As I sat down to write this post, my first thought was to contrast how “pro-choicers” and pro-lifers tell their stories. That’s how we communicate—in bits and pieces, shards and fragments—which we bring together into narratives: stories.
But on second thought, I would like to focus on how ordinary pro-lifers like you and me persuade others to see the unborn child in a different light.
So, let me in just one sentence summarize what underlines the sum and substance of pro-abortion persuasion. Nuts to you, Rick Warren, it is all about me.
There was a day where the pro-life perspective enjoyed what you might call the home field advantage. That’s no longer the case in popular culture and surely in most of the dominant media outlets. But I would argue that we are beginning to restore some of the massive erosion that has taken place, in no small part by the behavior you model, the attitude you employ, and the “tone” of your outreach. Let me explain.
I write for a living, so I’d be the last guy to minimize the power of words and images. But it is also so very true that the wrong messenger—or the right messenger with the wrong heart—can neutralize even the most self-evident truth.
So what about us? Let me quickly make three points.
1. Saint Francis of Assisi is credited with having said, “Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” It is our obligation to help women facing a crisis pregnancy before and after birth. That also establishes our credentials with someone who has no strong feelings either way. Moreover assisting women and their babies appeals to the idealism of young people who are the most persuasive apostles we have.
But if even none of that was true, aiding women and girls in crisis is consistent with who we are and what we believe–and honors the cause many of us have given most of our adult lives to. It’s the right thing to do!
2. Because we are adults, we take responsibility for our behavior. Are pro-lifers flawless, never make a mistake? Of course not. Moral maturity is becoming the decision maker who less and less frequently fails the test. But when we do, we don’t try to disguise our failures by pretending what we did–and to whom–lacks ethical weight.
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There is one ten letter word that is perhaps the only true obscenity to pro-abortionists: repentance. Our humanity shines through when we express regret and ask for forgiveness. That is why women who have experienced abortions and who now regret them are welcomed into our Movement with open arms and why they are such persuasive champions.
But we offer them a shoulder to cry on regardless of whether or not they have come to that stage of recognition. They are not notches on our belt but human beings who, like you and me, don’t always meet the challenge in difficult times and who need healing.
3. If pro-abortionists are tapping into a culture that is becoming ever coarser and more brutal, how can we nonetheless believe they will eventually lose? This is a little indirect but stay with me for a moment.
As time permits I listen to a program some of you may hear on your local NPR station: “All Things Considered.” I’ve re-listened to a fascinating (no lesser word will do) interview with Dr. Diana Deutsch several times.
Deutsch, a psychologist, once tested 203 students at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music to see how many of them had perfect pitch.
On a test of 36 different notes, incredibly 74% of the kids who spoke an East Asian language had perfect pitch while only 14% of the English speakers did.
Genetics? Tiger Moms? Naw.
Unlike English, which is atonal, many East Asian languages, such as Mandarin, Cantonese, and Vietnamese, are “tonal.” That is, a word’s meaning often depends on the tone in which it is said (not to be confused with intonation such as sarcasm).
So we English speakers say (for example) “me” in essentially a monotone whereas the same exact word in Chinese will have four different meanings, depending on the tone.
Dr. Deutsch surmises that learning perfect pitch is, for fluent speakers of a tonal language, akin to learning a second tone language. Application for us?
By the language we use, the imagery we employ, and the services we perform on behalf of women—pre and post-abortion—pro-lifers are providing an alternative to the me-me-and-always me idiom of the pro-abortionist. In a way it’s like perfect pitch, once thought to be confined to an infinitesimal few. For you, it’s not. We see it every day in the everyday behavior of grassroots pro-life champions.
Pro-lifers are equipping their own children and others who come into contact with us with a second language, one with a far richer, more vibrant vocabulary. It is a vocabulary built around the understanding that we become more fully human not by sacrificing unborn children but by sacrificing for them.
LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. This post originally appeared in at National Right to Life News Today —- an online column on pro-life issues.
