How to Talk to Democrats About Abortion: Five Strategies for Making the Pro-Life Case
This article, written by Eric Pavlat, from Crisis Magazine is one of the best I have ever read on communicating with "pro-choicers". It mentions that early Pro-life feminists Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton feared that women would be exploited and abused if abortion were to become legalized, and their predictions were proven correct. We are seeing an increase in volence toward women today in many forms as a result of the contraceptive mentality and the legalization of abortion.
Many people discount the power of the so-called ‘cultural issues’—and especially the abortion issue. I see it the other way around. These issues are central to the resurgence of the Republicans, central to the national implosion of the Democrats, central to the question of whether there will be a third party.... [The] Democrats’ national decline—or, better, their national disintegration—will continue relentlessly and inexorably until they come to grips with these values issues, primarily abortion.”
Gov. Robert P. Casey,
Fighting for Life (1996)
In the 1970s, when about 40 percent of Democratic congressmen were pro-life, the party had a seemingly insurmountable hold on the House of Representatives. Now, less than 15 percent are pro-life, and they’re in an ever-shrinking House minority. Meanwhile, the big Democratic success stories in 2004 were the new representatives in Iowa, Missouri, and Michigan, as well as new Democratic governors in West Virginia and Louisiana. All of these victories were won by pro-life Democrats.
Some in the Democratic Party read the signs correctly; otherwise, they never could have elected a social moderate like Harry Reid (D-Nevada) as Senate minority leader. But many Democrats are not just pragmatic, wanting victory at any cost. Most Democrats I’ve spoken with seem to feel that maintaining legal abortion is actually the most compassionate course for a government to take, given the number of women facing crisis pregnancies. For them, criminalizing abortion is both sexist and heartless.
Many pro-lifers feel that arguing with such people is hopeless, especially when dealing with a liberal Democratic audience that has already made up its mind about abortion. And yet we’re still called to evangelize. How, then, can we engage pro-choice Democrats in fruitful conversation? (Since Democrats prefer the term “pro-choice,” I will use it in this article.)
First—and most obvious—is prayer. When Jesus calls us to pray for our enemies, we’re to pray for mercy, forgiveness, and conversion. The more authentically we pray, the more love and compassion we feel for those with whom we fight in this culture war.
Beyond prayer, the key to any discussion is to locate the common ground you share with your conversation partner and work from there. This common ground need not involve abortion, at least initially. Finding one area where you agree with your interlocutor—such as the war in Iraq, tax cuts, or the death penalty—creates an openness to hearing your argument. Additionally, it precludes the possibility of his tuning you out solely on the basis of your membership in a certain political party.
Finally, it’s important to lower your initial expectations. Due to the high emotions involved with the abortion debate, you may convince a person on an interior level and find that he nevertheless rejects your position outwardly. Your pressing for a concession early on may actually drive him away, making it that much harder to convince him down the road.
A far better tack is to make some concession on your side first—such as rejecting anti-abortion violence, or promoting increased funding for women’s health—making the other person more likely to consider you “reasonable.” Your having made a concession also helps him lower his own guard and gives him permission to admit to a change in his own attitude.
Strategy No. 1: Oppose Violence Against Women
Abortion was first aggregated to the Democratic Party in the late 1960s and early 1970s when feminists, following up on the civil rights movement, advocated it as part of women’s liberation. Unfortunately, the results have been anything but good for women.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the leading cause of death for pregnant women in the United States is murder. The most frequent murderer of a pregnant woman is the father of her child. Connected to this startling statistic, we see that in post-abortive interviews, between 30 percent and 60 percent of abortions are described by the abortive mother as “coerced,” most often by parents or, again, the child’s father.
By legalizing abortion, our country has created an instant escape hatch for irresponsible males who aren’t willing to accept the consequences of their actions and who pressure women into unwanted abortions. We have formed an expectation among males that if a “mistake” comes along, the woman has an obligation to “fix it.” And they’re often all too willing to enforce this decision with violence: In 2004, the Washington Post reported that an estimated 295 pregnant women are murdered per year, with another 4 to 8 percent of pregnant women suffering physical violence at the hands of their husbands, boyfriends, or partners. While exact numbers are hard to obtain, it’s probable that several thousand non-surgical abortions per year are performed by male partners who simply beat the abdomens of women until miscarriage occurs. This not only kills the child, it leaves the bereaved mother without the ability to prosecute the murderer (in most states, depending on the gestational age of the child) for any crime beyond simple assault and battery. The connection between abortion and domestic violence is unmistakable.
[Entire Story]
Many people discount the power of the so-called ‘cultural issues’—and especially the abortion issue. I see it the other way around. These issues are central to the resurgence of the Republicans, central to the national implosion of the Democrats, central to the question of whether there will be a third party.... [The] Democrats’ national decline—or, better, their national disintegration—will continue relentlessly and inexorably until they come to grips with these values issues, primarily abortion.”
Gov. Robert P. Casey,
Fighting for Life (1996)
In the 1970s, when about 40 percent of Democratic congressmen were pro-life, the party had a seemingly insurmountable hold on the House of Representatives. Now, less than 15 percent are pro-life, and they’re in an ever-shrinking House minority. Meanwhile, the big Democratic success stories in 2004 were the new representatives in Iowa, Missouri, and Michigan, as well as new Democratic governors in West Virginia and Louisiana. All of these victories were won by pro-life Democrats.
Some in the Democratic Party read the signs correctly; otherwise, they never could have elected a social moderate like Harry Reid (D-Nevada) as Senate minority leader. But many Democrats are not just pragmatic, wanting victory at any cost. Most Democrats I’ve spoken with seem to feel that maintaining legal abortion is actually the most compassionate course for a government to take, given the number of women facing crisis pregnancies. For them, criminalizing abortion is both sexist and heartless.
Many pro-lifers feel that arguing with such people is hopeless, especially when dealing with a liberal Democratic audience that has already made up its mind about abortion. And yet we’re still called to evangelize. How, then, can we engage pro-choice Democrats in fruitful conversation? (Since Democrats prefer the term “pro-choice,” I will use it in this article.)
First—and most obvious—is prayer. When Jesus calls us to pray for our enemies, we’re to pray for mercy, forgiveness, and conversion. The more authentically we pray, the more love and compassion we feel for those with whom we fight in this culture war.
Beyond prayer, the key to any discussion is to locate the common ground you share with your conversation partner and work from there. This common ground need not involve abortion, at least initially. Finding one area where you agree with your interlocutor—such as the war in Iraq, tax cuts, or the death penalty—creates an openness to hearing your argument. Additionally, it precludes the possibility of his tuning you out solely on the basis of your membership in a certain political party.
Finally, it’s important to lower your initial expectations. Due to the high emotions involved with the abortion debate, you may convince a person on an interior level and find that he nevertheless rejects your position outwardly. Your pressing for a concession early on may actually drive him away, making it that much harder to convince him down the road.
A far better tack is to make some concession on your side first—such as rejecting anti-abortion violence, or promoting increased funding for women’s health—making the other person more likely to consider you “reasonable.” Your having made a concession also helps him lower his own guard and gives him permission to admit to a change in his own attitude.
Strategy No. 1: Oppose Violence Against Women
Abortion was first aggregated to the Democratic Party in the late 1960s and early 1970s when feminists, following up on the civil rights movement, advocated it as part of women’s liberation. Unfortunately, the results have been anything but good for women.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, the leading cause of death for pregnant women in the United States is murder. The most frequent murderer of a pregnant woman is the father of her child. Connected to this startling statistic, we see that in post-abortive interviews, between 30 percent and 60 percent of abortions are described by the abortive mother as “coerced,” most often by parents or, again, the child’s father.
By legalizing abortion, our country has created an instant escape hatch for irresponsible males who aren’t willing to accept the consequences of their actions and who pressure women into unwanted abortions. We have formed an expectation among males that if a “mistake” comes along, the woman has an obligation to “fix it.” And they’re often all too willing to enforce this decision with violence: In 2004, the Washington Post reported that an estimated 295 pregnant women are murdered per year, with another 4 to 8 percent of pregnant women suffering physical violence at the hands of their husbands, boyfriends, or partners. While exact numbers are hard to obtain, it’s probable that several thousand non-surgical abortions per year are performed by male partners who simply beat the abdomens of women until miscarriage occurs. This not only kills the child, it leaves the bereaved mother without the ability to prosecute the murderer (in most states, depending on the gestational age of the child) for any crime beyond simple assault and battery. The connection between abortion and domestic violence is unmistakable.
[Entire Story]
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