From the 7/10/06 DDN:

 

 

Anti-abortion group to fly 'billboards' of fetuses over Dayton

By Benjamin Kline

Staff Writer

 

DAYTON | An group opposing abortion plans to fly "billboards" of aborted fetuses over Dayton Monday through Friday.

 

The pictures will be on streamers 35 feet by 100 feet. They're dramatic "because abortion is dramatic," said Mark Harrington, executive director of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform Midwest.

 

Harrington spoke from the organization's Columbus office. The Dayton flyovers are part of a project to fly banners over Ohio's skies until the Nov. 7 election.

 

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/content/localnews/daily/071006flyoverweb.html

 

They say parenthood is supposed to make a person more socially conservative. For me, with regard to tactics such as these, it is quite the opposite. Waving these images around is exploitative in the worst possible way and as big an afront to the intrinsic value of life as a billion abortions.

 

"Until abortion is seen, it will never be understood" my hairy white ass.

 

Shame on you and your bullsh*t Orwellian name, Center for Bio-ethicical Reform. Shame, shame shame.

 

Grr.

We're so lucky!  Flying Fetuses!

 

Harrington said flyovers will take place over downtown areas and large shopping centers, "places where people congregate."

 

Hmmm..well they dont know too much about Dayton if they think downtown is a "place where people congregate".

 

 

 

 

 

So long as women are goal-oriented, and so long as women get stretch marks and fat during pregnancy...there will be abortions.

^Scathing satire or open contempt for women?

 

Someone help me here.

Having a kid and raising it is a very selfless and inconvenient thing to do...and as long as thats the case, there will be people that want abortions. Ironically, i'll bet a lot of these guys in the group would be opposed to flying billboards showing dead Iraqis. Perhaps thats something that should be seen to be understood?

If you're assuming that abortion exists soley as a convenience, well, I don't have much to say to you. Sorry.

 

I personally know a lot of good people who dismiss the human toll--dead and injured kids included--of the Iraq war, out of, oh I suppose, convenience. Ironically, many of them are fiercely pro-life and would probably embrace the display of aborted fetuses while averting their eyes from images of dead Iraqis.

 

On and off the battlefield, combatant or spectator, war does horrible things to people.

I can't think of any reason for abortion besides inconvenience...I understand that for many people pregnancy is an accident or a result of rape but why not consider adoption? Thats what makes me think its an issue of inconvenience. It's much easier to give the child up before he/she is born. You don't have to look at the face of your offspring and hold it in your arms before you give it up, which is emotional convenience. That's my take on it anyway.

Dude, to compare a groups right to protest (displaying offensive images for 5 days, against what they consider to be a holocaust of the unborn) with 1 billion such offenses (close to the population of India) is hardly comparable. If you don't agree with someones stance on the abortion issue -that's fine. But if each side tried to see the others side perhaps there would be less rhetoric and more resolution.

Center for Bio-Ethical Reform ... believes "until abortion is seen, it will never be understood," according to its Web site, cbrinfo.org.

 

This is faulty logic.  People understand what abortion is.  In a small percentage of them, a fetus that resembles a person is manually destroyed, revealing blood and guts.  We get it.  No, this is just another part of the domestic terrorism agenda pursued by many anti-abortion fanatics.

 

What kind of reaction do you think anti-war advocates would get if they flew banners of soldiers' heads blown open like melons, their brains strewn across dusty asphalt?  Consider the brouhaha after a reporter snapped a photo of flag-draped coffins. But wait, "people won't understand war until they see it."  You don't have to shove the blood and guts in everyone's face for them to understand.

I can't think of any reason for abortion besides inconvenience...I understand that for many people pregnancy is an accident or a result of rape but why not consider adoption? Thats what makes me think its an issue of inconvenience. It's much easier to give the child up before he/she is born. You don't have to look at the face of your offspring and hold it in your arms before you give it up, which is emotional convenience. That's my take on it anyway.

 

Sorry again, but ask anybody whose had to personally weigh the prospect of an abortion. If they told you it was an easy decision, I'd be surprised. I think you'll find that the decision has as much to do with a mothers' understanding of her ability to navigate pregnancy, let alone cope with what's on the other side of it.

 

Parenthood is a selfless act, but the concept of inconvenience (for non-sociopaths) has little weight or relevance. Incovenience is waiting for a stoplight to change when you're late for a lunch date. Delivering a (non-sociopathic) human to age 18 and beyond is something much, much more profound.

 

This was a concept impossible for me to imagine when I was a younger man. As an old daddy of two and hubby of one, it's life.

 

And with that, I leap out of the burning building that is an internet forum discussion of abortion.

 

Toodleoooo!

But if each side tried to see the others side perhaps there would be less rhetoric and more resolution.

 

I doubt the folks intent on displaying the fetuses are interested in considering my point of view, but it's a pleasant thought anyway. Thanks!

Kingfish you claim inconvenience isn't relavent but you failed to mention any reasons for which people get abortions that are not motivated by the relief of some kind of personal burden. My logic may be flawed, and if it is, i'd love to be proven wrong, I'm just trying to learn more about the issue. You claim life is so profound so whats your justification for denying someone of it? While as of now I am opposed to it, I wouldn't vote to ban it since I'm such a big advocate of freedom and legalization. Im just trying to learn the other side of it.

I wouldn't call having children a selfless act.  I think that most people(that were planning on it) have kids because they think it will make them happy or fulfilled in some way.

We're so lucky!  Flying Fetuses!

 

Harrington said flyovers will take place over downtown areas and large shopping centers, "places where people congregate."

 

Hmmm..well they dont know too much about Dayton if they think downtown is a "place where people congregate".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, it IS a place where bad ass kids congregate. But I'm sure that banner isn't going to affect those...

Kingfish you claim inconvenience isn't relavent but you failed to mention any reasons for which people get abortions that are not motivated by the relief of some kind of personal burden. My logic may be flawed, and if it is, i'd love to be proven wrong, I'm just trying to learn more about the issue. You claim life is so profound so whats your justification for denying someone of it? While as of now I am opposed to it, I wouldn't vote to ban it since I'm such a big advocate of freedom and legalization. Im just trying to learn the other side of it.

 

The flaw in your logic--dismissing abortion as an issue of "inconvenience"--is at best a case of reductio ad absurdum, at worst, a straw dog. It's not my job to list off the myriad factors that are part and parcel to reproductive decisions. Life is profound, that is why I find the codification and packaging of it for reactionary political purpose to be crass and disrespectful. Shocking people and claiming divine province is not a strategy for free exchange and discourse; it's a bullying tactic. This is the opposite of how people in a free society should interact, and a poor path to understanding of a mind bogglingly complex issue.

 

I said good day.

 

 

This is faulty logic.  People understand what abortion is.  In a small percentage of them, a fetus that resembles a person is manually destroyed, revealing blood and guts.  We get it.  No, this is just another part of the domestic terrorism agenda pursued by many anti-abortion fanatics.

 

What kind of reaction do you think anti-war advocates would get if they flew banners of soldiers' heads blown open like melons, their brains strewn across dusty asphalt?  Consider the brouhaha after a reporter snapped a photo of flag-draped coffins. But wait, "people won't understand war until they see it."  You don't have to shove the blood and guts in everyone's face for them to understand

 

WOW!!! Kendall,what vibrant vivid colors you use to describe war,and conversely what a muted palette you break out in your description of abortion.I could describe other atrocious acts and make them as clinically sterile as your depiction of what abortion is -oh,I don't know,let's just say-an abused woman/wife/girlfriend,as "having had a few cuts and scattered contusions with several instances of discoloration around the head,neck and torso.Some of which have caused blood letting , various recurring difficulties,loss of consciousness and in the rarest instances the victim has expired".

 

I think we all have some idea what an abusive relationship is,but until we see it first hand,until we are confronted with it,it can be ignored.I don't think many of you would be opposed to dropping pictures like that on an unsuspecting public.

It is very easy to apply labels to those with whom we disagree.It is much more convenient to demonize someone than try to understand them.You would wince,cringe and make all sorts of unflattering gestures and level a withering assault on any who would dare to reduce those on the left as simply "baby killers".We all know its much more complicated than that.If one truly understood that pro-lifers consider abortion to be MURDER then how can you judge them for doing what they feel they have to do to end (for what is to them the greatest plague on society today)this evil? Hell if someone wants to fly banners or post billboards then grow some effin' balls, stand up for your convictions and do everything in your power to bring about change,if thats what you want.jUST PLEASE LET US STOP BEING SO INTELLECTUALLY DISHONEST BY DEMONIZING  those on the other side of the issue

This is faulty logic.  People understand what abortion is.  In a small percentage of them, a fetus that resembles a person is manually destroyed, revealing blood and guts.  We get it.  No, this is just another part of the domestic terrorism agenda pursued by many anti-abortion fanatics.

 

What kind of reaction do you think anti-war advocates would get if they flew banners of soldiers' heads blown open like melons, their brains strewn across dusty asphalt?  Consider the brouhaha after a reporter snapped a photo of flag-draped coffins. But wait, "people won't understand war until they see it."  You don't have to shove the blood and guts in everyone's face for them to understand

 

WOW!!! Kendall,what vibrant vivid colors you use to describe war,and conversely what a muted palette you break out in your description of abortion.I could describe other atrocious acts and make them as clinically sterile as your depiction of what abortion is -oh,I don't know,let's just say-an abused woman/wife/girlfriend,as "having had a few cuts and scattered contusions with several instances of discoloration around the head,neck and torso.Some of which have caused blood letting , various recurring difficulties,loss of consciousness and in the rarest instances the victim has expired".

 

I think we all have some idea what an abusive relationship is,but until we see it first hand,until we are confronted with it,it can be ignored.I don't think many of you would be opposed to dropping pictures like that on an unsuspecting public.

 

You don't need me to supply a vivid depiction of an aborted fetus in a blood-spattered garbage bag; it's head oblong, having been crushed by calipers so it could be prematurely extracted from a woman's body.  You can just look up in the sky or at the posters outside your local abortion clinic for that.

 

Variance in detail and emotion between topics is a legtimate rhetorical technique that I deliberately employed, and I will not suffer your feeble sarcastic retorts.

No matter what side of the argument you are on, you have to agree that these forms of ads/protests are obsurd and totally innapropriate.  It is no better than the sensationalist journalism you hear on the news everyday that portrays blacks and other minorities as criminals and the scum of society (totally wrong).

 

If you feel that abortion is wrong, you might also agree that child pornography is wrong.  However, we don't/shouldn't ever run TV ads that display the child pornography and its graphic nature in order to help deter it from happening.  Its a matter of decency and these kinds of displays, from the pro-life side, are totally out of line and should be stopped...I am offended every time I drive past a clinic and see the pro-lifers with their outrageous and outright disturbing displays.....HOW THE HELL IS THIS CONSIDERED TO BE CIVIL AND HUMANE?!?!?!?!?!  What should you tell your child about these displays.....or better yet should a child walk past, what would the pro-lifer say to the child about what is being displayed?  It is gross and entirely inappropriate!

It all goes back to power.

The desire of others to control the bodies of others.  We have plenty of examples, world wide, of men using their reproductive equipment (hows that for PC) as a weapon against women. 

It's bad enough that rapes occur. To compound that by telling women they must have this baby they don't want is as equally cruel.

 

The politics of life is a minefield that rarely a person can manage to walk across.

anyone notice the gaping flaw in this thread?

 

it's all the opinions of men. sorry guys, not relevant imo.

 

^ Thank you.

 

And by the way, I have to say, this issue really brings out the BEST in people, doesn't it?

 

Signed,

 

A man.

I wouldn't call having children a selfless act.  I think that most people(that were planning on it) have kids because they think it will make them happy or fulfilled in some way.

 

Or they do it for the tax credit ;)

Well, it IS a place where bad ass kids congregate. 

 

Us gay folk, too.  In fact I will be down there on Friday.

 

I'll keep an eye out for the flying fickle fetus of fate.

 

 

I saw it flying over downtown while I was out working in the yard Monday afternoon, but I wasn't close enough to be able to make anything out on it...it says they are doing these flyovers until the election, but how exactly are they connecting this to the election?  As others have said, this is nothing more than a stunt.  No matter what side of the argument you are on, publicity stunts such as these are unproductive and a waste of time.

...it says they are doing these flyovers until the election, but how exactly are they connecting this to the election?

 

Oh, I can think of a few ways. We'll find out how exactly the morning after election day.

 

This issue is poison. Poison, I tells ya!

They used to drive their 'fetus' trucks around OSU campus, but I believe they banned them, at least I haven't seen them anywhere on campus lately.. They still can drive them down High St. though.. Nasty.

fetus trucks?

 

Please tell me y'aa didn't have Brother Jed Smock too?

fetus trucks?

 

Please tell me y'aa didn't have Brother Jed Smock too?

 

Brother Jed is a cult classic at OSU.

Must be a statewide tour....

 

 

Picture of aborted fetus to be flown over Cleveland

Sunday, July 30, 2006

Mark Naymik

Plain Dealer Politics Writer

 

As a shock tactic, a national group that opposes abortion plans to fly a billboard-size picture of an aborted fetus over Cleveland beginning Monday.

 

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, which frequently employs such attention-grabbing advertising, hopes to jar people into reconsidering their support of abortion, director Gregg Cunningham said.

 

He said the banner would be the most graphic picture ever displayed from the air. 

 

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/115424828161830.xml&coll=2

 

The fact that they're spending millions of dollars on this tells me that they have another agenda.

Cunningham said the group is spending millions of dollars on the campaign, which he said is not political.

 

"We know from a great deal of market research that people who see what abortion does to a baby are less likely to support abortion rights," he said.

 

Comparing his campaign to the civil rights and anti-war movements, he said, "Social reform is driven by horrifying pictures of injustice."

 

Is Cunningham incredibly dishonest or incredibly ignorant; I honestly can't tell. I'll keep my bases covered and say equal measures of both.

 

Bad demogogue! Bad! Bad!

I would love to fly around images of people being killed in Iraq and the middle east (to show that this war is unjust), but then again I guess that wouldn't be acceptable :|

 

Or how about showing the images of family members, of someone sentenced to death, when they know that their loved one is innocent....

 

Or how about showing images of the homeless and starving individuals in our society, that some say just aren't motivated enough to get out of poverty (at the same time offering NO assistance).....

 

Or even better yet how about a running TV commercial that shows someone being murdered by a semi-automatic or hand gun (both of which are legal to own)....

 

Or how about showing an image of those same morons, that support these issues, buying/selling drugs and facilitating the drug trade that is killing OTR and inner-city neighborhoods across the country, but I guess that wouldn't be PC. :|

 

These are all issues that Republicans defend (war, death penalty, fewer social programs, gun rights).  It sickens me to listen to these same individuals to claim that they are the holy and civil members of society, while at the same time, claiming that the other side is a bunch of degenerates who wish decay upon society.

Is it illegal to show such images on billboards? If so, I don't see how banner advertisement in the sky should be any different, honestly.

^Not illegal.  Billboards are privately owned, though, and you can't force them to use their assets to promote messages they choose not to run.

 

Yeah, when I worked downtown they used to parade the fetus trucks around the state capital.  I'm thinking... looks whose running the capital, you guys are just preaching to the choir!

^ I think it's called a victory lap.

^ LOL  :lol:

Perhaps they should show a graphic image of an open heart surgery.  After all, if it is disgustingly gory to look at, it must be wrong.

Pro-life group to air its views

BY JON CRAIG | ENQUIRER COLUMBUS BUREAU

 

COLUMBUS - The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, a group opposed to abortion, plans to fly banners of aborted fetuses over the riverfront Aug. 29 through Sept. 8.

 

"You can bet if there's a Reds game, we'll fly right up until it's not legal to fly," Mark Harrington, executive director of its Midwest group, said Thursday.

 

The planes fly banners with 35-by-100-foot color photos of aborted embryos and fetuses.

 

http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060825/NEWS01/608250364/1056

Omg these guys are spending so much money on something stupid. They have to be backed by people trying to get the Republican vote.

The abortion banners are loud and proud over Cleveland, lately. I certainly hope they don't adversely impact Christy's Cabaret, the business that usually flies banners over our fair city. Personally, I think the banners are a little distasteful, but I fully support the group's right to make their point. The guy's got a point - shocking photography has had a history of leading to social reform (although if it were 100% effective, could we as a society permit famine and disease to go on in Africa? Could we turn our collective back on the suffering experienced by the citizens of New Orleans? Or the urban poor anywhere? I digress ...). I guess what I find more offensive is banning controversial photography, particularly the administration's ban on photographing coffins coming back from Iraq.

^^You are correct; this tactic bears the distinctively Rovian rap-tap-tapping on the reactionary right-wing swill bucket. If I were a conservative I would be desperately worried for my team right about now.

Dude your wordsmithing is genius. I love that analogy.

^ Thanks! Some have a way with words, others, oh, not have way.*

 

* Apologies to Steve Martin.