theopneustos.

A chat with an abortion advocate [REPOST]

I think it was a good way to start my 21st year on earth. She was campaigning for Elizabeth Colbert-Busch and I asked what Mrs. Colbert-Busch’s stance on abortion was.

“Elizabeth believes that abortion is a woman’s personal private choice.” Well this is…

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I had a talk with an abortion advocate today.

I think it was a good way to start my 21st year on earth. She was campaigning for Elizabeth Colbert-Busch and I asked what Mrs. Colbert-Busch’s stance on abortion was.

“Elizabeth believes that abortion is a woman’s personal private choice.” Well this is why I cannot possibly stand beside Elizabeth. I categorically deny that a woman has the right to choose to end the life of her child.

“Well, we appreciate your opinion, but you cannot force it on others.” Ma’am, I’m not speaking in the realm of opinions. I am saying that it is actually and truly wrong for anyone to end the life of their child by abortion. This is a moral claim more akin to the statement ‘insulin treats diabetes’ than it is to ‘vanilla is the best flavor of ice-cream.’ You’re the one forcing abortions on the 3,000 children aborted every year, and violating their right to live.

“No, sir, you’re stating an opinion, and no one’s opinion is better than anyone else’s.” Of course they are, otherwise you wouldn’t disagree with me. Are all opinions equally valid and true? “Of course!” Then you agree with me that it’s wrong to kill children, because my opinion, as you call it, is equally valid and as true as your opinion.

“Well sir, a child isn’t a child until it’s been born.” What’s the difference? A few inches travel? “It’s no longer dependent on the mother.” It’s still largely dependent on the mother! “It has the breath of God in its lungs.” God says that He knit us together in our mother’s womb and that He knew us before we were born.

“Sir, read the Hebrew Bible.” Ma’am, I just quoted the Hebrew Bible to you. Ha-Shem makes it clear that life begins before the moment of birth. “Sir, read the Hebrew Bible.”

At this point she walked away rapidly. I kid you not. She just. walked. away. Power-walked, in fact.

I did not edit or rephrase this: As best as I remember this is true to our conversation. It was telling, to say the least. 

Here are a few thoughts about this encounter that I hope help you next time you talk to someone with these or similar convictions:

• Remember to always use accurate vocabulary. By referring to the unborn as a child (what it is) rather than a fetus (its current developmental stage) we trade sterilized language for words that make our point clear: At stake is a human life and we are not willing to let that go so flippantly. 
• Stay on their level. Obviously I could have just turned to scripture right from the start, but there is no way of knowing that she accepts scripture as authoritative. By waiting until she brought it up, I engaged her where she was. 
• Be polite, yet persistent. Again, with human lives being lost every day to this horror, let us be dogged in the opportunities that are afforded us. I could have simply said “agree to disagree” and left it at that. Hopefully she’ll remember the guy who stood next to her and patiently engaged her, disagreeing without being disagreeable.
• One thing I wish I had done: Chuckle a bit. Disarm them by asking something like “why would you believe a silly thing like that?” when they say a fetus isn’t a child, or a woman has an open-ended right to choose. This is not derisive laughter at someone, it’s bemused laughter about a silly idea. A jovial nature is impressively helpful when discussing something so intense as abortion, so the laughter helps to set the tone.

I hope that this exchange is enlightening and helpful for you. It was certainly an interesting experience first-hand. May God use us all to love and serve even our tiniest of neighbors.

The abortion debate is really about the nature of the fetus.

If the fetus is a human being, then abortion is morally wrong.

• No one should be killed because they are an inconvenience.
• No one should be killed because their father was a rapist.
• No one should be killed because their life will be hard.
• No one should be killed because of their gender.
• No one should be killed because they are unwanted.

The burden of proof rests on the ones who want to prove that the fetus is not a human being. What is it, then? And if you’re going to say that a fetus isn’t a human person, then you must demonstrate the difference between a human being and a human person. And please don’t confuse functional persons and ontological persons, because a list to define a functional person is always obviously problematic and I really get tired of pointing out that when someone is asleep or unconscious in such a way that they are not immediately sentient, they don’t become less of a person.

The #1 lie women are told about abortion is…

auroracrowfae:

grace-isms:

gods-advocate:

…that children are a curse—some even say a “parasite”—that threatens to harm the future well being of the expectant parents. The truth is that children are a blessing and always represent the long-term hope of the future. As Carl Sandburg said, “A baby is God’s opinion that life should go on.” We cannot destroy them without diminishing the worth of women.

— Manhattan Declaration

Yes. But then there is also the excuse that the child will not have a “happy life,” which I find equally repellent. Poverty, disfiguration, and disease are not reasons to abort a child. We are in a very bad place as a society if we consider a life with struggles as a life not worth living. The bottom line is that God is the only one who knows what will happen in the future and we do not have the authority to cut someone’s life short.

Actually the bottom line is that if I don’t want children, I won’t have children. It’s really that simple, because it’s not yours or your god’s decision what I do with my life. But, that doesn’t mean I will just “keep my legs closed” or comply with similar sex-shaming bullshit.

So, what have you done for all those children living in poverty, situations where they are unwanted, or to help fix the fostering and adoption services? Or, are you the type of person who follows the republican party line and think that people are just poor because they want to be, so there’s no reason to provide them any care or assistance whatsoever?

Just because you believe something doesn’t give you the freedom to force me to live by your standards. Trust me, you’d be unhappy if the shoe was on the other foot and it was MY religious beliefs that were calling all the shots.

And, what about the women who are pregnant? Nobody talks about them as people. They’re either misguided sluts at best, or murderous whores at worst. Why don’t we talk about women as if they’re capable of making their own choices?

So you’re content to enjoy all the privileges and none of the responsibilities? Finish the sentence: It’s okay to kill a child when… It’s unwanted? It’s going to live a poor life? When Republicans are rich snobs? When the people who are defending that child haven’t personally taken responsibility for every orphan/foster child in the world?

The point of the original quote is that society has fed into the lie that children—human children, of the same species as the mother, and necessary for the propagation of the human race—are some sort of parasite. Regardless of creed, this is an idiotic position, and it blatantly ignores the crux of the issue: That human lives are at stake in the abortion debate, which makes abortion murder. 

(via teacupgalaxy)

My opening arguments in the abortion debate are up.

You can read them here.