Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust

Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust is a Christian American anti-abortion group based in California, founded by Jeff White. The group is best known for displaying graphic images of aborted fetuses in public locations. Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust has attracted nationwide and international attention, regarding the use of graphic abortion imagery, and the debate over the protection of the use of such imagery, by freedom of speech.

Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust was founded in 1998 by Jeff White, who was previously involved in the leadership of another anti-abortion group, Operation Rescue. It was co-founded by Cheryl Conrad, who reports that she became active in pro-life ministry in the 1980s, after she "faced the truth" of her own abortion. The group considers anyone born after January 22, 1973, the date Roe vs Wade legalized abortion in the United States, as survivors of the “American abortion holocaust”. The group name is sometimes shortened to “Survivors”.

Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust is primarily a youth organization, which regularly hosts training sessions aimed at high school and college aged young men and women. After training, the young activists often target college or university campuses as demonstration locations, in hopes of dissuading the college aged individuals, whom they view as a demographic “at risk for abortion”, from having abortions. Demonstrations involve displaying large signs with pictures of aborted fetuses, attempting to engage passers by in conversation about abortion, and the distribution of anti-abortion literature. Because of the use of young activists, the group has been called “the new face of the anti-abortion movement”.

Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust has received criticism regarding the use of the word “holocaust” in their name. Although Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “holocaust” as “a mass slaughter of people: a genocide”, since the 1940s “the Holocaust” usually refers to the mass slaughter of Jews by Nazis during World War II. Fueling the controversy over their name, in 2013, Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust held an anti-abortion demonstration at the New Mexico Holocaust & Intolerance Museum, and they demanded the museum include exhibits on abortion, offending local Jewish leaders. Rabbi Harry Ronsenfeld said, “It is offensive when someone co-opts what’s yours”. In defense of their use of the term, the Survivors said the number of abortions that take place in the United States qualifies it as a genocide.

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