Has the pro-life movement reached a tipping point?
Interesting that it was NARAL which posted the following May 11 CBS Evening News piece featuring its president, Nancy Keenan, on YouTube.
Interesting because the piece would seem to me to be one they’d wish to go away. It certainly does not bode well for abortion proponents, for instance, this sound bite: “Protests against all these [pro-life] laws have been sporadic and for the most part, small.” And Keenan’s talking points were about the weakest I’ve ever heard…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x9W_E6rxto[/youtube]
Over at Patheos.com, evangelical writer Trevin Wax has written a post, “Five signs the pro-life cause is winning”:
The pro-life cause is winning. In state legislatures, in the media, and in grassroots efforts to reduce the number of abortions, pro-life activists have put abortion rights advocates on defense. The pro-life movement certainly has hurdles to overcome before the United States can become a place where all human life is legally protected. Yet the eventual outcome is certain.
The CBS story appears to corroborate “pro-life activists have put abortion rights advocates on defense.”
In its YouTube blurb about the CBS story, NARAL oddly bragged, “The story also includes stats and other information NARAL Pro-Choice America provided the reporter.” So I’m speculating either NARAL pitched this story to CBS or is pretending to have controlled it. Keenan also posted a link on Facebook. The only reason I can think of that NARAL and Keenan are spotlighting this is to scare their people out of complacency and/or to use as a fundraising tool.
Read Wax’s 5 signs and tell me what you think. The only point of his I wonder about is #3, “The Third Wave.” Wax states the 1st pro-life wave was Catholics, the 2nd was Evangelicals, and the 3rd will be “when Black and Hispanic Christians not only join this movement, but lead it.” I’m hopeful about that but not so sure.
[HT: Joe Carter at First Things]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Another sign the tipping point may have been reached:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/a-look-inside-planned-parenthoods-8-billion-aborti,20488/
http://www.theonion.com/articles/planned-parenthood-opens-8-billion-abortionplex,20476/
Scott, not sure if you’re joking, but I’m posting on that piece…
Great post Jill, and it is a very hopeful sign.
I’m assuming the link is to planned parenthood’s new killing site. My prayer is that when they can’t afford to run it that it’s used as a deluxe learning center for children who are at risk and other children who aren’t at risk.
Don’t get cocky, we’ve still got a long way to go.
A lot of attitudes need to change. For example, at the family level, grandparents have to stop kicking pregnant daughters out of the house or forcing them to abort their grandchildren. But the political gains are nice to behold.
Ninek, well said.
For the sake of clarity, Trevin Wax was quoting John Ensor of Heartbeat International about The Third Wave.
Showing Maafa 21 across the land and continuing to expose the eugenic roots of PP and its founder Margaret Sanger will help shed the light. The targeting of minorities by PP cannot stay in the darkness.
Eduardo V. will also help with that!! :)
I wouldn’t say we’re winning because the abortion rate is still pretty high in this country. Stopping abortion isn’t about laws, it’s about changing hearts and minds and creating a just society where abortion is unthinkable.
Jill,
That’s an Onion piece, so it’s satire.
And a very good one at that.
I love the “AbortionPlex” graphic map.
Cecile’s dream come true.
The mere fact that “The Onion” thought that that would make a good satire piece speaks volumes of good.
I’m with Phillymiss on this one, it’s going to take changing hearts and minds and making abortion unthinkable in addition to legislating laws to reduce and even eliminate abortion.
@Scott — I don’t know whether to laugh or cry while reading the “Abortionplex” article! Like most satires, it contains more than a grain of truth.
Well, none of this matters anyway since we’re going to be blown up on Saturday (unless, of course, we’re raptured)!
I think it shines a negative light on abortion–it discusses it in terms of killing a child, killing your children’s sibling, incinerating bodies, etc. It also satirizes how little Cecile and the gang think of the seriousness of abortion. I laughed out loud when I saw that their adoption center was used for kitties and puppies. For PP, adoption is for pets, not babies!
I think it’s good that planned parenthood is not above satire within liberal circles like the Onion. And like all satire, this one has a lot of truth in it.
I laughed out loud when I saw that their adoption center was used for kitties and puppies.
Me too! :D
Yep, looks like you guys have won.
Ha ha! Take THAT, Hal! :)
Not that they’re slanted or biased or anything — they present it all as women’s rights versus all these restrictions. But it’s still good news. It’s getting harder and harder to get people enthused about shredding babies.
As a woman, whenever I hear “anti-abortion rights”. The right to end the life of one’s child is a purely imagined one, and one that I wish everyone would stop taking for granted we frail and helpless women need to make us equal.
“Stopping abortion isn’t about laws, it’s about changing hearts and minds and creating a just society where abortion is unthinkable.”
Phillymiss,
Sorry, thats a bunch of bull.
As a woman, whenever I hear “anti-abortion rights”. The right to end the life of one’s child is a purely imagined one, and one that I wish everyone would stop taking for granted we frail and helpless women need to make us equal.
*should’ve read “…whenever I hear “anti-abortion rights” I just get infuriated.”
Carla, You’re right about Eduardo Verastequi! I’m praying that he will take on the challenge of enlightening the Hispanics away from the Obama campaign, as they pander to Latino voters. Obama has been doing interviews with UNIVISION on a regular basis. We need to keep Eduardo covered in prayer :)
Jasper, if you knew anything factual about the pro-life movement and honestly accepted it, you would know that what Phillymiss said is absolutely true.
Robbery is illegal, yet continues today. Arson is illegal, yet continues today. Most forms of murder are illegal, yet they continue today.
Laws, in and of themselves, do little to stop those deadset on a course of action, but are rather a manifestation (ideally, anyway) of the collective will of the society by which they are enacted, at least in a democracy.
The reason that laws against abortion are becoming increasingly common is directly because of the fact that, through the increased awareness of people to the truth of abortion and what it truly is and does, the thought of murdering one’s own unborn child is quickly losing whatever vestiges of nobility or freedom it once had. The “clump of cells” argument is failing, as is the argument that it does no harm to women (if you still believe in that lie, visit Silent No More and Project Rachel).
In my experience, most of us in the pro-life movement don’t bother fighting for new laws that defend the dignity of both the mother and child. We instead share and spread the simple truth of the matter, knowing that those whose hearts are not hardened against it know it to be undeniable.
In this, we open the eyes and change the hearts of people, which aids in the building of, as Phillymiss stated, “a just society where abortion is unthinkable”.
We have the truth, Jasper, and you are always welcome to join us. However, if you wish to continue clinging to whatever deceptions bring you comfort, that’s your decision; we can and will work around you if necessary.
And to you, Phillymiss: I would partly agree in that we have not achieved victory, not even close. In North America, over a thousand children are still being murdered in their mothers’ wombs every day. This is not a victory, those children and their parents have not won.
However, the pro-life movement is always growing and gaining strength, as one would rightly expect of a movement founded on truth.
We haven’t won yet, but we will. The truth always wins in the end.
Hal says:
“Yep, looks like you guys have won”.
Of course you say that in jest although people who understand the gravity of abortion do not find anything funny about it.
The day that abortion is finally outlawed in our country we will not be the only winners–the biggest winners are the unborn who will have legal protections against being brutally dismembered.