“I wouldn’t say the fight is lonely. I would say the fight is long.” Linda Gibbons on what she does, in a short documentary.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoA5DbENlJY&feature=youtu.be]

There are some who still believe that abortion is not used as birth control. That it is reserved for the difficult cases.

I was made aware of another abortion in my circle of friends/acquaintances recently.

I won’t get into details but suffice to say it would be best for those who are pro-choice to not be naive about that. Abortion is birth control for a significant portion of cases. I’m not going to claim every case. How could I possibly know? But those who gets huffy and puffy (I’ve seen this) at the mere thought need to realize what is really going on. They need to realize that the people representing them in the public square to advance “abortion rights” don’t even pretend to have a problem with abortion used as birth control. They believe it is there for precisely that reason.

Meanwhile, another person is gone.

Spent my weekend finishing Bent Hope–buy it–and now Faye sends me this movie trailer for Gimme Shelter. Looks like a must-see.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjyi_dMhyIs]

“Thank you” seems like a bit of an understatement for all the hard work mothers do. This is an ad, but really, quite a good one, as it highlights how many times our mothers are there to pick us up, literally and figuratively.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57e4t-fhXDs]

We Need a Law published an article I wrote today…

The other reality is that I’m six months pregnant. My son, Jack, seems intent to dance his way to the ninth month, whether that’s in his waking prenatal hours or in his sleep. The boy is kicking and stretching incessantly.

So while my laptop is propped up on a pillow just past my ever-growing belly, as I read about abortion procedures, Jack might kick enough to knock aside a page that is resting on my stomach. While I read pro-choice arguments that ring increasingly hollow, about choice or bodily rights, Jack is making my sweater ripple and bunch with his activity.

And this makes me feel sick, this reading about the killing and the rhetoric in defence of killing children just like my Jack.

Read the rest here.

From Abort73.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Mv_1RVYFxc]

So last night I went to hear the indefatigable Stephanie Gray talk about how we can all, every single last one of us, do something about abortion. I liked this talk for a couple of reasons. Stephanie is a great presenter. Very captivating, compelling and easy to listen to. She also has great fashion sense. I think her dress may have been Ann Taylor. Now we are getting into back handed compliments for myself, since I wear a lot of Ann Taylor.

Back to the talk.

Her main point was that in virtually any disagreement in which we aim to convince someone we are right, we almost always go about it in the wrong way.

Or at least, I know I do.

Let’s take a young Andrea as an example. I’ve been opinionated for a while. I can recall “debating” on the grade school playground under the basketball hoop. The year was 1982. The point made by one Alison M. was the actual reality around how babies are made. The point argued by one Andrea Mrozek (six year old version) was that couldn’t possibly be true and here’s how it really works, Alison: You ask and God gives you a baby. We did a couple of rounds on this. You’re wrong, I’m right, Is so, Is NOT! etc.  I like to think I made a pretty compelling case, citing biblical authority, like “What about MARY???” No one came to see the other side that day. I have since adjusted my position, but only slightly. Let it not be said that I am totally unreasonable.

I digress.

Stephanie’s point was that in disagreements we have to

1) really, truly listen

2) ask A LOT of questions, always question

3) use stories, good ones, to cause people to thoughtfully consider what they actually believe.

We don’t do this enough. When I manage to do this, it is interesting how heated exchanges are all but eradicated. People actually think about things. The telling of stories highlights new angles in a non-threatening way.

She also properly identified that using logic with someone who is invested on a purely emotional level won’t work. And sometimes the people who are MOST emotional about the issue are LEAST aware of it.

In a way, Stephanie was teaching basic listening skills.

And this is important because for far too many pro-lifers, shouting “it’s a life” has sufficed to make the point.

Good to be reminded that it is through loving, personal relationship, really, REALLY listening and engaging, that people’s hearts are changed.

This is true on every issue, not just abortion.

In conclusion, I suspect that if I were to meet Alison M. today, she’d come around, through the use of my new strategies.

All in all, a good night. Many thanks to the fine pro-life groups who set this up. Good to see a crowd of people, young and old, in attendance. One person at a time, one interaction at a time, we’ll change the way this country thinks about abortion.

1. On Epiphany this year, which was this past Sunday, I realized for the first time that when I say “I’ve had an epiphany” it comes from the event of the Magi finding Jesus by the light of a star. I had never made that connection–and it’s something I say semi-regularly. Usually sarcastically, because let’s face it, my “epiphanies” aren’t always such a big deal. (Reference this example.)

2. The second epiphany is slightly bigger. More basic and bigger at the same time. I feel that you might even make fun of me for it, because after all, I’ve been publicly pro-life for a long while now. And you would think a publicly pro-life person would “get” this point.

Here goes. My epiphany is this: That people are miracles. There was nothing, and then there is something, or rather, someone. And that someone has a name, a face, walks and talks. I understand all the science and biology behind the creation of people, yes I do, thanks for asking. But the reality is that the science and biology of it all is nonetheless fairly miraculous. And I’m not talking exclusively about cute babies here, either. I’m talking about every single living, breathing person. They are all miracles. How we come to view our own lives as mundane or routine or tiring or boring is a shame–because the very fact that we are alive is something miraculous and presents an exciting opportunity.

I was telling some close friends this last night. They thought this was simultaneously a cool observation–and also that I might be certifiably crazy. The recommendation was that I approach every person I see by telling them, “YOU are a MIRACLE!” Which I won’t be doing, but the thought does make me laugh. (The part of me that likes Will Ferrell feels I might just try it. Unfortunately, the part of me that values being “normal” in the eyes of the world typically wins the day. For example, almost every time I get into a crowded elevator I picture myself turning around, facing the group, and loudly announcing: “I bet you are wondering why I gathered you here today!” I think of this almost every time, but I never actually do it. And that, my friends, is my secret to maintaining employment.

Enough. One day, two epiphanies. Time to settle down into some real work.

Sleep was evasive last night and so I started reading Tim Huff’s Bent Hope. It is about homelessness and living on the streets. To say it is moving would be an understatement–I recommend it. Everyone has a story–and Tim Huff is telling the story of people we might otherwise just pass by.

______________________

Faye adds: I read it when it came out. I highly recommend it as well. Get a copy!

Trending toward life in the USA. Good news:

The wave of pro-life bills enacted from 2011 to 2013 reflects the 2010 elections and the reaction they represented to the Obama administration’s overreach on health care. In 2000, Guttmacher estimates 31 percent of U.S. women lived in one of the 13 states considered “hostile” to abortion. By 2013, nearly double that percentage, 56 percent, lived in one of the 27 states now labeled hostile to abortion. Twenty-four (if one includes conservative Nebraska, which has a nonpartisan legislature) of these 27 states have Republican legislative majorities and all but four have Republican governors.  This “troubling trend,” as Guttmacher terms it, is a fruit, for better or worse, the polarization that’s occurred on this issue alongside the decline of pro-life leadership in the Democratic Party, after the death of Pennsylvania governor Bob Casey in 2000. …

Right-to-life advocates should be encouraged by the realities that so dishearten the Guttmacher Institute. Four decades after the revolution that gave the nation abortion on demand, Americans clearly want something better for women and children. The federal courts can slow down this momentum, but the nation will benefit if judges let the people rule and continue to seek a path that eschews the the most barbaric abortion practices.