Tag: March For Life 2014

Quick Apology: “Better than back-alley abortions”

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Today I would like to continue this pro-life blog series by briefly responding to something which is regularly brought up during discussions on abortion.

Objection

I have often heard it said, even by people who think that abortion is terrible and wrong, that they would prefer to see abortion remain legal for fear that, if it were made illegal, it would just drive the abortion industry underground:

“I think abortion is wrong, but I think it’s much better to keep it legal so that we can make it as safe as possible”

On the Internet, this is often expressed in images such as this:

Never-Going-Back

Of course, whenever a person says he doesn’t like abortion but still wants to keep it legal, a really good starting place to begin the discussion is to ask him first why he don’t like abortion… But does the logic presented here stand up to scrutiny? Is it better for abortion to be legal and regulated?

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Quick Apology: Abortion, a matter of law?

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Last year I posted on Facebook that I was at the March For Life in Washington DC and a lively Facebook thread ensued among my friends concerning my pro-life position. Last year I wrote a couple of posts in response, but got distracted and cut short the series (Seriously, I have ADD when it comes to blog series!).

This year I’ve been writing a new series of posts on the subject of abortion and today I would like to address one of the comments written by a friend of mine in the format of a “Quick Apology“.

2103MarchForLife

Objection

Last year, one of the objections raised was as follows:

“If something is not illegal it is not democratic to try to prevent people from going about legal (if unpleasant) activities”.

Below I’d like to give a rough outline of my reply.

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Staying Fetus-Focused

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Continuing the series of posts on the subject of abortion, I would like to discuss a strategy which you might consider adopting when talking about abortion with those who are pro-choice.

Types of Objection

I would suggest that, when we’re talking about abortion, the discussion really needs to focus on the unborn themselves. What actually are they? In the process of having an abortion, what exactly is being killed?

Embryo

You see, when pro-choice advocates object to the pro-life position, their objections fall into one of two categories:

1. On-topic Objections
These objections are fetus-focussed. For example, if someone says “It’s just a clump of cells”, their objection is on-topic and allows us to discuss the central issue: the unborn child.

2. Off-topic Objections
These objections relate to some peripheral issue and don’t concern the unborn themselves. For example, these following arguments are sometimes given in favour of abortion:

(a) “The world is overpopulated”

(b) “Raising a child is extremely expensive”

(c) “Not all children will have a stable home life”

(d) …

All of these objections are off-topic.

With regards to the off-topic objections, pro-lifers and pro-choicers will, by and large, agree that the problem being raised does need to be addressed by society. For example, both groups want to see poverty eradicated, vulnerable women protected, children born into stable, nurturing homes. However, the difference is those who are pro-life don’t think that the problem raised is sufficient justification for the killing of a defenseless, innocent life.

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March For Life Discussion: Live and let live

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Today I’m continuing my series of posts in response to the Facebook discussion a couple of weeks ago concerning the March For Life.

In my previous entry I briefly looked at what I think can be done to raise the standard of dialog between pro-life and pro-choice advocates. I would now like to start looking at some of the particular issues which were raised during the exchange. Today I would like to focus upon the opening comment from a former schoolmate:

“I kinda just wish people would stop telling other people how to live their lives….I’m pro-CHOICE, not pro-telling-people-what-to-do….”

As a pro-lifer, you hear sentiments similar to the one expressed above with considerable regularity and, on the surface, such a position seems extremely commendable. In fact, it is one of the sacrosanct secular doctrines in contemporary culture.

Live and let live

I think that respecting other people’s opinion is a good thing, I do. I mean, nobody likes to be told what to do, right? However, there are some immediate problems here. For a start, the statement self-refuting. As soon as you tell someone that they should mind their own business, you’re attempting, at least in some measure, to impose your own will on another person. That means you’re breaking your own rule and not minding your own business!

In the remainder of this post I would like to look at whether the live-and-let-live ideal is consistently applied…

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March For Life Discussion: Better Communication

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As I previously mentioned, over the next few days I’m going to be publishing some posts in response to a discussion which took place on my Facebook wall while I was at the March For Life in Washington DC.

pro-life-vs-pro-choice

Some of my friends had reacted negatively to the fact that I was at the March, while others defended my presence at the demonstration, as well as the pro-life position in general.

As I sat in Ronald Reagan Airport at 1am, catching up on this Facebook thread, it was clear that there had been a certain amount of miscommunication between my friends. Now, I think a certain amount of miscommunication is somewhat inevitable, but I would suggest that we can be proactive in ensuring the discussion is productive. This is the subject that I’d like to address in this post.

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March For Life Discussion: Introduction

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As my friends (and Twitter followers!) will know, I was in Washington DC last week for the March For Life. While I was there, I posted the following meme on this blog:

Screen Shot 2014-01-22 at 9.29.28 PM

The blog entry in which the picture was posted was shared on Facebook and received a certain amount of negative feedback from some of my friends. A lively discussion ensued. Since I had quite a full itinerary while on the East Coast, I didn’t really have much time to monitor the conversation thread over the course of the week.

My final night in Washington DC concluded with an Audrey Assad concert and a night of swing dancing, after which my mate John dropped me off at Reagan Airport to catch my 6:30am flight home. Now with some time on my hands, I was able to review the Facebook discussion thread…

Coming a little late to the party, it was clear that some tempers were already frayed. Although I offered a few comments on the thread, I decided that it would be good to sit down and write a series of blog posts, addressing some of the features of the discussion and some of the issues which were raised.

I’ll be posting these posts over the next few days…