I see it nearly every time some abortion atrocity is in the news. We focus on the atrocity and others like it but don't point out that we've already made an alternative available.
Much of the news coverage of the Gosnell case, for example, reiterated the fallacy that "desperate women had no where else to go." But that's demonstrably false. They had an abundance of prolife centers.
Every single story about Kermit Gosnell needed to be accompanied by a mention that women had an alternative that would have addressed their underlying problems. "Women facing problems late in pregnancy are not stuck with a choice between Kermit Gosnell and LeRoy Carhart. There are X pregnancy centers in Philadelphia proper, and Y in the surrounding communities. Real help is available to address the reasons she sees abortion as her only choice. Prolifers have not abandoned women. We invite prochoice citizens as well to offer help that doesn't involve climbing on the abortion table."
When Jennifer McKenna-Morbelli died, I saw no mention in any of the prolife press about perinatal hospice. "It's tragic that, faced with a prenatal diagnosis, Ms. McKenna-Morbelli ended up in the hands of a man who stood to get thousands of dollars richer from her loss. There are resources that allow families to provide their ailing children with whatever care they need, even if it is only palliative care to keep them comfortable while they are enjoying whatever time they can have being held and loved."
I've been guilty of this as well. We all need to be ready in the wake of any horrific abortion story to point out not just that the abortion alternative is bad, but that there are good resources available.
Make no mistake about it -- the abortion establishment is geared up to feed women into abortion mills. They did it when abortion was illegal, they do it now, and they'll do it again when Roe falls.They must maintain the illusion that abortion is the only alternative in order to stay in power. Once people wake up to the reality that there are better ways, the foundations will begin to crumble and the abortion edifice can be taken down.
Let's all get in the habit of plugging life-affirming alternatives at every possible opportunity.
3 comments:
Thanks for the reminder, Christina. The pro-life message is a positive message and the more we accent the positive, the positive alternative, the better. It will not only give those considering abortion hope, it will give us hope and encouragement as well.
Prolifers need to toot their horns more.
"Epoc Center offered to take her money and kill her baby. The prolifers did a quick fundraiser and got her mortgage out of arrears and befriended her so she's not facing her next challenge alone. Should we just have abandoned her to Epoc?"
"Family Planning Associates offered to take her money and kill her baby. The prolifers found so many eager adoptive homes for her disabled child that she decided to investigate her options further. She realized that she could parent after all, and is now the proud mother of a new baby whose issues are not nearly as severe as she'd been told they'd be. Should we have just abandoned her to Family Planning Associates?"
I'm thinking that we need to refer to women who resort to abortion as having been "abandoned to abortion." Or maybe "abandoned to Big Abortion." Your thoughts?
Referring to women who have abortions as having been abandoned to abortion/Big Abortion could help remind us in the pro-life movement of our responsibility when women choose abortions.
If women are abandoned to abortion, it is at least in part because we are not telling them about pregnancy resource centers and options other than abortion.
Of course women ultimately make their own choices.
But if we are doing our part to offer options and they still choose abortion, it can't be said we have abandoned them to abortion.
It might be someone else has abandoned them to abortion, like non-supportive or even coercive family members, friends and others women considering abortion might trust.
But we need to do our part to keep women from being abandoned to abortion.
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