For the most part, I consider myself to be pro-life. Nothing personal, I just think it is inherently wrong to dismember human beings inside the womb; that's just my general opinion. But in recent years, the "por-life/pro-choice"debate has shown itself to be gaining ground, which has resulted in both veritable and completely illogical arguments from both sides.
Now, when people hear the term "pro-life", they immediately think of the crazies who stand outside Planned Parenthood and scream obscenities and insults at the frightened women who are being shuffled inside. There have even been circumstances where pro-lifers have gotten violent (Anti-abortion violence). Speaking on behalf of us rational people, I do not in any way condone screaming, physical violence, or degradation of innocent people in order to prove your point. (And this goes for either side of this debate, mind you). I understand that the pro-choicers can get just as nasty, considering they have been known to throw feces and scream indecent phrases at events (Pro-choice protestors), but as stated before, the pro-lifers aren't faring any better. For the past few years, I have seen a lot of hypocrisy in the pro-life movement, and I am here to address that. So here are 5 rational, non-violent goals I propose for the pro-life movement:
1. Stop the violent and degrading protests. Does anyone want to listen to a person who is screaming at them and trying to drag them away? Of course not. So why does this continue to happen? Screaming only communicates the fact that you are attempting to get the message across in an immature manner, and then nobody takes you seriously. Continuing with this type of degradation will only turn people away rather than convince them to choose life.
2. Don't complain about having to provide free birth control. Yes, I get that this is going to get people mad. But let's be reasonable here: it's either we prevent the pregnancy in the first place, or run the risk of abortion later. Take your pick. You can't force the mother to keep a child she can't afford and then refuse to give her any aid. While I believe that adoption would be a veritable solution to this issue, it isn't always easy for some people to attain. Therefore, we must work to provide aid to impoverished mothers, which can encompass childcare, education, and proper nutrition.
3. Promote adoption rather than pictures of dead babies. Look, as much as I would love to take the opponent and shove their faces into the truth, doing it in such a shocking and provocative manner is no different than those obscene pro-choice protests. It is better that we attack the argument with facts and reason instead of just going straight for the throat, considering that the latter would just turn people off. I believe we should consider the alternative to abortion (adoption) and encourage it as much as we can.
4. Get rid of the religious connotations. When you promote the ideas of God and Christianity in conjunction with social issues, it prevents non-Christians or otherwise secular individuals from participating. We want to be inclusive here, which means the religious connotations of the pro-life movement should be dropped, or at least expanded to include atheists, pagans, and so on. This will also diversify the pro-life movement and add new facets to our major arguments rather than promote the idea that all pro-lifers are Christian nutjobs.
5. Make abortion unthinkable instead of simply unattainable. This is the argument that people will immediately believe makes me a pro-choicer. And the argument is that we can't afford to close abortion clinics at the moment. Let's face the facts here: taking away abortion clinics right now would be like taking away umbrellas during a thunderstorm in an attempt to make rain go away. It is better if we restructure our culture to get abortion to the point where it simply isn't needed anymore, a goal that could be accomplished by following the arguments above. We must come to the agreement that abortion is considered a last-ditch effort for many, since they feel that they have no other options. But by providing other options, we can decrease the number of abortions to the point where it becomes obsolete.
