Images Make Movements
by Lila Rose and Philip Gerard Johnson
Throughout history, images have been used to make the public aware of atrocities and injustices. In 1785, Thomas Clarkson began to examine the morality of the British slave trade while competing in an essay contest. After much research, including interviews with those involved in the slave trade, he devoted the rest of his life to ending slavery. In his anti-slavery pamphlets, Clarkson included images of shackles, branding irons, and ships carrying captured Africans. These images exposed the horrors of slavery to the public, and slavery in Great Britain was finally abolished in 1807 with the “Slave Trade Act.”
In 1908, photographer Lewis Hine began using photography to expose the cruelty of the child labor industry. In collaboration with the National Child Labor Committee, Hine photographed daily life in steel and glassmaking factories throughout the country. He presented his images in magazines, posters, and through public exhibits in order to expose the dangerous working conditions of his time. One social historian commented that Hine’s photography “[brought] into view what normal social vision has been conditioned to ignore.”[1]
Most Americans can recall images presented to us as children depicting the persecution of African Americans in the Civil Rights movement. From policemen attacking protestors with fire hoses and police dogs, to murdered African Americans hanging in trees, these “graphic” images continue to be used as a form of education and as a constant reminder of what our “civilized human race” is still capable of doing.
The murder of Emmett Till helped mobilize the American Civil Rights Movement. Accused of whistling at a white woman, fourteen-year-old Till was beaten beyond recognition, shot in the head, and thrown into the Tallahatchie river. His mother chose to invite the public and media to Emmett’s funeral, and allow the press to take photographs. Mrs. Till also chose to leave her son’s casket open. Millions were enraged by the murder of the young boy, especially after seeing the widely publicized photo of Emmett’s mangled face. Mrs. Till told the media, “I want the whole world to see what they did to my baby.”
If only those same words could be heard today as 3,700 babies are torn from their mothers’ wombs every day. Unlike those who bravely showed images from steel factories and the Civil Rights movement, many are reluctant to show images of the victims of abortion. The result is a widespread ignorance of the magnitude of this “silent genocide,” but we must not remain silent any longer. If the world were to see the victims of abortion, would so many still be willing to tolerate it?
[1] Judith Mara Gutman, Lewis W. Hine and the American Social Conscience (New York: Walker and Company, 1967), 25.
Popularity: 100% [?]
Amen.
“Why we show the bloody photographs of murdered preborns” –
http://www.missionariestopreborn.com/bloody_photos.html
Another historical instance of the role of graphic images in helping to bring about social change comes from Mexico in the 1920s, during which the country was ruled by a brutal anti-Catholic regime led by President Plutarco Calles. (This instance is different from many others — such as those cited here in this post — in that the act of displaying the images of injustice was done by the perpetrators, and not by sympathizers of the victims. Yet the act of displaying them still played a major role in ending the injustice.)
One of the most famous of the Cristeros executed by the government during this time was Blessed Father Miguel Pro. Calles, seeking to cow other Cristeros into submission, had the execution photographed, and newspapers throughout the country carried pictures on their front page the next day.
But his plan backfired. Instead, the publicized brutality further emboldened the Cristeros to stand up to the regime.
Would that all pro-lifers, like the Cristeros, were similarly emboldened by the sight of graphic abortion pictures to stand up to the injustice in our midst.
wowwww dis dosen’t make any type of sense
Yes and we should be sickened by the photos – and moved to action! Thanks
i think abortion is horrible if u have the curage to kill your own baby god dont no what u are capable to do
abortion is sooo wrong. wud u make murdur legal? if ur in any right mind at all the answer is NO. abortion is murdur. dont mean to sound graphic but that “tissue” inside of you isnot tissue its a baby with a heart and mind. but wen u abort a baby your murdering.chopping apart your innocent baby. if you dont want your baby, look into adoption.and if u have already had one god loves you and forgives you.
It’s completely sick. The only time you should ever have an abortion is when if having the child would kill the mother, in which is extremely rare! For all that agree with Roe V Wade, would you like it if you never got a chance to be born? What about what they do. It would be less horrible if they killed the babies quickly, and didn’t let them suffer. One thing that pisses me off is that anyone who gets abortions is only that stupid, because they chose to have the baby. They chose not to have protection. Condoms break? You have spermicide and birth control! They have a specially designed room where they throw the fetus’ to let them die. Did you hear about one doctor who saw a baby of his wife be killed by abortion, but instead of divorcing her he rocked the baby until it died. Some of you think “I don’t want to have a baby, I don’t have the money” well, there is always adoption. Think about it, YOU COULD BE KILLING THE NEXT PRESIDENT! YOU COULD BE KILLING SOMEONE WHO COULD FIND THE CURE TO HIV OR CANCER! CHRIST KNOWS THAT ABORTION IS WRONG. Yet, if you have had an abortion and regret it completely God may forgive you. According to the bible, whoever murders someone goes to hell. How I take it is if you hurt someone, and it can be repaired, he will forgive you. If what you do can be changed, repaired or replaced he will forgive you. Yet, if you take a life he will not, because lives cannot be repaired, changed or replaced. Abortion is legalized murder, and Obama is a horrible enough president to do that. Look up abortion photos on google, and soon you will realize not to be sickened by the bloody photos with babies’ the size of quarters, but saddened. God bless all babies who have been abortioned, you will survive life one day.
The question you should be asking is not what kind of woman would abort the baby in her belly, but why she would feel she has no other option. It is all very well to pass judgement without a commitment to social responsibility. What are you personally doing to empower these women to make what you feel is the right decision? What are you personally doing to make it possible for them to raise these children?
what kind off sik disturbed person wuld hurt babys their our future
this baby is o freakin sexy. and that man has very very large hands. =)
I HATE ABORTION!! WOMENS THINK THAT HAVING AN ABORTION IS OK! ITS NOT!!!!!!! THEY’RE KILLING THEIR OWN BABY! IF YOUR THINKING OF GETTING PREGNANT AND HAVING AN ABORTION, YOU MIGHT AS WELL NOT GET PREGNANT AT ALL!!!
Women do not always have a choice about getting pregnant. i.e. rape, no access to contraception etc.
by not allowing termination of early pregnancy you sentence young women to have to become mothers , often at the expense of their own quality of life, you may lead a child into a life of abuse, malnutrition, psychological trauma… the list goes on. i think i would rather die a little babe innocent to the cruel world. it may well be kinder. ?
why force women to have to abort illegally. not only torture for the babe but also the mum. i consider this even worse.
the abortion is a shame but what gets me the most is that poor little 14 yer old boy who was kidnapped tortured and killed by two white men….. i hate to see that they were not killed or locked up for doing this!! sorry to say but this is what keeps me from liking white people and although it happened so long ago it still hurts. people do not understand life so y are they liing!! life is not about killing innocent people it is about what u can make out of it and clearly people do not want the bestfor them selves.
Abortion is the womans choice. It’s her body! It’s her life that will come to an end if she is forced to have the baby. Not yours. The baby isn’t even a baby yet when it’s aborted, the heart doesn’t beat till 5weeks, before that it’s nothing. How would you like to be born and raised by a mother who neglects you? Or who can’t afford food for you? Or who beats you? All cuz she was unable to have a choice. Why make the child live in a horrible life? I’d rather not be born. And what if you were raped??? Would you REALLY wanna raise the baby of a rapist? I don’t think so. Sp shut up and leave the choice to the mothers.
Abortion is truly a woman’s choice. But not a choice she deserves to have. She deserves to choose whether she wants to be a mother, BEFORE she got herself pregnant. Why bring in rape cases? Statistics say that only 1 percent of abortions consists of pregnancy caused by rape. And there ARE measures you can take to prevent getting pregnant after getting raped. What do you mean by her life coming to an end if she is forced to have the baby? She CHOSE to neglect that possibility, didn’t she? It was her CHOICE. Abortion is just another way of saying that she regretted the CHOICE that she made and so dumps her responsibility on her unborn child of whom she is the mother of. All in the name of a woman’s right to choose. Your problem is that you are not able to decide at which point a woman should make her decision. The answer is BEFORE she becomes a mother, or if you prefer, pregnant. Are we so naive to think that our actions have no consequences? You make uneducated statements, not knowing the truth behind abortion. And if you ever become a mother, I pity your children because I know and we all know that they will always be second place to your “choices”. Has the society become so proud to think that it is alright to kill/exterminate our most defenseless beings in the name of a woman’s right to choose? You are completely naive.
And ain’t it funny that even you call those women mothers? What a joke.