This Week's Abortion Quote 03

This week's quote comes from Dr. Jerome LeJeune, a pro-life geneticist from France who discovered the genetic cause of Down syndrome:

"The human nature of the human being from conception to old age is not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence."
--The Subcommittee on Separation of Powers, Report to Senate Judiciary Committee S-158, 97th Congress, First Session, 1981

Big News

So a quick double post for today. Last week I alluded to the fact that I have some important news to share. That news is that I have just been brought on to the Life Training Institute team. I'll be blogging for LTI, and answering questions submitted to their website, and I'll be assisting them with classroom presentations to Protestant and Catholic students.

A Response to Blogger Libby Anne's Pro-Choice Conversion

A year ago yesterday, blogger Libby Anne wrote a piece called Why I Lost Faith in the "Pro-Life" Movement (notice the term pro-life is in scare quotes). Yesterday I linked to a much better article by Jennifer Fulwiler which was a response to this article. The difference is that Fulwiler became pro-life after learning the truth about the unborn entity, and Libby Anne became pro-choice because of misinformation and due to the fact that she didn't know the facts about the unborn entity. She claims she believed that fetal personhood began at fertilization, but she clearly didn't have any reason for believing that, other than possibly that she was raised believing it. Otherwise the fact that she perceived others didn't really believe that way would not have affected her views on fetal personhood. It's a classic red herring. So while I am perfectly willing to consider the possibility that I am wrong on this, and despite Libby Anne's assertion that she wants to convince people like me otherwise, the fact is that she doesn't make a single cogent argument against fetal personhood.

This Week's Recommended Post 03

In today's recommended post, a former pro-choice person explains why she lost faith in the pro-choice movement.

There's a stark difference between the pro-life argument and the pro-choice argument. The pro-life argument has a definite point at which all human beings attain value, so that we can answer, with all assurance, the question of when rights begin and where the mother and unborn child lie in the moral equation.

The pro-choice argument does not offer any distinct time at which human rights begins, only that it happens at some vague, arbitrary point during human development (with the exception of a few pro-choice philosophers, who actually do make an argument but still differ on when that point is), but despite that vagueness we can know with assurance that the pregnant woman has *more* bearing in the moral equation than the unborn human being.

The pro-life movement has much to gain and the pro-choice movement has much to lose by the information regarding what an abortion is. Check out this blog post by Jennifer Fulwiler.

Why I Lost Faith in the Pro-Choice Movement

The Scourge Strikes Back

In my previous article, I responded to a thought experiment that was meant to parallel miscarriages. In this article, I'll respond to his arguments regarding what he sees as absurdities that result from the pro-life position.

Unhappy? Euthanasia?

Today's article is a guest post by Daniel Rodger, who runs a blog called Mind the Evangelical.

Abortion Quote of the Day 02

This week's quote of the day comes from none other than Planned Parenthood themselves. Did you know they used to be honest about what an abortion is? Here's a quote from them in the 60's, before abortion was legalized in 1973. Here's a source for the quote, as well.

"An abortion kills the life of a baby after it has begun."
--Planned Parenthood ad from 1964.

This is as opposed to birth control, which they used to consider as different from abortion (even though abortion is, technically, birth control so this is a bit of a misnomer, as it should be considered contraception), because birth control postpones the beginning of life.

This Week's Recommended Post 02

This week's recommended post comes from fellow blogger Wintery Knight. On this blog, I tend to focus on arguments that can appeal to both religious and non-religious alike, though I do occasionally talk about the Biblical case for the pro-life position and against abortion. This post explains beautifully how a reasoned secular case for abortion can actually help your Christian witness. Without further ado, here is the article:

How Pro-Life Apologetics Helps Strenghten Your Evangelism

Some More News

I have some exciting announcements here in the next few days. One I'm going to reserve for Wednesday, so I won't tell you what it is.

What I will tell you is that I've secured a domain name for my own website. Once that goes live, I'll provide a link to it. I'll probably continue to post my new articles here as well as on my personal website, for those who still come across my blog here. Included on my website will be articles that I've written, as well as links to organizations I work with and support, dates of my upcoming speaking engagements, and other things. So stay tuned for that.

I'm also planning on incorporating my first guest post this week. I want to reserve Wednesdays for guest posts (I've had a couple of other people request posting a guest post to my blog), but since I have to wait for Wednesday for this piece of news, I'm going to post it on Friday. All subsequent guest posts will be posted on Wednesdays, provided nothing more pressing is needed that week.

So stay tuned for Wednesday's announcement, as well as the link to my personal website.

Thought Experiment: The Scourge

Philosopher Toby Ord wrote an article called "The Scourge: Moral Implications of Natural Embryo Loss" (The American Journal of Bioethics, 8(7): 12-19, 2008). This is an argument that comes up somewhat regularly, but Ord concocted a thought experiment to illustrate the argument. The argument usually goes as follows: Some 50% of pregnancies end in miscarriages, which means that thousands of "unborn humans" die naturally. So to be consistent, you should advocate that doctors try and find a cure for miscarriages so that you can save all those lives that are lost. Ord begins with a thought experiment:

Abortion Quote of the Day 01

Like the Recommended Post on Tuesday, I'm going to start giving a Quote of the Day on Thursdays, in an attempt to bring as much new content as possible. This quote comes from pro-choice feminist Naomi Wolf in her essay "Our Bodies, Our Souls," from New Republic, October 16, 1996, p. 32.

"The pro-choice movement often treats with contempt the pro-lifers' practice of holding up to our faces their disturbing graphics...[But] how can we charge that it is vile and repulsive for pro-lifers to brandish vile and repulsive images if the images are real? To insist that truth is in poor taste is the very height of hypocrisy. Besides, if these images are often the facts of the matter, and if we then claim that it is offensive for pro-choice women to be confronted with them, then we are making the judgment that women are too inherently weak to face a truth about which they have to make a grave decision. This view is unworthy of feminism."

Naomi Wolf is a pro-choice feminist who understands that it is not wrong to show these graphic images, as long as it is done respectfully. I actually believe that Wolf's essay is one that both pro-life and pro-choice people should read. What's worse, the images that show an evil that is being done, or the evil itself? The images that pro-life people use are merely meant to give a face to the child killed by abortion. By looking these aborted children in the face, it is no longer an abstract concept but it becomes real, in the minds of those who look upon it.

40 Days for Life

So 40 Days for Life is in full swing. For anyone unfamiliar with it, for forty days Christians go to their local Planned Parenthood and spend time praying for an end to abortion. It's essentially a peaceful prayer vigil. And the great thing is that many unborn lives are saved as a result of this ministry. If you haven't been involved yet, it's not too late as it runs through November 3rd.

This Week's Recommended Post 01

In my desire to bring you as much new content as possible, I'm going to start posting a recommended post every Tuesday. This is a post that I've either stumbled upon, or know the person who posted it, and I really think you ought to read it. I will be posting a "quote of the day" on Thursday, as well, so watch for that. I will continue on a schedule of posting meaty content on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

So for my first recommended post, this comes from J.W. Wartick, an examination of an argument by Dietrich Bonhoeffer that shows that no Christian is justified in supporting abortion. Check it out:

Abortion Violates God's Will

A Critique of Paul D. Simmons' Biblical Case for Abortion, Part II

In part one of this series, I responded to some philosophical arguments that Dr. Simmons had against fetal personhood. This article will respond to his claims regarding what the Bible says about the fetus. You can find Dr. Simmons' original article here.

Does the Right to Life Exist? (Part Two)

Continuing my brief discussion on the right to life and what it entails, I will look at a few more statements from people I encountered who were trying to argue that a right to life does not exist. You can find part one here.

Is the Right to Life a Fiction? (Part One)

This is something that I don't encounter often, but recently I've encountered a few people who don't seem to even understand the concept of rights. I've encountered people who believe that a right to life doesn't even exist, which is just a bizarre view to hold. Apart from the fact that these arguments belie a misunderstanding of rights, these arguments can also be used to argue that the right to bodily autonomy doesn't exist, which pro-choice people need in order to justify their claim that abortion is morally permissible.

The Value of Asking Questions

I would like to write a follow-up to my recent article about an event that happened while I was at College of the Sequoias for a pro-life outreach, which was picked up at LifeNews. So I wanted to take a moment to explain exactly why I believe that asking questions is so important to having good discussion.

Consistency from Pro-Life Advocates

One objection I sometimes hear is that if you're pro-life, you must also be vegetarian, and/or you can't support capital punishment or war. These objections usually stem from a philosophical problem: the person raising these objections is just not thinking clearly about the issue. More nuanced thinkers understand that there are differences between types of killing, and that there are issues which affect the moral equation.