By JOHN P. CASTONGUAY
COLUMNIST
I am pro-life.
I say this not out of an attempt to win people to the cause through personal charisma or necessarily to advertise the pro-life cause, but out of a need to conquer my own fear. In some circles, I have consistently been, if not vocal, at least comfortable with other people being aware of my position on abortion. However, more often than not I smile and appear to nod in agreement as people advocate for what I hold to be the killing of the innocent. I am afraid to engage with those who do not share my pro-life stance. Why? And why do people in general have to avoid revealing personal convictions? Frequently, those with strong convictions are condemned as angry, judgmental and closed-minded. Pro-lifers and others with firm moral beliefs are implicitly and explicitly encouraged to keep their thoughts to themselves so they do not offend others.
Often for pro-lifers, the fear of condemnation for being closed-minded is combined with a fear of more vicious personal attacks. I attended this year’s March for Life with Fordham’s Respect for Life club this weekend. As we neared the end of the march, in a crowd of an estimated 500,000 other pro-lifers, we were greeted by three teenage pro-choice activists with obnoxious and offensive signs. One read, “F— b—-es! Get Abortions!” Another proclaimed, “If Jesus had been aborted, you guys would have nothing to b—- about!” and a third read, “Stop indoctrinating your children.” These signs are clearly closed-minded and disgusting, but the second two hint at larger problems. The second sign asserts that pro-lifers are merely grumbling, and they should just go home and stop complaining; pro-lifers should just “go with the flow.” They are verbally sidelined due to their activism.
The third sign may be the most disturbing. It argues that pro-lifers only strongly believe that abortion is wrong because they have been indoctrinated. The counter-protesters dismiss the pro-life argument as entirely illegitimate and without reason or value, displaying a true abandonment of open-mindedness. Open-mindedness is not the absence of opinion, but a willingness to invite dialogue and to recognize some value in the opinion of another. Taking a public stand, rather than passive acquiescence, is more open-minded, because it invites genuine dialogue.
Pro-lifers and pro-choice advocates alike should applaud participants in the March for Life, for their public triumph over fear and public witness serve as an invitation for dialogue.
Though pro-lifers are not perfect representations of civil dialogue, one can look at the majority of the participants as a good example of conviction. Rather than ignoring political and moral disagreements with your friends, fearlessly assert your position while actively engaging theirs. Find truth through dialogue.
Amanda • Feb 21, 2013 at 7:57 pm
I’m commenting on this so that you know a) I didn’t write any of those other comments, though one bears my first name and another sounds like a lot of stuff I would say b) I didn’t read any of these comments before I wrote my article, despite the fact that it would seem like I wrote my article ON one of these comments and c) I forgot this was the title of yours, so while I meant mine as a response, I didn’t actually mean for it to be quite so direct. Anyway.
Brendan Burke • Jan 31, 2013 at 2:27 am
So first you argue: “Frequently, those with strong convictions are condemned as…closed-minded.”
But then proclaim: “The counter-protesters dismiss the pro-life argument as entirely illegitimate and without reason or value, displaying a true abandonment of open-mindedness.”
I don’t see how you could have contradicted yourself more. Are you not condemning these individuals as closed-minded for sharing their strong convictions?
Certainly there are other ways of communicating a pro-choice perspective, but these signs are much closer to promoting dialogue than your silence. To quote this article, “Taking a public stand, rather than passive acquiescence, is more open-minded, because it invites genuine dialogue.”
N/A-JPC you know who this is • Jan 31, 2013 at 12:55 am
Those three signs do NOT represent the pro-choice movement. No reasonable person is pro-abortion. We are pro-choice because we believe a woman has the right, I repeat the constitutional right under Roe v. Wage and reaffirmed under Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), to make the decision as to whether to get an abortion or not.
If this country was based on the separation of church and state, then why is a church teaching (life begins at conception) being the central aspect of any pro-life legislation enacted by the federal/state government. We pro-choicers believe that abortion should be safe, legal and rare because we do not agree with the Christian teaching that life begins at conception and because a woman should be able to control her own body.
Pro-lifers care more about a fetus, whose status as life is debated to this day, then actual babies who are born, or the life of the mother who has to give birth. Pro-lifers (conservatives) support cutting funding for childcare, children’s health care, welfare, and other anti-poverty and social net legislation. Yet, they continue to insist that any child born to any woman (Even if most abortions happen to underprivileged poor women) have the potential to go far. THAT IS FALSE. Babies born in poverty-stricken families, the people who are most affected by pro-life legislation are over 50% more likely to go into crime and resort to welfare to survive.
Also, being pro-choice does not mean I am anti pro-life. I support life. I support the life of a women. I support the right of a woman to make her own decision. Do not portray yourself and your movement as victims. You all have caused millions of women to give birth to babies that they cannot feed, support and pay for. Your pro-life policies have caused millions of women to ruin their lives because they are forced to go to back-alley abortions and other unsafe measures because women are denied this right.
Amanda • Jan 31, 2013 at 7:26 pm
Check out atheists for life, and other secular-ists for life. The whole “life begins at conception” is not solely a church teaching. And good thing, out of all the women who get abortions, most of them are actually middle class, educated women. Not the poor. Because the poor WANT their children. Please stop pushing for abortion to be readily available to the poor when its not them who are frequently seeking/getting one.
“Pro-lifers care more about a fetus, whose status as life is debated to this day, then actual babies who are born, or the life of the mother who has to give birth.”
There’s no debate as to where life begins. We know, and science tells us, that once egg and sperm meet, a new human life is created. His/her (gender is determined within 3 days) DNA is completely unique from the mother’s and the father’s, therefore, a fetus is NOT part of the woman’s body like a kidney is. The fetus is a separate body from that of the mother’s with unique DNA and its own body.
As for the conservative pro-life view, that I don’t agree with, meaning I agree with not cutting education child care and welfare.