What impact does a Justice For All Exhibit have on the typical university community?
These two student articles leave no doubt…

“So.

We all saw it, right? We all saw the 20-foot-something blown up pictures of massacred fetuses and other such side effects of pregnancy termination sponsored by Justice for All last week in Kuhlman Court, right? Of course we did.

The Justice for All anti-abortion campaign that stormed MU last week was crude and insensitive, yet educational, and in some ways, very effective. When I first walked out of Brady Commons and looked up at those photos, my jaw literally dropped. I was immediately and wholly torn. For one, it was offensive to call our mothers, sisters and daughters perpetuators of genocide. But, at the same time, the pictures were the truth.

So, it seems the big question was answered: When does life really begin? If anything, last week’s spectacle proved that it really happens at conception, that the little knot of cells that starts dividing at that moment is undeniably a human life…

All right then; it’s all laid out on the table. Now that it’s been completely confirmed, now that it’s been made gruesomely obvious that, yes, abortion is killing and it is ugly, in case anyone wasn’t sure, what are we going to do about it?

No more should we be concerned with which side is winning this thing. Forget about sides. The real issue is whether abortion is a public matter or a private one. And, it’s about what we say we believe is right and what we actually do about it.

But that’s not news to anyone, is it?”

From the November 4, 2003 edition of The Maneater, the student newspaper of the University of Missouri--Columbia, written by Zaria Qadafi

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“I did not stay asleep last night. I could have studied my foreign language, or caught up on my textbook reading, or worked on any of three papers coming due. But I had to pause to journal this essay because I had images of abortions and thoughts from the dialog on campus fresh on my mind.

I realized that after [completing] almost 15 hours of women’s studies classes and 12 hours of human sexuality, psychology, and sociology classes, that all of my professors had squeamishly tip-toed around the issue of abortion by minimizing opportunities for robust dialog. I also realized that for the first time in 5 years there was a free speech forum [Justice For All] available to me on campus that did not carry with it the threat of censorship via grade penalties….

Regardless of anyone’s proclaimed position on abortion, I think it is difficult for anyone to argue that the tactics [of Justice For All] were not effective in stimulating dialog. Mixing an emotional appeal through the use of graphic depictions with the cognitive appeal of directly addressing the main opposing arguments, having numerous activists trained in maintaining a calm presence of nonviolence who are available to engage in one on one debate, and having documentation available to substantiate the scientific basis of their claims has stimulated more campus-wide conversation [than] about any issue I’ve noticed in the past 5 years, with the possible exception of the recent escalation of the decade-long war on Iraq…

Although much of the [pro-choice] argument seems to frame the issue in terms of a political and legal right to choose, the focus of the [Justice For All argument] itself appears primarily focused on a moral appeal to change individual hearts…

One of the most precisely reasoned criticisms of the demonstrators came from one of my professors who made the claim that the emotional appeal of the photos was exaggerated by inaccurate tagging of ages. However, when I confronted an activist with the claim, he showed me three standard medical school textbooks and handed me a set of real-life-size and weight fetus models used to train gynecologists to compare with the photos of aborted fetuses on display.

I am convinced the age tagging is accurate, but anyone who has the display in brochure form can compare the photos with medical texts in the MU medical library to compare.”

Posted by MU Student on JFA’s Free Speech Board

FROM CLASSROOM TO CAMPUS

Each semester Justice For All (JFA) presents its Exhibit program to the Focus on the Family Institute (FFI). Sarah Pierce , a member of the summer 2001 FFI class, envisioned the JFA Exhibit program’s impact at her alma mater, the University of Missouri (MU). Later that year, while interning with the Campus Christian House (CCH) ministry at MU, she told the CCH leaders about JFA’s Exhibit program.

In April 2002, CCH staffer Corey Whitaker asked JFA to come to Mizzou. To learn more about the JFA Exhibit program, he traveled to California to join the JFA staff and volunteers at our June 2002 Exhibit at UCLA.

Corey returned from UCLA with an even stronger commitment to bring the JFA Exhibit to Mizzou. He brought together MU campus ministry leaders (Oct. 2002) to see a JFA Exhibit presentation, and he organized a 350-student assembly in February 2003 to share his vision of bringing the JFA Exhibit to Mizzou. Over 150 students signed up to become members of the Mizzou JFA student club. The Mizzou JFA club president, Emilie Duncan, organized the club to bring the Exhibit to MU in October2003.

Mizzou JFA surpassed almost every JFA campus club record in bringing the JFA Exhibit to MU:

• 125 students attended a one-day training seminar in preparation for the debate generated by the JFA Exhibit.

• The student-led fundraising campaign raised nearly $15,000.

• Web traffic to JFA’s web site (www.jfaweb.org) increased five-fold, thanks to Mizzou JFA’s media advisory team led by Jonathan Block (lower right, in yellow) and Joanna Shrewsbury (upper right, grey coat). The increase produced by a campus Exhibit event is normally about two-fold.

• A unique prayer event at the Exhibit site the evening before the Mizzou Exhibit brought students together to pray for good weather, boldness, babies’ lives to be saved, and hearts to be changed for Christ. The students were joined by hundreds of people across the U.S. who also committed to pray.

• Hospitality shown the JFA staff and volunteers by students, CCH staff, and families in Missouri and Illinois went way over the top! Several families from an Illinois church (including the pastor and his wife) drove over 200 miles to prepare an evening meal for hungry JFA staff and students!

• Over 15 news stories and editorials have been written and continue to carry the debate created by the JFA Exhibit at Mizzou. Many of them can be accessed through links on JFA’s web pages www.jfaweb.org. In addition, a number of web based discussion forums continue the debate.

• Open Arms, a Missouri crisis pregnancy services agency with offices in Missouri, set up an information table adjacent to the JFA Exhibit to assist students with crisis pregnancy and abortion recovery needs.

GOD ANSWERS PRAYER.

THE WEATHER. An outdoor exhibit in Missouri during late October? What if it rains? What if it’s cold?! We give thanks for the great weather that God gave us during the Exhibit. (We also thank Him for the rain He gave the day after the Exhibit ended!)

BOLDNESS. Mizzou JFA students graciously and ably answered fellow students’ questions about and criticisms of the JFA Exhibit message.

Mizzou JFA student leaders also respectfully stood their ground when the university administration deprived them and their fellow club members of their Constitutional right to carry hand-held pro-life signs on campus. (The University did not prohibit the placement of JFA’s large exhibit in Kuhlman Court.)

We credit the combination of the students’ respectful insistence, the skills attorney Jim Spencer (JFA General Counsel), and prayer for the University’s decision to rescind its gag order late Tuesday afternoon. Mizzou JFA students were finally allowed to exercise their campus wide Constitutional right to free speech on the last day of the Exhibit (Wednesday).

BABIES’ LIVES SAVED. Melanie Hawes, MU Senior, wrote after the Exhibit. “My friend…has a girlfriend…who is pregnant…She has been thinking about getting an abortion and killing her baby.  However, after seeing your exhibit, she told my friend…that she is no longer even thinking about an abortion.  She is keeping her child.”

HEARTS CHANGED. Sarah Hood, MU Senior, wrote, “The moment that I will never forget was when I met L... She had…an abortion (10 weeks along) about a year ago and was looking at the picture of the 12 week old aborted child. The look on her face was that of pain and sobriety. I approached her and asked for her thoughts…all she could get out was "I've been there." As we talked I learned about her situation with her boyfriend and was grateful to hear that she has been going to Open Arms [a local crisis pregnancy center] for counseling.

Most importantly, she admitted that "If I had seen [the JFA Exhibit] before I wouldn't have done it." So I encouraged her…that God has a plan for her life and that this isn't something that he wants to tear her down, but something that can strengthen her faith. We prayed and I challenged her to share her story with others…Every time that I was at the exhibit over the next few days she was there talking to those who were…vocal [in opposition] as well as those just passing by. She had…a passion that was reflected as she talked to people. To this day [3 weeks later] L..is still coming to Bible studies, Sunday services, and social events with our campus ministry [Campus Christian House]. I see her faith growing, and am anxious to see what more God has in store for her.

“The impact that the [JFA] training and Exhibit has had on my life flows far beyond a few conversations. I have gained a passion for people beyond what I ever had before. I want to talk to them about God and I feel more prepared to do so as 1 Peter 3:15 commands...No matter what the topic has been I have used the lessons of listening and asking questions to guide conversations in a loving and respectful manner. I have not been afraid to be bold. I am so grateful to be a part of…[JFA] that there are not enough words to express it. God is SO good and we are all SO blessed to be used by him…”