| A friend, call him Chip, recounted an exchange he had with a female coworker. He told me that the woman got extremely animated after he answered her that he was voting for Bush mainly based on moral issues, specifically abortion. In her excitement, she said that men shouldn't be allowed to vote on abortion since it is about women and that abortion was a woman's God-given right. Chip told me that he ended the discussion by pointing out to her that trying to use reason or facts with someone who was so irrationally attached to the position she espoused would be pointless. She wasn't interested in any exchange of ideas, she merely wanted to defend, in the loudest and most abrasive way possible, what she has taken as one of her guiding beliefs. |
| I know this woman and can tell you that she is friendly, amusing and creative. I have never spoken with her about abortion, but judging by the reaction that Chip got, I don't think I can. If she becomes verbally offensive and excited, then I don't want to be a part of that. Mainly because I know why she gets that way on this singular subject. I know, because I was in her shoes not too long ago. I used to vociferously defend the "right" of women to have an abortion. I employed the politically-correct euphemisms that I was coached to use through the media. I called the pre-born child a feotus, tissue, "it" ... anything but a human, a child, a baby, a person, a soul. I wouldn't use these words, since they would accurately imply what was being "aborted". |
| I had these discussions with my brother when I was still "pro-choice" and he was strongly pro-life. I will use him as my interlocutor for purposes of this article. If he pushed the issue about what was being "aborted", I would quickly change the subject to an issue of "rights", rather than get any closer to the actual act of the abortion. The closer he got to the fact of what an abortion was, the more uncomfortable I got. The last thing I wanted to admit was that a defenseless, innocent and living human being was being torn apart or burned alive, without anestesia or recourse to the law. This is what I was coached to do by the media and Hollywood. They told me that women have a legal and moral right to have an abortion, but these same women had no choice on how deep they could go into investigating just what an abortion was. That information was kept from these women. They were not allowed to see their child with ultrasound prior to the abortion. They were not allowed to know about the alternatives to abortion. They were not allowed to refer to their child as he or she. They could not choose to have some more time to think about this decision once they stepped inside the abortuary. In these matters, the women had no choice. But in the matter of paying the doctor to kill their child - that was their choice. |
| I learned from the abortion-supporters like Cher and Elton John how to evade the male-dominated, conservative, religious right attack on a women's right. Of course, if someone asked me who or what constituted this vast right-wing conspiracy, I would evade the question and launch into a tirade on the horrible fact that the pro-lifers would "force a young incest victim to ruin her life by making her carry her child to term!" |
| If you've been counting, you'll notice that using the tactic taught to all pro-abortion people, I essentially evaded three very cogent and reasonable topics in favor of the ephemeral argument and tactic of evasion, emotion and rhetoric. After my brother repsonded that no matter what the circumstances of conception were, the child was still a human being, I deftly steered the conversation to the issue of fetal viability. |
| I said that it was okay to abort a child in the first trimester since it was not a "viable" feotus. Having had no medical training, I, of course, had no idea what that meant. But the propaganda used it, so I did as well, without question or choice. When my brother explained that "viability" is constantly moving closer and closer to conception, and that if I maintained an integrated and honest position on viability, then I was obligated to rally behind the movement to ban partial-birth abortions. Once again, I had to change the subject and state that the real problem was overpopulation and that abortion helped to weed out the population which in turn was good for the economy, but most especially for the environment. I reminded my brother of the pictures he's seen of the starving kids in Africa. Being educated in pro-life truths, he then countered with the fact that the world is actually seeing a population dearth, not excess. He presented statistics and facts that proved that developed countries in the Americas and Europe currently don't have enough live births to keep the population at its current rate of growth. |
| These kinds of facts had no effect on me at the time. I would merely throw out another defenseless statement or position. I never had facts to back up anything I said. But immorality, bigotry, racism and elitism rarely have facts to back up their hateful positions. Abortion is a frightening combination of all of these evils. Maybe I'll include my exposition of that in a later article.
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| So, what do you say when someone starts rattling off the same worn-out rationalizations for abortion? You calmly and compassionately explain the Truth. You have that on your side. They don't. Also, always remember that the women who most viciously defend abortion are normally victims of abortion. They were most likely coerced by husbands or boyfriends to have an abortion. A good case in point is Cher. I can't even look at her without being repulesd, because of her pro-abortion position. But, she has admitted to having an abortion. This is the reason she so adamantly defends this atrocity - it's her way of trying to rationalize her actions. If she can convince more women to murder their babies, then, in some way, she is vindicated and her complicity is lessened - or so she thinks.
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| You have to keep this in mind when dealing with a rabid pro-death person. They most likely are scarred and hurting from what others have done to them. They don't hate you, and they are still children of God. Treat them as such. Treat them like the scared, damaged children that they are. We should never return their insensitivity with more acrimony. They are bitter, mean and spiteful because that's the easiest way to shout your anger. This is their outlet, so be aware of that and handle them with care. Who knows, maybe you're someone who knows Cher and you can change her vicious, hateful heart to one of love and compassion. Wouldn't that be a wondrous miracle?
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| May God have mercy on our souls! |
Please me with any questions or comments.