In the last post, I gave you some strategies from Trent Horn's book, Persuasive Pro-Life. One of these strategies was to ask questions instead of making statements. In this post I will highlight these questions and show you how to use them when engaging in dialogue. Question 1: What is abortion? This question is very important to ask. It's easy to assume that everyone knows what happens during an abortion and what the results of it are. That is definitely not the case! This is a good question to ask because it lets you know what the person's level of knowledge about the subject is and how best to respond to them. It is also a good way to spark deeper conversation and is a good lead to other questions. You may get an answer such as the one that Planned Parenthood offers: That abortion expels the pregnancy from the woman's body. This is completely invalid because pregnancy is not a thing, it is a condition, and conditions cannot be removed. They can be cured or controlled but they cannot be removed. The Merriam-Webster definition of pregnancy is: "containing a developing embryo, fetus, or unborn offspring within the body." In removing the "pregnancy," abortion removes the woman's state of being pregnant, and in doing that, removes the embryo/fetus/ unborn offspring that is depending on the woman's body to survive. Ex: Pro-Life: So, what is abortion? Pro-Choice: It's a procedure that removes a pregnancy from a woman. Pro-Life: Oh. I see. Well... Question 2: What is pregnancy? Most people will answer this question with some sort of variation of "it's the time when a woman's child/fetus/offspring is growing inside of her body." As I mentioned above, the definition of pregnancy is: "containing a developing embryo, fetus, or unborn offspring within the body", so if this is how they answered the question they are correct. This question makes the person admit that pregnancy is a time when a new organism is growing inside of a woman's body. After asking this question and guiding the person to understand the correct answer if they did not realize it already, you can ask the MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION that there is to ask when engaging in dialogue....
Question 3: What are the unborn? This question is the most important because if you can get the person you're talking to to understand that the fetus is a living human being, it will start to make sense to them that abortion is wrong because it kills a human being. This is always the question to come back to when conversing with others because it is ultimately the question that you are trying to answer. Another variation of this question: What are humans? The answers you will get from this question will vary. One of the most common responses though, is that a human is a member of the human species and is someone who meets all the requirements for human life. If this is the answer that you get, you can demonstrate that a fetus meets all of these requirements (has 23 chromosomes, comes from human parents, etc. and therefore, is a human that deserves all the rights that we, born humans, have, including the right to life. Once you get the person to understand that the fetus (developing baby) inside of its mother's womb is alive, it will most likely be very easy to get them to see why abortion is wrong. Question 4: What happens to a fetus when it is aborted? The answer you will get it will probably be along the lines of: "it's removed from the woman's body" or "it just goes away". The first answer is true- the fetus is removed from the woman's body, but there's more to it. When the fetus is removed, it dies. That child depends on its mother for nourishment and life, similar to the way that a newborn child does. A popular argument for abortion is that a woman should not feel obligated to lend her body to another person for 9 months because it will cause her discomfort. This is exactly like saying that a woman should not feel obligated to feed, clean, clothe, or shelter her children just because it may cause her discomfort. If you present this example to the person you are talking to and ask them if they think that a mother is obligated to feed, clean, shelter, clothe, and care for her children*, and their answer is, "because the child is her responsibility and she needs to take care of it", then you can ask "what makes that child any different from a child living in its mother's womb?" This will lead you back to the question of, "what are the unborn?". Miscellaneous questions to ask: Why is it wrong to kill a newborn baby? Most people will answer with something along the lines of, "because it's a human being." This question will lead you back to the question of, "what are the unborn?" You can also ask the person what the difference between a newborn and a child in its mother's womb is. Hint: The only difference is their location!!!
In the next post in this series, you'll learn the reasons why most women have abortions and the safer and morally correct alternatives to abortion that are available to women in those situations, as well as why abortion is never necessary.
* If a woman finds that it is physically impossible for her to care for her children, there are other options such as foster care, adoption, or the child could even stay with a trusted relative or friend until the mother had the means necessary to care for her child. The decision to place a child for adoption or in foster care is a very difficult one. If you or someone you know are in this situation, please talk with a trusted priest, family member, or other responsible adult that can get you the resources you need. You can also contact a pregnancy care center and they will try to help you out.
Comments