Pro Life Apologetics

From http://www.geocities.com/sydprolife/HLI_Aug.txt

NOte by Me: I don't agree with HLI's pro Catholicism, but they are right on this issue of opposing abortion


"Pro-abortion slogan #4: Don't foist your morality off on me!


Summary of the Pro-Life Response


(1) Clarification: Of course I'm trying to foist my morality off on you! Isn't that the purpose of all debate - to convince others of the validity of one's views?
(2) Parallelism: Aren't you trying to do the same thing, right here, right now, by defending the 'pro-choice' position?
(3) Clarification: What do you mean by that? Don't you really object to my mere presence here, defending the pro-life position?
Pro-lifers should not be offended by this slogan. Is this not the purpose of all activism, debate and public discourse - to convince others of the morality and correctness of one's views? If a pro-lifer is trying to foist his morality off on others, his pro-abortion debating opponent is equally guilty of thrying to foist his [im]morality off on the pro-lifer!
This slogan is a scaled down variant of slogan #3 ('You can't legislate morality!'). The difference is that the pro-abortionist is addressing an individual pro-lifer personally here, instead of criticising pro-lifers or Christians in general.
Of course, a pro-abortionist who uses this slogan is not really objecting to pro-lifers trying to 'foist ther morality' off on him, because that would imply some sort of coercion on the part of pro-lifers or cooperation on the part of the pro-abort, neither of which is likely to happen. What the pro-abortionist is really saying is that he objects to the pro-lifer's mere presence and his audacity in taking a stand for life. Nothing would please pro-abortionists more than to have to pro-life viewpoint outlawed entirely. When a pro-abortionist uses this slogan, he is basically telling pro-lifers to 'shut up!' As William Barclay has said, `There is nothing that the world would like so much as a silent Church.`
If a pro-abortionist uses this 'last resort' slogan, the pro-lifer can be assured that he is winning the debate.

Pro-abortion slogan #5: Who will decide - you or the State? These people have no right to tell you what you do in your bedrooms!
Summary of the Pro-Life Response
(1) Parallelism: Gee, maybe we should all demand that the State 'butt out' of other private moral issues - say, rape and wife-beating.
(2) Refutation: Sorry, but last time I checked, abortions don't take place in bedrooms - unless you're one of these scary feminists who like 'do-it-yourself' baby-killing.
'Who decides' is an absolutely classic slogan. It is subtle and persuasive to the uninformed person, because it makes the listener think along lines totally unrelated to abortion. Pro-abortionists often should a related slogan outside abortion mills: `Not the church, not the state, women must decide their fate!` This is mere mindless chant, not intended to be answered.
The pro-abortionist who uses the 'Who decides?' slogan is trying to paint a picture in his listener's minds: A picture of an oppressive government and Big Brother supervising all bedroom activities - in other words, a blatant and widespread invasion of privacy.
The pro-lifer must use the principle of parallelism to debunk this slogan. He may begin by stating that the government has a legitimate interest in some activities. Spousal abuse is one example. A wife batterers' union could use the slogan 'Who decides?' just as logically as the pro-aborts. In fact, organised pedophile organisations like the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA) use precisely the same slogan as they lobby to have the age of consent for sexual activities lowered to four years!
The Central Issue: Murder! Every government that has ever existed has had an interest in protecting its citizens - even its unborn citizens. Therefore, governments must intercede to legislate against murder. This is not an unwarranted invasion of the murderer's privacy - it is simple good sense."

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"Pro-abortion slogan #6: Abortion should be a decision between a woman and
her doctor
Summary of the Pro-Life Response
(1) Clarification: Abortion is not health care. It is killing, pure and
simple.
(2) Clarification: There is almost never any degree of consultation
between the abortionist and the woman before the assembly line-type
procedure.
(3) Clarification: Abortion mills are in it for the money, not because
they care.
Pro-abortionists using this slogan know that it implies that pro-lifers
who oppose abortion are meddling in one of the most sacrosanct
professional relationships: That of the doctor and his patient. In
reality, more than 99 percent of all abortions are performed for
non-medical reasons, despite the phony name 'therapeutic.'
Stand Aside, There's Money To Be Made! When a woman visits an abortion
mill, the usual procedure is for a 'counselor' to talk with her in an
attempt to steer her towards abortion, and then send her to the nurses who
will prep her for the kill. As several former abortionists have described,
the first time she sees the doctor is when she is lying on her back,
half-naked, with her feet in the stirrups.
In truth, the abortionist has no reason to see the woman who has hired him
to kill her child until he walks into the room. Mega-abortionist Edward
Allred has boasted about his 'assembly line' abortion mills and has said
that `We try to use the physician for his technical skill and reduce the
one-to-one relationship with the patient. We usually see the patient for
the first time on the operation table and then not again. More contact is
just not efficient.`
What this multimillionaire abortionist means, of course, is that `More
contact will lose me money.` Dr. Beverly McMillan, another reformed
abortionist, speaks from experience when she describes how abortion mills
are nothing more than money-makers for unscrupulous businessmen who cut
every possible corner, including those in the area of patient safety.

Pro-abortion slogan #7: Pro-family, pro-child, pro-choice
Summary of the Pro-Life Response
(1) Refutation: If you are so 'pro-child', why do you support aborting
them?
(2) Parallelism: This is like saying `Pro-Jew, pro-Holocaust!`
'Pro-Child?' The 'pro-family/child/choice' slogan is so shaky that even
uninformed members of the general public don't usually accept it. How can
the 'pro-choice' philosophy also be 'pro-child'? - Especially when
'pro-choice' means the extermination of at least 100,000 unborn children
in Australia per year by surgical abortion alone?
`Pro-choice, pro-child' is analogous to the Nazi party proclaiming itself
to be 'Pro-Juden', or the Ku Klux Klan claiming that it is 'pro-Black!' If
a pro-lifer makes these comparisons during a debate, they will probably
provoke outraged shrieks of protest from knee-jerkers, but they certainly
will make the point. Pro-abortionists absolutely hate parallels with the
Holocaust, because they are acutely aware of how accurate the comparison
is. Don't back down, even in the face of a storm of faked pro-abortion
'indignation'.
'Pro-Family?' Give us a Break! The allegation that abortion is somehow
healthy for the family is absurd. What does a husband feel when he wants a
baby and knows that his wife is 'pro-choice' and can get an abortion
without his consent or even his knowledge? According to a national poll in
the USA, more than half of all fathers - including married men - are not
even told that their child has been aborted. What does a child think when
he knows that he exists in a 'pro-choice' family only because he was
wanted by others - not because he had any intrinsic value at all? What do
both parents think when they know that an abortionist can kill their
grandchildren?

Pro-abortion slogan #8: You are to naive to see that the world is
overpopulated
Summary of the Pro-Life Response
(1) Clarification: Why do you think the world is overpopulated?
(2) Refutation: The world population will never again double. It will peak
at about eight billion and then begin to decline.
(3) Clarification: Imagine for a moment that the world population was one
billion instead of six billion. Would you support the 'right' to abortion
then?
Clarify first. Whenever a pro-abortionist makes the sweeping claim that
that world is overpopulated, you must first get him to clarify what he
means or ask him why he thinks the world is overpopulated. Don't settle
for the tired old claim that 'everyone knows'. You must make him produce a
theory or statistic to back up his claim.
The general principle to remember is this: Whenever pro-population control
people or organizations use statistics to justify their claims regarding
world overpopulation, their numbers are either exaggerations or outright
lies.
A common allegation anti-lifers make is that `The population of the world
doubles every 37 years.` By using this number, the anti-lifer hopes to
frighten the audience into thinking that the current world population of 6
billion will double to 12 billion by about the year 2040, double again to
24 billion by about the year 2075, and so on. According to all Census
Bureau and United Nations median and 'most probable' projections, the
population of the world will never again double! This is an extremely
critical point for you to make at every possible opportunity.
According to the latest United Nations projections, the maximum world
population is expected to be about 9.4 billion, a number to be reached in
the year 2050. A more likely figure is about 7.7 billion."

"Pro-abortion slogan #9: Right to life, that's a lie! You don't care if
women die!
Summary of the Pro-Life Response.
(1) Refutation: The statement that `thousands of women died from 'backyard
abortions'` is a bare-faced lie.
(2) Refutation: If pro-lifers don't care about women, why do we run most
of the crisis pregnancy centres?
(3) Parallelism: [To the audience] Let's see who cares about women more.
call up a pro-life crisis pregnancy centre and tell them you are
unmarried, pregnant, and that your parents have thrown you out of the
house. Ask for help with rent money, groceries and utilities. Tell them
you need someone to talk to. Then call up an abortion clinic and ask them
the same questions. You will see who really cares about women and who is
just in it for the money.
Pro-abortionists who insist that thousands of women died annually of
'backyard' abortions have absolutely no statistical backup for their
claims. Consider the following quote by Dr. Bernard Nathanson, one of the
original founders of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion
Laws, and the operator of the biggest abortion clinic in the USA for
years; `How many deaths were we talking about when abortion was illegal?
In NARAL, we always said '5000 to 10000 deaths a year.' I confess that I
knew the figures were totally false, and I suppose the others did too if
they stopped to think of it. But in the 'morality' of our revolution, it
was a useful figure, widely accepted, so why go out of our way to correct
it with honest statistics?`
The actual USA Centers for Disease Control (CDC) statistics on deaths
caused by abortions, both legal and illegal, for those years immediately
before and after Roe v. Wade in the USA are as follows:
1970: 90 deaths 1971: 83 deaths 1972: 90 deaths
1973: 57 deaths 1974: 54 deaths 1975: 49 deaths
Despite these statistics, pro-abortionists still insist upon using these
apocalyptic numbers because they depend more on feelings that rationality.
In many cases, your pro-abortion debating opponent will insist on painting
gory word pictures of bloody butchers in the back alley. One way to refute
this tactic and effectively show audiences how most abortions really took
place is to read a quote by an actual illegal abortionist or by a woman
who had a 'tourism abortion.'
Ruth Barnett, who had no medical training whatsoever and yet performed
over 40000 illegal abortions in Portland, Oregon without a single
fatality, said that `In the movies, they always depict the fallen woman
sneaking up a dirty, rickety stairway to a dismal room - or making her
way, furtively, into a dark alley that leads to a decrepit shack where
some alcoholic doctor or untutored butcher performs the abortion. A clinic
such as mine was not that way at all. It was a bright, cheerful place
where women's problems were handled quickly, efficiently and with dignity,
no matter what the circumstances of the patient.`
One Zero Population Growth (ZPG) writer describes a report from a young
woman who she referred to an abortionist in Mexico City:
`Things were really good down in Mexico City. Everything happens so fast
there is almost an aura of fantasy. The clinic (more like a mansion
really) is very nice and comfortable. There were about seventeen women
there in the morning I had the D&C done, plus some in the afternoon. They
get you up right after and feed you fruit and drink and cookies right away
- helps take your mind off the cramping. Some of us went sight-seeing that
afternoon. Mexico City is nice, and I had no trouble at all with any facet
of the journey or my stay there. You know, in a way it was almost fun.`"