to polls in particular. :)
Kel says:
May 7, 2012 at 3:25 pm
Regarding n l’s post at 1p, I’d just like to say, “Uhhh, what?”
I’m leaving it up because it’s a hysterical and nonsensical rant. Which really proves the point, in a way, of what this post is referring to.
_____________________________________________
Guess n l left (apparently n l stands for “no logic”)
Darn! I was all ready to sit down with some popcorn and watch n l part the Red Sea or something. ;)
“You used one data point. Consider long term trends and margin of error. You’ll get a different picture.”
No, actually you won’t get a different picture. Combine the “Percentage Pro-Life by Age — Biennial Averages” graph from your link and the newer data from the Gallup poll I linked. The percentage of people 18-29 self-identifying as “pro-life” has trended back down from its high in the 2009-2010 poll. Compare that to the numbers for the previous years. There is very little sustained movement in either direction.
That’s only over a few years. Going back to the early 1970s would show a more complete picture of generational trends.
Also, margin of error.
No point in arguing over whether Americans are more pro-life or more pro-abortion (or “pro-choice”, if that is what you prefer).
If they are pro-abortion (or “pro-choice”, meaning pro abortion rights), then it is a shame because it indicates a callous disregard for weak, defenseless human beings.
There is hope. My generation (baby boomers) were 80% pro-choice in the 1970s. Now we are about 50/50. So if the self-indulgent baby boomers can experience a 30% swing, there certainly is hope for other generations, who hopefully are more open to the science and have a more generous attitude toward children.
^ This. But I think you can take the word “hopefully” out of your last sentence.
Kel,
I didn’t quite know what to make of nl’s post either. So I left it. :P
Wanted to add that Abby won’t back down from proaborts.
She can dish it out and take it!! BAM!!
Ah yes. I remember them well.
Rent-a-Mob.
This must be the Gen ‘Z’ infestation, version P O’d.
The new standard in ‘tolerant co-existence’.
When they hear something they don’t like they instinctively hiss in unison.
It’s been more than 40 years.
Unlike the children of Israel, these folks are doomed to circle ever leftward in descending spiral of despair.
It won’t be much longer and the remaining silvertails bodies will litter the landscape of their wilderness experience.
xalisae says: May 7, 2012 at 11:08 am “But, I guess when the science abandons you completely, all you have left to cling to is dogma.”
Science did not abandon these dimwatted ones.
They rejected logic and science for an emotional attachment to worn out cliches and meaningless slogans that do not even approach ‘dogma’.
Pagan ‘superstition’ would be a more accurate description.
Performing level one diagnostic.
Trust but verify.
2+2 [still] = 4
If a=b and b=c, then a=c is still verifiably true.
ken the birther says: May 7, 2012 at 6:38 pm
“They rejected logic and science for an emotional attachment to worn out cliches and meaningless slogans that do not even approach ‘dogma’.
Pagan ‘superstition’ would be a more accurate description.”
Exhibit 1
n l says: May 7, 2012 at 1:00 pm
“I am reason, by the fact that I am a passenger in a violent Universe that went haywire 13 billion years ago. What keeps God alive, is the Universe that surrounds ours, and is the divine one to ours. Now wonder what layer the divine is working on now.”
I choose to believe that GOD will not frustrate or ignore a hungry heart and HE will be found by those who seek HIM.
But they probably will not encounter HIM in the recesses of their own navels.
But if they contemplate their navel long enough it might dawn on them the connection between their pre-natal existence and their mother’s uterus.
Pamela says: May 7, 2012 at 4:32 pm
“Darn! I was all ready to sit down with some popcorn and watch n l part the Red Sea or something.”
Pam,
Let not your heart be troubled.
Constantly Close is hovering nearby like a June bug dazzled by wonder of the porch light.
or
Brer Rabbit sucked in and snared by the ‘tar baby’.
Zippee dee do dah!
Go Abby! Go Abby! She’s the Honey Badger!
“I guess joanie missed the photos of the March for Life.”
“No, I [Joan of arcania] saw them. They looked to me to depict large numbers of mostly-disinterested youth availing themselves of an oppportunity to visit the capital provided by middle-aged (or older) teachers or affiliates of religious organizations–in other words, a field trip.”
============================================================
Another stunning example of the ‘duck and cover’ defense when anything that challenges your ‘dogma’ unexpectedly intrudes itself into the realm of your alternate reality.
You really need to get a new ‘play book’. Doubling down on dumb ain’t likely to enjoy success on the instant replay.
CC says: May 7, 2012 at 12:35 pm
“That said, I believe that Abby Johnson’s “conversion” was directly related to her realization that her embrace of the pro-life cause would get her lots of publicity and some serious money as the new pro-life diva.”
InConCeivable,
Evidently Abby is not spending those big bucks on a wardrobe and cosmetic surgery.
Maybe she’s building a ‘nest egg’ for her pre-natal child.
Please provide us with a list of names of all the pro-lifers who become wealthy from protecting pre-natal children.
Abby, thank you again for your courage, for sharing your experience boldly and for making a huge difference in this world.
I would have added your name to the most influential 100 people Time magazine publishes. Forget Barack and Cecile!
Thank you Abby!
KTB, love your wisdom and wit.
Glad to know I wasn’t the only one trying to figure out what NL was saying either.
Finally, I didn’t know Abby was with child until now. How exciting!
LL ;)
Ken,
It’s “Pamela”, not Pam, JSYK. ;)
First off to Ken The Birther, Abby I don’t know what that comment was about regarding cosmetic surgery. She doesn’t need it, and IMHO, looks adorable in her maternity gear. She knows what is important and focuses on that. Also, Abby did NOT choose the name for the talk, and she was quite unhappy with it. By then, however, the damage had been done.
No more from n l? Disappointing. Stands for “not lucid”, I presume.
Yeah, the name for the talk was unfortunate. Although, truly, if women have the “right” to have their unborn children killed, then yes, they have one “right” too many.
Abby is awesome! Beautiful and radiant expectant Mom…confident and poised speaker! You speak out for the real and true Women’s Liberation…liberation from lies! You are always in my heartfelt prayers. Congratulations to Abby and her family on your baby…a true blessing from God!
I’m not afraid to say it:
I had NO RIGHT to kill my child.
Some abortionistas see it this way: either the government nannies us from cradle to grave or we must die.
I see it this way: first, do no harm. We must cooperate with our fellow human beings to the best of our ability. We can’t give everyone a mansion and a fancy car, and we can’t cure every single disease or prevent every fatal accidedent, BUT we can certainly refrain from violently ending their lives.
Oh, good grief! This is the one thing I hate about where I live (not in Seattle, but the Puget Sound area). I wish I could have been there to hear her speak and support her. Glad the police where there to handle things and that the news gave her a platform to speak.
Kris,
I intended no disrespect for Abby.
The insinuation by one of our more malignant feministas was that Abby was ‘profitteering’ from her participation in the defense of pre-natal children.
In 30 plus years pro-life activism I have never met a single person who found a way to line their pockets by being an advocate for yet to be born babies.
[The ‘dead babies r us’ mob makes a killing from their flesh peddling.]
Abby was not wearing designer jeans and I doubt she flew first class to Seattle.
Evidently she is comfortable in her own skin as she shows no evidence of the augmentations, enhancements and alterations of cosmetic surgery.
”But yeah, we gals have “too many rights” as opposed to the patriarchy which is there to tell us that we’re just a bunch of mouthy harlots who should just STFU and get back to making babies and making things nice for the menfolk.”
Huh, and here I thought the menfolk made things nice for us by inventing vaccines and cars and computers and stuff.
How many of these protesters were hired? Do you know what I hear from the lips of the pro-aborts? “Crucify him, Crucify him!”
Interesting, isn’t it, how none of them want to show pictures of the procedure that they defend; how none of them want to show the actual procedure itself; how none of them want to show pictures of babies or pregnant women. The victims are entirely left out of the signs and the pictures.
Do you suppose these same types would have defended the gas chambers as “the right of a German”?
How dare the pro death advocates say Abby Johnson is unscientific when they use the analogy “an egg is not a chicken an acorn is not a tree a fetus is not a person”. Tree sex is very different from human sex so that’s not even worth discussing. When they say “egg” are they talking about a fertilized egg or an unfertilized egg? Do they realize that humans and chickens reproduce sexually? A unfertilized egg (from a human or chicken) is part of the female’s body. It will have the same DNA as the female. A fetus (inside a woman’s body or a fertilized chicken egg) is a separate organism with different DNA but a member of the same species. Therefore, a human fetus is a human. “Person” is not a scientific term so saying a fetus is not a person cannot be proven true or false. But why is a human fetus the only human that is not also a person?
It blows me away every time I see that “An egg is not a chicken!” line. I guess I ought to get used to it…