Evangelical Right: Picture Of Aborted Fetus To Be Flown Over Cleveland

What would Jesus do, you ask, if he were alive and well on Earth today? He'd rent an airplane and terrorize Cleveland with pictures of aborted fetuses. After all, it's much cheaper than feeding the homeless people down below. [From Cleveland Plain Dealer via Talk2Action]

As a shock tactic, a national group that opposes abortion plans to fly a billboard-size picture of an aborted fetus over Cleveland beginning Monday.

The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, which frequently employs such attention-grabbing advertising, hopes to jar people into reconsidering their support of abortion, director Gregg Cunningham said.

He said the banner would be the most graphic picture ever displayed from the air.

"It will be categorically the most shocking we have ever done," he said. "The imagery is so horrifying that I can't almost stand to look at it."

Cunningham wouldn't describe the advertisement, which also displays a toll-free number to the organization. But he said the advertisement would compare an aborted fetus to a second graphic image related to the war in the Middle East.
"This thing just sucks the wind out of even me," he said.

The California-based group, which has an office in Columbus, is best known for displaying on college campuses giant photos of mutilated bodies of genocide victims or lynchings next to photos of aborted fetuses.

The group advocates nonviolence, but its displays often set off aggressive protests that result in vandalism and lead to arrests.

The group's nonprofit status prevents it from campaigning for candidates or ballot issues, but it is targeting Ohio because of its heated races for governor and other statewide offices. The group flew pictures above Cincinnati and Columbus in the weeks leading up to Ohio's May primary as part of its 2006 Key States Initiative.

Cunningham said the group is spending millions of dollars on the campaign, which he said is not political.

"We know from a great deal of market research that people who see what abortion does to a baby are less likely to support abortion rights," he said.

Comparing his campaign to the civil rights and anti-war movements, he said, "Social reform is driven by horrifying pictures of injustice."

Kellie Copeland, president of the NARAL-Pro Choice Ohio, a group that supports abortion rights, dismissed the banner campaign as a gimmick.

She said that if the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform "is really concerned about reducing the number of abortions, they should help us and other groups trying to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, because that is what works."

Of the group's influence on this year's election, Copeland said, "I don't believe these tactics will have any impact at all."