Genocide Awareness Project

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The Genocide Awareness Project (GAP) is a movable pro-life display being temporarily installed on multiple university campuses in the United States and Canada since 1997. The display includes pictures of aborted foetuses juxtaposed next to pictures of abused animals and victims of genocide. The display is produced and managed by the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, a privately funded United States organization.

In 1999 the display has been on at least 17 campuses. Gregg Cunningham, the executive director of the Los Angeles based-center said that most people have never seen abortion photographs, and in 1998 at the University of Tennessee, eight pregnant students who were planning on getting abortions changed their minds after seeing the display. ^[1]

In 2001, the display was mounted on trucks to roam the San Francisco Bay Area streets and freeways. This approach was also used earlier in Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, and Los Angeles area ^[2]

[edit] Controversy

The organizers maintain that the display stimulates dialogue among students and others who ordinarily would ignore the abortion issue.

In March 2007, pro-life students from the University of Calgary successfully organized their third GAP display. Pro-choicers peacefully protested at each of their displays, including bringing manure as a sign of what they thought of the campaign. Discussions remained peaceful however and students from both sides of the debate were able to express their views.

At the same time, in some places the controversy around the project was quite high and some campuses banned the display. On March 16, 2004 The National Post run a headline, “Pro-life signs rejected as inflammatory,” describing that University of Alberta turned down the request to put this display in a high-traffic area of the campus, alternatively offering a space in a room. The posters were described as discriminatory and inciting contempt towards women. Other protesters say that to compare these women to Nazis and terrorists is hateful and offensive.

In many places the students protested the abuse of the words genocide and Holocaust in this context. For example, at the University of Maryland over 500 students signed the petition "I Am Insulted by the Exploitation of the Holocaust for Political Gain".^[3] The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform website maintains a FAQ where they explain their reasons for doing this comparison.

A Letter to the Editor published in The Cincinnati Post on April 20, 2000 says that the genocide exhibit uses a false analogy between Holocaust and abortion, quoting: The distinction is simple, and is based on the use of the significant word: Choice. The answer to this accusation published on May 10, 2000 states that that there is the common thread connecting racism, the Holocaust, and abortion. In each case the same technique is the basis of the crime: dismiss the victim as less than human, then dispose of them.

Sometimes the discussions between the opposite camps border on slander. For example in September 2000, the Pro-Choice Action Network had to publish an apology to GAP in Vancouver Sun for an article published earlier on February 24, 2000 in this newspaper.