DIALOGUING TO DEFEND LIFE:
PRO-LIFE ANSWERS TO PRO-CHOICE ARGUMENTS
Blog Post #61
On Friday, June 24th the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Dobbs which effectively overturned Roe v. Wade and Casey v. Planned Parenthood. This is a huge win for the Culture of Life and the Constitution because it ruled that there is no Constitutional “right” to an abortion. This ruling will save countless lives which is something we should all be celebrating!
However, this ruling has also raised many questions and concerns. This post is designed to answer as many of those questions and concerns as possible with the facts to help you dialogue to defend life. Feel free to literally copy and paste these answers into conversations you are having. We are all in this together!
Always remember, we love everyone, regardless of whether they agree with us or not. So even if someone personally attacks you and your character, see it as an opportunity to unite your suffering to the suffering of Christ and do not respond with those same kinds of attacks. It is important to remain calm, compassionate, Christlike, and factual.
Let’s begin with prayer:
“God, in your goodness, you gave us life. Help us to be witnesses to the sanctity and sacredness, the blessing and the beauty of life. Give us the words to share your truth with grace and compassion and guide all of us ever closer to your heart. Amen.”
Let’s begin.
ARGUMENT: ABORTION IS A WOMAN’S RIGHT.
ANSWER: No one has the right to murder another human being.
ARGUMENT: MY BODY, MY CHOICE.
ANSWER: A woman’s body doesn’t have four arms, four legs, four eyes, two brains, and two hearts. A baby is not a part of a woman’s body, a baby is inside of a woman’s body. We cannot do whatever we want with our bodies without consequences. Yes, you have the free-will to make whatever choice you want, but some choices are wrong.
ARGUMENT: ABORTION IS HEALTHCARE.
ANSWER: Abortion is not healthcare. It is the killing of an innocent human life.
ARGUMENT: NO ONE SHOULD JUDGE A WOMAN FOR DOING WHAT IS BEST FOR HERSELF.
ANSWER: “If you praise a woman who aborted her child because ‘she did what was best for herself’ then I hope you praise men for abandoning their children because they did what was best for themselves.” - Nick Miller
ARGUMENT: RESTRICTING OR BANNING ABORTIONS WILL ONLY RESULT IN MORE CHILDREN IN THE SYSTEM.
ANSWER: For every one child put into the system there are 36 couples trying to adopt. There are no unwanted children, just unfound families. It’s time for everyone to work together to expedite the adoption process and make it more affordable.
ARGUMENT: I’M NOT PRO-CHOICE, I AM PRO-BECKY…
ANSWER:
ARGUMENT: A BABY IS NOTHING MORE THAN A PARASITE.
ANSWER: A baby is not a parasite. If a baby was a parasite the mother’s immune system would attack it.
ARGUMENT: ABORTION SHOULD BE LEGAL FOR THE CASES WHERE THE MOTHER’S LIFE IS IN DANGER.
ANSWER: Abortion is never medically necessary to save the life of the mother. Here, Neonatologist Dr. Kendra Kolb walks us through the different scenarios where abortion might be considered, but would never be an actual necessity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmomK2RB2A
ARGUMENT: ABORTION SHOULD BE LEGAL FOR THE TREATMENT OF ECTOPIC PREGNANCIES AND MISCARRIAGES.
ANSWER: Abortion is the direct killing of a baby that is alive. Miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy procedures do not kill the child, but remove a child that has, sadly, already died. The confusion comes from the way it is labeled medically. We think Pro Love Ministries explains it best:
“A miscarriage and an abortion procedure are NOT the same thing. Many women will see the word abortion on insurance paperwork or billing after being treated for a pregnancy loss. It is always important to look at the MODIFIER before the word abortion. A miscarriage should be coded as a spontaneous abortion. An elective abortion is in an entirely different category (Z category). There is no medical diagnostic code for therapeutic abortion - it is coded as an elective abortion. The appropriate procedure to treat an ectopic pregnancy is called a salpingectomy or salpingostomy. The tubal pregnancy (ectopic) does not implant in the uterus so the procedure is not a D&C. An ectopic pregnancy implants in the Fallopian tube which connects the ovary to the uterus. The Fallopian tubes are located on the left and right lower abdominal area, but not IN the uterus. An abortion procedure is performed on a LIVE baby IN the uterus.”
ARGUMENT: ABORTION SHOULD BE LEGAL FOR CASES OF RAPE AND INCEST.
ANSWER: Rape and incest are horrific crimes committed against women. It is a trauma. Abortion is also a trauma. We do not remove the trauma through abortion, we simple add another trauma. And the terms of conception do not determine a person’s humanity. Also, the crimes of the father should not be taken out on the child. The child deserves to live and the father should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Finally, rape and incest account for less than 1% of all abortions.
ARGUMENT: JESUS SPENT TIME WITH PROSTITUTES, SO HE KNEW WOMEN WHO HAD ABORTIONS AND HE DID NOT JUDGE THEM.
ANSWER: Jesus did spend a lot of time with prostitutes, tax collectors, and other sinners and He did this on purpose. He came to save the lost. He did not come to condone their lifestyles but to call them to newness of life.
ARGUMENT: JEWISH PEOPLE BELIEVE THAT ABORTION IS OKAY, THEREFORE WE ARE RESPECTING THEIR FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION.
ANSWER: Our laws are made according to the Constitution, and not any one specific religion. There is no constitutional basis for the right to abortion, which was the conclusion of Dobbs. Because we are a democracy we should be celebrating this decision because this gave the power back to the individual states, and therefore, the people, because we will vote for those politicians who represent our views and they will make laws accordingly.
ARGUMENT: THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT JUST WANTS BABIES TO BE BORN BUT DOESN’T CARE ABOUT THEM AFTER BIRTH.
ANSWER: “The Church is going to continue to do what we have always done, what we are constantly accused of not doing, but what we have always done really well, we’re going to love women, children, moms, dads, and families in need. Christians are to thank for hospitals, for orphanages, for the majority of refugee resettlement organizations, special needs organizations, organizations that feed and care for the poor, crisis pregnancy centers, and so much more. Christianity is to thank for the foundation of these things…the vast majority of altruism and the volunteer programs today that meet the needs of the vulnerable in this Country and in the world were founded by Christians and today are still run by Christians for the most part. Every movement toward true justice and equality has been spearheaded by Christians…Christianity has done more good for more people than any other entity or force in the world by far. Period. And we will, by the grace of God, keep doing that.” - Allie Beth Stuckey
ARGUMENT: IF YOU WERE REALLY PRO-LIFE YOU WOULD FIX X, Y, & Z, SOCIAL PROBLEM BEFORE YOU ADVOCATE FOR THE END OF ABORTION.
ANSWER: “Imagine someone saying that the solution to homelessness is killing the homeless. Or the solution to a broken foster care system is killing foster care children. To suggest that you can't oppose violence against unborn children unless you solve every social ill first is the same illogic. We are working to help mothers and families, but the solution is *never* to kill an unborn child. In a society that has for too long accepted violence against the weak as a solution to poverty and societal challenges, proudly oppose lethal violence & work with us to support families in need.” - Lila Rose
ARGUMENT: SLUT SHAMING WOMEN OUTSIDE OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD IS NOT CHRISTLIKE.
ANSWER: Unfortunately, there are some people who do that and it is not loving or compassionate or Christlike. However, the majority of people standing outside of abortion clinics are peacefully praying and talking to women about their options. That is Christlike. And if you would like to see footage of people praying outside of an abortion facility you might consider taking a look at this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1a4gS-gZuQ
ARGUMENT: THE OVERTURNING OF ROE IS NOT A WIN FOR GOD OR HIS CHURCH. NO ONE FEELS THE LOVE AND THIS IS GOING TO TURN PEOPLE OFF TO FAITH. THERE ARE CHURCHES AND PASTORS WHO ARE PRO-CHOICE.
ANSWER: Any church or pastor that would support the murder of innocent children does not stand for the beliefs of Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself said, “Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14 He also reiterated multiple times that “thou shall not kill.” If people leave the church for standing up for the true teachings of Jesus Christ, that is their decision. In the 6th chapter of John, Jesus preached about something people found difficult to accept. 66 “As a result of this, many [of] His disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied Him. 67 Jesus then said to the Twelve, ‘Do you also want to leave?’” This example shows that Jesus does not back down from the truth for the sake of losing followers. He speaks the truth and gives us the free will to accept or reject. We think Allie Beth Stuckey said it best when she said, “The Church is going to continue to do what we have always done, what we are constantly accused of not doing, but what we have always done really well. We’re going to love women, children, moms, dads, and families in need. Christians are to thank for hospitals, for orphanages, for the majority of refugee resettlement organizations, special needs organizations, organizations that feed and care for the poor, crisis pregnancy centers, and so much more. Christianity is to thank for the foundation of these things…the vast majority of altruism and the volunteer programs today that meet the needs of the vulnerable in this Country and in the world were founded by Christians and today are still run by Christians for the most part. Every movement toward true justice and equality has been spearheaded by Christians…Christianity has done more good for more people than any other entity or force in the world by far. Period. And we will, by the grace of God, keep doing that.”
ARGUMENT: YOU CANNOT ADVOCATE FOR ABORTION UNTIL YOU CAN MAKE SURE CHILDREN WILL NOT BE GUNNED DOWN IN SCHOOLS.
ANSWER: Abortion is violence. If we want to see an end to violence it begins by ending violence in the womb.
ARGUMENT: ABORTION IS NOT MURDER
ANSWER: Abortion is the killing of an innocent human being. If you do not believe abortion is murder, we encourage you to read about the actual abortion procedures or watch this video: https://youtu.be/eR1Ut4BPbOw
It is murder and even the most staunch pro-choice supports acknowledge that abortion is murder. Naomi Wolf, a prominent feminist author and abortion supporter admitted that abortion results in death:
“Clinging to a rhetoric about abortion in which there is no life and no death, we entangle our beliefs in a series of self-delusions, fibs and evasions. And we risk becoming precisely what our critics charge us with being: callous, selfish and casually destructive men and women who share a cheapened view of human life... we need to contextualize the fight to defend abortion rights within a moral framework that admits that the death of a fetus is a real death.”
As did Faye Wattleton, the longest reigning president of the largest abortion business in the United States—Planned Parenthood—argued as far back as 1997 that everyone already knows that abortion kills. She proclaims the following in an interview with Ms. Magazine:
“I think we have deluded ourselves into believing that people don't know that abortion is killing. So any pretense that abortion is not killing is a signal of our ambivalence, a signal that we cannot say yes, it kills a fetus.”
ARGUMENT: THOSE PICTURES PRO-LIFERS SHOW ARE FAKE.
ANSWER: The pictures of aborted children are not fake. Many of these photos come from the investigations of abortionists who violate the laws about the disposal of fetal remains. We would encourage you to view these images. It is important to see for yourself what we are talking about.
ARGUMENT: EVEN IF WE MAKE ABORTIONS ILLEGAL PEOPLE WILL STILL HAVE THEM ANYWAY AND THEY WON’T BE SAFE.
ANSWER: Should we just get rid of all laws because there will be people who are bound to break them? And abortions are never safe, they always result in a death.
ARGUMENT: TELL ME HOW PRO-LIFE THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS IF THEY WON’T BAPTIZE A STILL BORN BABY AND WILL NOT GIVE THAT BABY A FUNERAL.
ANSWER: It is true that a still born baby cannot be Baptized, but the reason is because the Sacraments are for the living. The Catholic Church does not baptize dead adults either and for the same reason, the Sacraments are for the living. As for the funeral Mass, that is absolutely false. The Catholic Church WILL allow the baby to have a funeral Mass even though the baby has not been baptized. We have attached a picture taken straight from the Roman Missal. The title says, “For the Funeral of a Child Who Died Before Baptism.” The Catholic Church DOES believe that life begins at conception and is extremely consistent with this teaching.
ARGUMENT: THE PURPOSE OF CHRISTIANITY IS TO NOT JUDGE OTHERS, SO STOP JUDGING THESE WOMEN AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.
ANSWER: The purpose of the Christian religion is to know, love, and serve God. Serving God means protecting the most vulnerable in society. In this case, it means protecting the women and children that are being preyed upon by a billion dollar industry that does not help them, but instead, hurts them and makes them murderers of their own children. This is not a judgement of these woman who are pregnant and scared. This is a call to action to protect these women, their children, and the most precious right to life. This is about facts. This is about truth. Abortion is not a right. It is not healthcare. It is the killing of an innocent human life.
ARGUMENT: YOU ARE FORCING YOUR RELIGIOUS BELIEFS ON OTHERS!
ANSWER: While abortion is a religious issue it is also a moral, scientific, and constitutional issue. The ruling in favor of Dobbs had nothing to do with religion. The Supreme Court of the United States found that “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion…” (Read the entire ruling here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf) We think Allie Beth Stuckey said it best when she said, “Roe and Casey were wrongly decided which is not just a conservative argument, Ruth Bader Ginsburg also said that it was a poorly decided decision. So this is not really controversial among legal scholars who have known for a very long time that Roe and Casey were both built on really sinking sand. There really is no constitutional basis for the right for abortion. And this is recognized even by very smart people who may be for the choice of abortion themselves. They understand that Roe and Casey were wrongly decided. Why, constitutionally, do you disagree with this ruling?”
Scientifically, life begins at conception. This information is taken from a Live Action article entitled, “40 quotes from medical experts and textbooks that prove human life begins at fertilization.” Here is a list of 40 quotes from medical experts and medical textbooks that prove human life begins at fertilization.
1. “The life cycle of mammals begins when a sperm enters an egg.”
Okada et al., A role for the elongator complex in zygotic paternal genome demethylation, NATURE 463:554 (Jan. 28, 2010)
2. “Fertilization is the process by which male and female haploid gametes (sperm and egg) unite to produce a genetically distinct individual.”
Signorelli et al., Kinases, phosphatases and proteases during sperm capacitation, CELL TISSUE RES. 349(3):765 (Mar. 20, 2012)
3. “The oviduct or Fallopian tube is the anatomical region where every new life begins in mammalian species. After a long journey, the spermatozoa meet the oocyte in the specific site of the oviduct named ampulla, and fertilization takes place.”
Coy et al., Roles of the oviduct in mammalian fertilization, REPRODUCTION 144(6):649 (Oct. 1, 2012) (emphasis added).
4. “Fertilization – the fusion of gametes to produce a new organism – is the culmination of a multitude of intricately regulated cellular processes.”
Marcello et al., Fertilization, ADV. EXP. BIOL. 757:321 (2013). National Institutes of Health, Medline Plus Merriam-Webster Medical Dictionary (2013).
5. “The government’s own definition attests to the fact that life begins at fertilization. According to the National Institutes of Health, ‘fertilization’ is the process of union of two gametes (i.e., ovum and sperm) ‘whereby the somatic chromosome number is restored and the development of a new individual is initiated.'”
Steven Ertelt “Undisputed Scientific Fact: Human Life Begins at Conception, or Fertilization” LifeNews .com 11/18/13
6. “Human life begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm (spermatozoon) unites with a female gamete or oocyte (ovum) to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized, totipotent cell marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual.” “A zygote is the beginning of a new human being (i.e., an embryo).”
Keith L. Moore, The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, 7th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2003. pp. 16, 2.
7. “In that fraction of a second when the chromosomes form pairs, the sex of the new child will be determined, hereditary characteristics received from each parent will be set, and a new life will have begun.”
Kaluger, G., and Kaluger, M., Human Development: The Span of Life, page 28-29, The C.V. Mosby Co., St. Louis, 1974.
8. An embryology textbook describes how birth is just an event in the development of a baby, not the beginning of his/her life:
“It should always be remembered that many organs are still not completely developed by full-term and birth should be regarded only as an incident in the whole developmental process.”
F Beck Human Embryology, Blackwell Scientific Publications, 1985 page vi
9. “It is the penetration of the ovum by a sperm and the resulting mingling of nuclear material each brings to the union that constitutes the initiation of the life of a new individual.”
Clark Edward and Corliss Patten’s Human Embryology, McGraw – Hill Inc., 30
10. “Although it is customary to divide human development into prenatal and postnatal periods, it is important to realize that birth is merely a dramatic event during development resulting in a change in environment.”
The Developing Human: Clinically Oriented Embryology fifth edition, Moore and Persaud, 1993, Saunders Company, page 1
11. “Your baby starts out as a fertilized egg… For the first six weeks, the baby is called an embryo.”
Prenatal Care, US Department Of Health And Human Services, Maternal and Child Health Division, 1990
12. “Landrum B. Shettles, M.D., P.h.D. was first scientist to succeed at in vitro fertilization: ‘The zygote is human life… there is one fact that no one can deny; Human beings begin at conception.’
“Zygote is a term for a newly conceived life after the sperm and the egg cell meet but before the embryo begins to divide.”
From Landrum B. Shettles “Rites of Life: The Scientific Evidence for Life Before Birth” Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1983 p 40
13. The medical textbook, Before We Are Born – Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects, states:
“The zygote and early embryo are living human organisms.”
Keith L. Moore & T.V.N. Persaud Before We Are Born – Essentials of Embryology and Birth Defects (W.B. Saunders Company, 1998. Fifth edition.) Page 500
14. “Thus a new cell is formed from the union of a male and a female gamete. [sperm and egg cells] The cell, referred to as the zygote, contains a new combination of genetic material, resulting in an individual different from either parent and from anyone else in the world.”
Sally B Olds, et al., Obstetric Nursing (Menlo Park, California: Addison – Wesley publishing, 1980) P 136
15. “The term conception refers to the union of the male and female pronuclear elements of procreation from which a new living being develops. It is synonymous with the terms fecundation, impregnation, and fertilization … The zygote thus formed represents the beginning of a new life.”
J.P. Greenhill and E.A. Freidman. Biological Principles and Modern Practice of Obstetrics. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Publishers. 1974 Pages 17 and 23.
16. “Development begins with fertilization, the process by which the male gamete, the sperm, and the femal gamete, the oocyte, unite to give rise to a zygote.”
T.W. Sadler, Langman’s Medical Embryology, 10th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2006. p. 11.
17. “[The zygote], formed by the union of an oocyte and a sperm, is the beginning of a new human being.”
Keith L. Moore, Before We Are Born: Essentials of Embryology, 7th edition. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders, 2008. p. 2.
18. “Although life is a continuous process, fertilization… is a critical landmark because, under ordinary circumstances, a new genetically distinct human organism is formed when the chromosomes of the male and female pronuclei blend in the oocyte.”
Ronan O’Rahilly and Fabiola Miller, Human Embryology and Teratology, 3rd edition. New York: Wiley-Liss, 2001. p. 8.
19. “[All] organisms, however large and complex they might be as full grown, begin life as a single cell. This is true for the human being, for instance, who begins life as a fertilized ovum.”
Dr. Morris Krieger “The Human Reproductive System” p 88 (1969) Sterling Pub. Co
20. “The first cell of a new and unique human life begins existence at the moment of conception (fertilization) when one living sperm from the father joins with one living ovum from the mother. It is in this manner that human life passes from one generation to another. Given the appropriate environment and genetic composition, the single cell subsequently gives rise to trillions of specialized and integrated cells that compose the structures and functions of each individual human body.
“Every human being alive today and, as far as is known scientifically, every human being that ever existed, began his or her unique existence in this manner, i.e., as one cell. If this first cell or any subsequent configuration of cells perishes, the individual dies, ceasing to exist in matter as a living being. There are no known exceptions to this rule in the field of human biology.”
James Bopp, ed., Human Life and Health Care Ethics, vol. 2 (Frederick, MD: University Publications of America, 1985)
Morally, it is never okay to murder another human being.
There are countless other arguments, and if you know of an argument we did not cover, please leave us a comment and we will add it to this blog post as soon as possible.
Finally, we just want to send you out with some encouragement. In the words of Allie Beth Stuckey, “I promise you that every single effort you have made to persuade people in the way of life, in the way of dignity of unborn children, every single second of work that you have put in to care for babies and their mothers and their families, every single time you have sent an email to your congressperson, every single phone call you have made, every single social media post you have posted, every single sentence of every single conversation that you have with a pro-choicer, God has used to build to this moment. I promise you. He doesn’t need us. He can accomplish everything that He wants to accomplish on his own, but by His grace He chooses to use us and He doesn’t need grand gestures. He doesn’t need us to have large platforms. He doesn’t need us to have a lot of money. What He needs is our daily and consistent, small and private obedience. Yes, public too. Yes, big acts of obedience. Yes, big risks are important too, and having big, loud, bold courage, all of that is important, but I just want you to know that every single second of every single bit of effort that you have put towards this movement and put towards this cause is counted and it has helped build to this.”
Keep up the great work for life! We are praying for you and rooting you on every step of the way!
Recommended Resources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TmomK2RB2A
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1tsUlnB9hc
https://www.unplannedfilm.com/resources
https://www.unplannedfilm.com/
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/unplanned-abby-johnson/1100208008