When I first saw this linked from Spirit Daily and clicked the link it sounded like the kind of pro-life video you often see on YouTube. Then I watched it. It’s worth a view to see how hard hardhearted we can become and why the necessity for prayer remains with us.
**warning** some written profanity appears in the video. Not suitable for children.
September 20, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Wow. Thanks for posting this. I remember my mom telling me about being thrown over a barricade onto concrete when she was in OpRescue, and an old man in a wheelchair being pushed down stairs. But the intensely personal nature of the signs displayed is really disturbing and hurtful.
Only recently did I have a brief discussion online with a friend who is pro-choice who resented any bumper sticker other than "Pro-Life" because she felt it was designed to make her feel like a bad person. I wish she understood just how lopsided the abuse really is- and how she's abused by the industry's lies.
September 20, 2009 at 11:04 pm
They are not showing their contempt for God or faith. They are showing their contempt for those who harass them on the way to work every single day.
September 20, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Yes…on the way to work killing babies and exploiting women.
If they were so self-assured that what they're doing is right, they wouldn't hold those of us who find their "work" appalling, immoral, and contrary to God's teachings in contempt.
My sympathies are limited to the babies they kill and the women they lie to.
September 20, 2009 at 11:56 pm
I happen to LIVE in the Rockford Area, and I've been passed the building and have NEVER seen any of the things they calm to be in the window.
I know ABORTION IS WRONG!!! I just had to say I've never seen any of the things there, and I live in the area.
September 21, 2009 at 2:22 am
Hmm… Hard to believe they'd make this video up, Anon. Would a Christian group mock Jesus just to make a video??
Pro-lifers are not there to protest the people in the building, rather the procedure they're providing. It seems the pro-death crowd has a vendetta against the people, not their message.
September 21, 2009 at 4:14 am
It's hard to believe that the abortion clinic would let people into the building just to hang those signs and make a slanderous video, Anon.
September 21, 2009 at 5:45 am
"They are showing their contempt for those who harass them on the way to work every single day."
They must resent being confronted with the inconvenient truth of what they prefer to style a medical procedure. They are not unlike the civilians employed by the Nazi government to provide the technical and logistical support required to keep their death camps operating. Of course it was all perfectly legal. Of course they were only doing their job. Of course they were only following orders. By such rational, Dr. Mengele was just a medical experimenter rather than a mass murderer.
September 21, 2009 at 9:57 am
We need confirmation of this video, then. The signs are small so I imagine if you are only driving you mightn't see them. It's also possible it's a more recent innovation. As sad as it is to say, it is also possible this is fraudulent. I hope not, but let's hope we can get confirmation before it goes viral. Thanks for the head's up, Anon.
Peaceful protest is hardly harassment on the level of exposing someone's medical information and wishing death on people's family members. The vast majority of pro-life protests are peaceful. Yet abortion remains the one thing of which "it bleeds, it leads" is not true. Any other group it'd be a huge scandal- but because they cannot speak for themselves, babies are expendable, and their mothers exploitable for a multi-million dollar industry.
September 21, 2009 at 11:27 am
Anon @ 12:45 AM,
The video claims the people who work there are showing contempt for God and that is simply false.
Obviously, one or more of the people who work in the building are venting their frustration for the people who verbally abuse and threaten them on their way into work. Hence, you see some of the signs in the video calling protesters terrorists.
September 21, 2009 at 1:29 pm
I believe this is true. However in this time where the truth is marginalized I can just hear how this is just one instance…or you people are crazy!…or choice, choice, choice, or you people shouldn't be there in the first place, or I am a health-care worker so you don't get your opinion I know better. God bless all of you for being strong and steadfast in your work!!!
September 21, 2009 at 1:44 pm
Craig, Anonymous, Gardener, I appreciate your efforts to spark a genuine discussion.
September 21, 2009 at 2:09 pm
It is as illogical and dishonest to call abortion protest verbal harassment as it is to call a dope peddler a unlicensed pharmacist.
September 21, 2009 at 2:33 pm
I also happen to live in Rockford Area. I also have seen a second video that was just posted to YOUTUBE yesterday. That video is really about a woman that regrets her abortion. In the video you can also see a Catholic Priest praying and walking the sidewalk in-front of THIS abortion clinic.
I know it's a Catholic Priest, because he happens to be my parish priest. I asked that film maker to confirm this and she seem to give me the indication that the rubber chickens are a thing of the PAST that they aren't done now. The Jesus picture with Jesus Hate You is current. (the now thing)
Seeing I know from the YouTube video that my parish priest has been there as well I plan on asking Father this coming Sunday about the rubber chickens, etc.
September 21, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Earl,
All we are seeing in this vid is one side of the verbal harassment that's taking place.
SAHMinIL,
Thanks for providing more details. This is an interesting story.
September 21, 2009 at 6:37 pm
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September 21, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Had I not seen this, I would have been inclined not to believe the sheer contempt and nastiness – the "one or two people" must have had the approval of management for displaying these items publicly.
It is powerful, but speaks only to the converted, in a tone of martyrdom willingly endured. If the authors want to seriously run with this, they should have it properly scripted and re-edited, with a professional voice-over.
September 21, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Taking the video on face value as we must, and I do believe it to be genuine, it is clear the level of animosity and invidious rancour that drives at least some of those inside the building. In wanting to deny people the right to peaceful protest, their massively hypocritical double-standards is nothing short of fascist His voting record, his commitment to FOCA, their behaviour, there is definitely a pattern here in Illinois.. Shame on them and shame on all those who voted for the former Illinois senator of seven years in to the White House.
September 21, 2009 at 8:49 pm
In the beginning of the video, it's stated that some of the pictures were taken on the late 80's. One of the signs referred to a HIV positive teacher who, according to the narrator, got the virus through a blood transfusion. That's just not something likely to happen nowadays. Some signs, though, are recent (the one about Obama – this is Northern Illinois, but nobody cares that much about Senators, so it must be recent). My point being, that as this covers a 20-year period, the fact that most of these signs aren't there now doesn't prove anything.
Craig: if it's just pro-life protesters they're frustrated about, then why the rubber chicken on the cross? Or why the picture depicting Jesus doing a vulgar gesture?
Of course these people show contempt of God. No truly God-fearing human being would kill babies.
with a professional voice-over.
I disagree with this. I think the narrator did a good job, it was poignant. The video does kind of preach to the choir, but I think it could also appeal to those Christians out there who haven't given the issue much thought and are thus under the delusion that you can both be anti-life and a follower of Christ.
September 21, 2009 at 9:29 pm
SAHMinIL, thanks for going after verification.
Craig, just as we are duty-bound to investigate the claims of the film, we are also duty-bound to investigate whether or not the protests constitute harassment. I do not believe we have sufficient evidence of that; in fact, I do not believe we have any evidence of it. Their other videos and their webpage seem to indicate they attempt to dissuade mothers coming to the clinic to have abortions. That another campaign (the one with the large graphic photos of murdered babies) visited this clinic does not prove anything about local protesters.
September 22, 2009 at 12:57 am
To the person that lives in Rockford and doesn't believe these pictures are real. Rather than drive by, stop and pray with us on Wednesdays and Friday mornings when the girls are coming in for their abortions. The pictures are located on the South side of the building on 10th St. If you watch the beginning of the video, you will see them where the video pans away from the building. You can also go to our website for a closer look http://www.rockfordprolife.com