Justice for All's graphic abortion displays coming to my campus

[kaylynwright]

Hi,
I've not posted much, but "Justice for All" is coming to my campus tomorrow and Tuesday with their humongous anti-choice displays of aborted fetuses. One of the religious groups invited them again this year and the school is not allowed to forbid it.

http://www.jfaweb.org/
This is their web page.

I've asked students about last year's display, and they all said it was disgusting and they wish it was not allowed on campus. For those who were pro-choice, it didn't change their opinion at all but just solidified it and irritated them. To counter the display, a women's group I've joined is having an event called sextival at the same time as the anti-choice display. It will be held inside a tent (so people don't have to look at fetuses) and will be providing accurate and practical sex-ed info, handing out condoms, information, etc. The group I joined will not be interacting with "Justice for All" in any way.

I may try to take some pictures tomorrow if I can find a camera.

From what I've heard (correct me if I'm wrong), Justice for All threatens to sue schools that do not allow them to put up their displays. In addition, they hand out inaccurate information about abortion and sex-ed. For people who are unfamiliar with these displays, they are extremely large (something like 2 stories) and extremely graphic. You can't just avoid them, because they are not covered or concealed in any way.


Thoughts?

[Kerrytravelers]

1. When someone point out all the "dead babies" on JFA's displays, make this point:

How do we know what that is really a picture of? Is this a fetus that had a natural abortion and was removed? Was this a fetus which was deformed beyond viability and removed? How do we know the story of a picture? JFA makes some pretty big leaps with their graphic displays.

[kaylynwright]

3. JFA

We will not be interacting at all with the representatives from Justice for All. Apparently things got very heated last year and the group would like to avoid this if possible.

[Kerrytravelers]

8. I don't mean speaking with JFA directly, but when others come in and point to their pictures.

That is what I am saying.

[kaylynwright]

13. in our booth

Yes, in our booth, we will be speaking to people who've seen the displays. It will be impossible not to see them since they are in the direct center of campus by some of the busiest buildings.

[Trocadero]

2. Fight back with odors. Start saving dog poops in a bag now.

When they set up for the day, distribute dog poop liberally nearby.

[kaylynwright]

5. That sounds like a good strategy.

I missed the meeting last week, but the week before we talked about all sorts of fun stuff including handing out vulva, penis, and ambiguous genitalia cookies. We also talked about having sidewalk chalk genital drawing contests. It should be fun and hopefully get people to come check out the tent. :)

[Ian David]

6. How about a giant penis shooting white foam? n/t

[Trocadero]

11. get a whole bunch of people ready to just walk past the area throughout

the day and empty a bag of dog poop on the nearby yard, and then just keep walking

[Warpy]

14. Rotten chicken bones and old shrimp tails

are much more effective.

[Ian David]

4. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.

Psalm 137:9
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/ps/137.html

[Ian David]

7. This would be a good day to hold a Japanese Kanamara Giant Pink Penis Festival

Every first Sunday in April, residents of Kawasaki, Japan, celebrate all things penis with their Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus) Parade.

While the centerpiece of the fertility parade is a giant pink penis, some marchers bring their own large replica penises, and female festival-goers enjoy various penis-shaped candies. Some things seem to lose something in translation from Japan.

Check out more photos of the phallic fun below.



More:
http://www.asylum.com.au/2009/04/19/kanamara-festival-in-japan/


See also:

Results 1 - 10 of about 23,100 for Kanamara festival
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz=1B3GGGL_enUS334US334&q=Kanamara+festival&aq=f&oq=&aqi=g4

[Piwi2009]

16. Or a big poster of "The Beauty of Childbirth"

Go sit by their table with a really big and colorful pic of a woman's legs spread far apart with the newborn coming halfway out her pubic hair and vagina. That's "the most beautiful thing in the world", right? How could the antichoicers object?

[lapfog_1]

9. I see they are going to set up right outside my old office

at Strong Hall front lawn. (exact center of campus)

When I was a student / Instructor there, the most we had to worry about were the Hari Krishnas. And they would only drop by on fabulous spring days ( when we wanted to keep the windows open for ventilation ) and beat on their drums and instruments. Kinda irritating after a few hours.

Still, much better than this group and their gory pictures.

I feel for you...

I would ignore them... or set up a booth across the street with a sex positive message and counter their misinformation.

[kaylynwright]

10. booth

We actually are setting up a booth. It should be fun. Yeah, I wish they weren't allowed to set up in front of Strong Hall. There are always religious groups yelling at all of us sinners in front of Wescoe. :/

[lapfog_1]

12. BTW, welcome to DU

and... go Jayhawks!

Don't let these morons get you down.

[Piwi2009]

15. I think these kind of things backfire on them

Far from horrifying people, they may be actually doing the opposite of what they want and desensitizing people. Hate to say it this way, but you've seen one dead bloody fetus, you've seen them all.

[Piwi2009]

17. That's another thing that gets me about these anti choicers

They're the ones saying these bloody gory pictures are "murder photos" and here they go plastering them all over the place like
ogrish or rotten dott com. Even worse than those sites, because you have to be online to access them. Would they do this to a born baby, that we know is human and alive, and plaster ITS murder photo all over the place. Nah, that would deserve some basic respect.
It's as if they themselves don't believe a real person was killed.

[Piwi2009]

18. As a "strategery" I don't think it works very well

They've been plastering bloody photos all over the place for 36 years now and haven't made a dent. Abortion holding steady around a million a year.

If they are the rightwing conservative types, you can always point out to them "well, if a woman defended herself with a gun and shot
her crazed abusive ex breaking into the house--that would be a shocking, bloody photo too. But surely you wouldn't want her to lose her right to own a gun wouldya?"

[kaylynwright]

19. agree

I totally agree. The display didn't make me nauseous, didn't make me upset, didn't make me sad. Honestly, I don't think these displays change anybody's opinion. Instead, they reaffirm our opinions on abortion and make the separation between anti-choice and pro-choice even wider.

They had a table with the question, "Should abortion remain legal?" and two sheets to sign, one was YES, the other was NO. The only people I saw signing the "NO, it shouldn't remain legal" were male. :/ That really disturbed me. The majority of students were signing yes though. And they had another similar display, "Should this display come back next year?" and everyone was signing NO. I think this might be the 3rd year in a row that it has been here.

Sextival was successful. Many condoms and fliers were handed our-fliers with accurate information about abortion.