Stanek weekend question: Do you agree the “safe, legal, and rare” mantra backfired?
There has been no shortage of pro-abortion response to Time’s January 14 cover story, “What choice?”, which made the case abortion proponents have been losing the war ever since they thought they won the war in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
The article’s author, Kate Pickert, listed a variety of reasons: a plethora of pro-life laws passed in the states, public sentiment, science, stigma, aging abortionists, and generational in-fighting.
The latter point was proven by a spate of commentary by pro-abortion Millennials defending themselves while attacking their “legacy” leaders.
Aside from that, I was surprised there hasn’t been much push back.
The latest Millennial to take a shot at her aging forebearers, pardon the pun, is Katie Stack, who was featured in MTV’s 2010 abortion special, “No Easy Decision,” about young mothers who decided to kill their preborn babies.
To her credit, Stack conceded many of Pickert’s points, although Stack always circled back to blame the “legacy” movement.
Here’s a thought I found particularly interesting, quoting Stack from AmplifyYourVoice.org:
According to a 2012 Gallup poll a mere 38% of Americans find abortion “morally acceptable.” Rarely is abortion publicly defended outright. For generations the motto of the prochoice movement was “safe, legal and rare” – driving home the idea that abortion, though it should be available, was not an ideal outcome.
This did not go unnoticed by the anti-choice movement. In fact, their strategic decision to focus on the fetus (through gestational age limits and ultrasound requirements) evolved due to this weakness in the rhetoric around abortion.
The growing youth militia of the anti-choice movement has been especially well trained in capitalizing on this.
(I included that last paragraph because I liked the phrase, “growing youth militia.”)
When Planned Parenthood announced this week it was abandoning the term, “pro-choice,” there was this tidbit of agreement with Stack, quoting from Buzz Feed:
Executive vice president Dawn Laguens added that language about making abortion “rare” actually polled very poorly, because women found it judgmental and shaming.
It was actually pro-abortion President Bill Clinton who coined that quickly popular phrase in 1992, one that “legacy” feminist Hillary Clinton endorsed.
In fact, until recently most abortion proponents supported “safe, legal, and rare” as “captur[ing] the essence of a desired national policy on abortion,” according to a 2006 Guttmacher piece, and “simple positive language… [that] framed the pro-choice position in a way that was firmly liberal yet appealing to voters uncomfortable with the inescapable reality that abortion involves ending a potential human life,” quoting Slate in 2002.
As recently as 2011 a Millennial at Feministing wrote she liked the quote.
But how quickly fortunes can turn, even on memes. I’m quite sure we will no longer read agreement from the other side that abortion should be “rare.” It does indeed open a door for our side.
“Safe, legal, and rare” was a key component of pro-abortion rhetoric debate for over two decades. Do you agree it backfired? If so, why didn’t they see it coming?
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.
It always seemed dishonest to me, even when I was much, much less pro-life than I am now. It’s like the rhetoric can’t stay consistent. In one breath they say that abortion is the world’s safest medical procedure or whatever, no different from getting a wisdom tooth pulled under anesthesia or whichever minor surgical procedure, but then they claim it’s an agonizing decision that women never make lightly and should be avoided by birth control or other things as much as possible (see: safe, legal, rare). I never got how those ideas, that abortion is incredibly painless and easy but at the same time should be very rare, could be reconciled at all. I think that dissonance probably helped it backfire for a lot of people.
And I have no idea why they couldn’t see it coming, maybe because they didn’t realize that you can’t appeal to those who have a moral issue with abortion, but don’t want to legislate it, by claiming over and over that abortion is no big deal while talking out of the other side of your mouth about how it’s so so so hard and should be rare.
No amount of rhetoric they market will work for them Jack. They keep trying to come up with something that will make baby killing more appealing.
They can’t have it both ways. Is abortion easy? Or not? Is it a difficult decision? Or not? Is it painless? Or not? Are there risks? Or not? Does killing your own child bring freedom? Or not? Does abortion heal? Or not? Does abortion solve a problem? Or not.
Poor poor proaborts.
I think they know they are losing as they sound more and more desperate.
Yep nothing good about killing your baby. I know women in emotional pain yeeeears after their abortions. Do you think the abortion industry cares? Nah that was your choice. You wanted a dead baby and you got one. Also be sure to check out my comments under the autopsy post.
I think the myth of safe, legal and rare has been very successful for abortion proponents because it has caused many to believe it and there is much apathy in society and in the church in America as a result. It is legal, so that’s bee successful, they have at least convinced most that it actually is safe… and the rare part was always the red herring that few people even consider. Pro-aborts don’t care about rare and much of the rest of society really doesn’t care either.
Many in the pro-life movement like to point a polls where more people call themselves pro-life, but in growing numbers many of those don’t believe in criminalizing abortion… they just find it distasteful.
If a woman is headed into an abortion clinic to kill her baby, any valid argument you make to her is acceptable, but as a overall strategy if the safety for the woman killing her child ever becomes a key part of our strategy we will lose. Science will find ways to make abortion safer, then our strategy will lose.
Our focus should always be on the murder of innocent children and that’s where our primary compassion should be directed. Abortion is not just a bad idea, it is wrong.
We need to focus on right and wrong. We don’t tell potential bank robbers and kidnappers that they shouldn’t do it be cause they might get show in the commission for their crimes. We teach them that it is evil to steal and kidnap.
I heard Mara Liasson of NPR once say that abortion was the sacrament of the left. I also in Ben Stein’s documentary Expelled, one of the scientists opined that the left has a “love affair” with death. That they are both right, that the “safe legal and rare” mantra is total crap, is evidenced by the pro-aborts’ reaction to sidewalk counseling. What’s it to them if a woman is talked out of an abortion? A whole lot–they LOVE abortion. The only thing they really want out of that mantra is the “legal” part. And they’re losing ground there apparently.
Interestingly enough, our side has been pointing this apparent contradiction in their rhetoric for a while, and largely being ignored on this point. I’m not sure how big a factor this is, but it could be playing a role in combination with other things.
We are not losing. We won’t lose.
Love wins.
Oh, and Katie, the term is pro-life, not anti-choice. (always have to add in that little correction
)
I think the two sides had vastly different approaches to ‘rare’.
I believe the left wants women to not get pregnant, and to have social nets and incomes of the lower class strengthened so that women choose not to have abortions because with health care, work place protections, and better wages, women will be less likely to abort.
The rights wants abortion to be rare through regulation – put up roadblocks and cumbersome steps and women without means will simply give up and have the baby instead.
The more I read commentary on abortion though, the more I’m convinced the the right and left aren’t all the concerned with the actual babies – they are concerned about political funding. The left likes abortions because planned parenthood gives a lot of money. The right wants to crack down on planned parenthood because they cut off a chunk of democratic funding.
I’m not surprised by your opinion Ex-GOP, since you focus almost exclusively on politics. You would see the concern for actual babies (and women) if you were actually involved in the pro-life movement. You have to go beyond “commentary” to see the compassion.
Lrning -
I have no doubt individuals are passionate about babies – the 40 days of prayer is a great example – and I love the positive billboards I see promoting lives.
I’m just giving my opinion on the differences in the word rare – and my skeptical nature of politics. I have no doubt that if fetuses started donating a lot of money to a party, they would move up the radar of actual legislation that makes an impact.
Ex-GOP, it seems like you have difficulty seeing abortion as anything other than a political issue. That’s a shame.
Lrning -
I’ve been told many, many times that even though my family is pro-life and we’ve had three beautiful daughters, and would never have even considered abortion – that there’s no way I can be pro-life because I vote for more Democrats than Republicans.
So how should I not see it as a political issue, when those on this board judge it through political eyes?
Ex-GOP – So how should I not see it as a political issue, when those on this board judge it through political eyes?
1) Acknowledge that the pro-lifers you read commenting on this blog are primarily concerned with the lives of the unborn and not political funding.
2) Take part in the 40 Days for Life, get out on the sidewalk in front of your local abortion clinic, and see that active pro-lifers are not out there talking politics. They aren’t discussing politics at the PRC either.
3) You may have been told that you can’t be pro-life and vote Democratic by a couple of people on this blog. I don’t agree with that stance. I think pro-life Democrats are worthy of our (pro-lifer) vote. But you understand that you were told that because of the Democratic party’s stance on abortion, yes? The two sides in this debate are pro-choice and pro-life, not “right” & “left”, or Democrat & Republican. Pro-choice and pro-life positions cross over the political distinctions, although many people want to ignore that fact. You can’t accurately make generalizations about what pro-lifers think about social safety nets, health care, wages, etc. We’re all over the board on those issues. What we have in common is the value we place on LIFE and our hatred of abortion.
4) Sorry, most pro-lifers are not going to be impressed with your “personally pro-life” stance. We are not only concerned about our unborn children, we are concerned about all unborn children. (And we’re concerned about a lot more than unborn children, but we’re all over the board on those other life issues as well.)
“there’s no way I can be pro-life because I vote for more the most extreme pro-abortion Democrats ever”
FIFY. I’m still going to assume that you’re just senile. It is far more charitable than the alternative.
X-GOP was told that because he supports OBAMA the most pro-abortion president we’ve ever had. Obama supports infanticide which is something even Bill Clinton didn’t support. So how pro-life are you when by your vote you’re putting pro-aborts in office where they sign legislation that promotes more abortion? Big bucket of duh here!
I think focusing on the safety of abortion is a good tactic. We know clinics are dirty so this tactic closes them down. Focusing on the harm to women, the harm to the baby…all good tactics as well. Its like that game “Don’t break the ice”. You keep tap, tap, tapping away wherever you can. Eventually the ice breaks and abortion will cave in. We’ll just keep chiseling away at it from all different angles. Our message is consistent. Abortion is unsafe, harmful, and evil. The pro-aborts on the other hand can’t get their message straight, as already pointed out.
EGV,
I’m old enough to remember the lies, distortions, and emotional appeals that resulted in legalized abortion. You name the social problem, abortion would cure it. I still remember bumper stickers that said “stop child abuse, support abortion reform”. Sure makes sense doesn’t it? Problem is there is very little about human nature that makes sense and no social problems that are so easily solved. The American left would stop at nothing. This was their golden calf.
No sooner was abortion legal than the unregulated chop shops were up and running. Profit was the name of the game. There is some absurd notion out there that legalizing something puts the criminal element out of business. That’s totally laughable. It all too often gives the criminal element opportunities they never dreamed of. That was certainly the case when abortion was legalized.
BTW, you didn’t, and do not now, find The Left fighting for stricter regulations and protections for women. No wonder the chop shops went full blast, and still do. They also had women right where they wanted them. What was the likelihood of the woman running to the authorities if she was sexually abused by her abortionists or reporting conditions to the Health Department?
From what I have read concerning “care” in these places, I can only tell you it would never be considered acceptable under any other circumstances, not even at your local veterinarian office. Abortion mills were and are staffed by doctors don’t have to be credentialled or even licensed, or who should have retired long ago, staff with no training as nurses supervising patient care and administering drugs, no emergency equipment, and patients who have to be carried by paramedics like they’re sacks of potatoes, down stairs supported on cinder blocks, or tossed in wheelchairs, wrapped in a bloody sheet and raced to the emergency room across the street.
Dispense with the horse puckey about the left’s concern for poor women. The CEO’s wives and daughters, the rich man’s mistress, and the celebrities will continue to have their abortions privately and discreetly done by their own doctors under the most private and comfortable conditions possible. Poor women will continue to visit the nearest ratholes.
Lrning – I believe those here on this board are more interested in lives than funding- maybe from my post it wasn’t clear enough I was pinning that on politicians.
End of the day, I simply believe that the GOP policies result in more abortions – they don’t have the guts to try to flat out ban it, but they do create economic situations where people are more likely to abort. Obama can personally say he’d like every baby in the world to be aborted – I’m not wrapped up in the words of this and these labels you guys throw out – if he creates a situation where women get better health insurance for their kids, and another president is fighting for more people to be without health insurance, then it doesn’t matter what their words say – their actions are going to create situations where you’re going to get different abortion numbers. That’s all I’m saying.
I feel a bit like we’re straying off the topic though – to answer the question directly – I wonder a bit if the pro-choice movement regrets not following the lead of the pro-gun lobby, which is essentially saying that they don’t care if people die as a result of their stance, it is a matter of freedom, and if that exercise of freedom results in death, those deaths aren’t as important as the freedom of individuals.
EGV 12:46PM
LOLLLL. That’s exactly the stance the abortion supporters took!
As for the pro-gun lobby, tell me EGV, what about that lethal weapon you drive every day? How many thousands are dead and maimed because people like you insist on owning these lethal weapons? How many people are dead because we insist on having knives in our kitchens, fireplace pokers, hammers and screwdrivers on our tool benches and baseball bats in our garages? I sure hope you don’t keep matches. Doing so makes you personally responsible for deaths and destruction caused by arson.
I think it definitely backfired on them. How could anybody logically think that a procedure that is invasive enough that it’s purpose is killing could possibly be safe for the mother either???
http://voiceforhope.blogspot.com/
Hi JennJ,
I’ve watched it backfiring for years. Like any evil, be it concentration camps, slavery, segregation, etc., you can’t make it respectable. Tolerable maybe, for a while. You can find all kinds of excuses and justifications, you can attack the people who condemn it, and you can try to give it pretty names. But in the end, you realize its just lipstick on a pig, and so does everyone else.
Why would you say it backfired. Is Abortion illegal anywhere in the US? Is there anyone in the US who wants an abortion and can’t have one?
You guys have been fighting to ban abortion for 40 years without success and you wonder if the abortion rights movement is in trouble?
Hal,
We don’t wonder, we know. Its Time Magazine that claims abortion advocates are losing. As someone who read TIME for years, I never recall them having any pro life sympathies.
If it ever had been the combination of safe legal and rare I would still fight it until it ended. Because of the person who is missing from our lives.
I look at young women like Lila Rose and I say, Lead on!! We DIDN’T end abortion yet, so let the younger generation do ALL they can. Go with all our support and may God bless you!
(That’s what the abortion advocates are missing. They’re movement has no heart because their hearts are hauled away by trucks, and sold to labs or dumped in landfills.)
Ok Mary, get back to me when Abortion is illegal. Have a great weekend everyone. Go Seahawks!
Hey Hal,
Get back to me when you’ve studied history and learn that slavery was finally abolished after decades and decades of struggle to end it.
Carla, you said above that Love Wins! Seems like a simple thing to say, but I think the heart of the matter is in that statement. The baby boomers are dying, the young people of today aren’t buying it anymore. The pro-choice movement is running out of emotional steam. Oh sure there are still plenty of people screaming on the sidelines–we’ll see them all frothing at the mouth in a couple of weeks at the march–but generationally they are losing momentum big time. I think that’s due to a lot of things, a lot of hard work by dedicated pro-lifers, but mainly I think it’s the overall ghoulishness of their message. The young people who don’t want to be pro-life activists at the very least don’t want any part of abortion. They love little babies.
Ex-GOP,
Oddly, at its root, abortion really isn’t a political issueat all. It’s a cultural revolutionary ideal and tactic. It has been indispensable in advancing radical feminism. It becomes political to the extent that it was thrust on this nation by the US Supreme Court in one of the most raw acts of judicial activism. Strictly speaking, it is a state’s rights issue, and the people have been robbed of their ability to decide this at the ballot box, or through their elected representatives.
If the political left thought that it would win at the ballot box they would welcome the opportunity. As it is, they know that many of the same people who say that they are personally opposed to abortion but wouldn’t interfere with another woman’s right to choose would in all likelihood never actually vote for abortion if given the chance.
Meanwhile, with 55 million dead Americans and counting, this fundamental human rights issue needs to be fought in the political sphere, using the machinery of politics. But make no mistake, abortion is no more a political issue than slavery was. That many cannot tell what is political and what is fundamental human rights is part of the dumbing down of America.
Our founding document, the Declaration of Independence specifically put the issues of LIFE, liberty and the pursuit of happiness outside of the political sphere by identifying them as inalienable (God-given) rights that, as such, are beyond the power of government.
It became political when seven arrogant men arrogated to themselves the power of God, as set forth by Jefferson and the founders in the Declaration. Their actions in the Roe and Doe decisions represent a rupture with the fundamental American identity and character. That wretched court has a long, sad history of doing this with slavery, segregation, eugenic sterilization of the handicapped, internment (concentration) camps for Japanese-Americans, and now, abortion.
It took a civil war with well over 600,000 dead Americans to end slavery. Since (thankfully) nobody wants another one, the political sphere is all we have to reclaim the God-given right to life of the weakest among us, a God-given right usurped arrogant men. The death toll for the babies could well top 200,000,000 before this scourge is ended.
That’s not political. Fights over budgets and the size of the military are political. That’s mass murder and genocide on an unprecedented scale.
“which is essentially saying that they don’t care if people die as a result of their stance, it is a matter of freedom, and if that exercise of freedom results in death, those deaths aren’t as important as the freedom of individuals.”
Well, Ex, that pretty much is the argument advanced by bodily autonomy fanatics, specifically that it doesn’t matter that abortion kills because like, it’s so super important that no one uses their bodies without their permission. I suppose the mainstream advocates don’t like to push this viewpoint because it’s so whiny and narcissistic, but it is pretty popular among internet debaters and it is my understanding that academics generally consider it the best argument for legal abortion. Anyway, I case the point of what I’m saying is that the sentiment you describe is certainly to some degree present in abortion advocacy.
Hi Mary, In fact, I have a degree in U.S. History and well aware of the efforts to defeat slavery. I still don’t see much chance for an abortion ban. I think you would have a better chance of convincing people they don’t need (or even want) abortions. But the idea of outlawing the procedure isn’t getting much traction. Knock yourself out, though. Maybe an annual march of anti abortion protesters would get some media attention and start to change public perceptions.
Many in the pro-life movement like to point a polls where more people call themselves pro-life, but in growing numbers many of those don’t believe in criminalizing abortion… they just find it distasteful.
I agree.
If it ever had been the combination of safe legal and rare I would still fight it until it ended. Because of the person who is missing from our lives.
Mine too, Ninek. I think there are many people who might be ambivalent about the issue but still feel that sense of loss. Its really sad that men aren’t allowed to mourn their lost children without being considered some kind of out of touch, insensitive pigs.
Debbie is feeling the baby moving every day now. This is the baby that her family encouraged to her abort. It’s going to be hard, so keep her and my son (he’s in rehab now) in your prayers.
That they are both right, that the “safe legal and rare” mantra is total crap, is evidenced by the pro-aborts’ reaction to sidewalk counseling.
And their total hysteria and lies about the pregnancy alternative centers. They even encourage people to picket them. Um, what do their signs say: “Stop Helping Women Find Life-Affirming Solutions to Unplanned Pregnancies?” This is just plain mean-spirited and I think it has backfired. The laws in NYC, Baltimore, and Austin have been overturned (some are on appeal).
Mary -
Pretty lame argument. If we deregulated cars like we deregulate guns, how many deaths do you think we’d have? It seems like you would argue that we shouldn’t have speed limits so that when some people are driving really fast, the good people can drive even faster to get away from them.
Gerard -
At the fundamental level, I do agree with you. Abortion isn’t political, it’s about greed, fear, trust, pride – a lot of sin wrapped up into one little ball. I don’t think anybody sets out to get pregnant so that they can then get an abortion. Abortion is about a pregnancy happening, and then not having the confidence that having the baby is a better decision than killing the baby. It is why it really bothers me that the pro-life crowd on this board seems anti-health care, anti-social programs, anti-safety nets because when you take the politics out of it, you have a woman, pregnant, scared, and making a decision. And the social policies in this country definitely make it easy for a lot of women.
Regardless, one thing I do take exception with on your post is the voting. I have absolutely zero confidence that if it really came to a vote in a state, that a state would choose life (at least without exceptions). Even in Mississipi, a personhood amendment didn’t really get close. In Florida, a bill on abortion funding – seems more like a slam dunk – that bill didn’t get very close. In fact, if every single Obama supporter voted against defunding abortion, then a decent percentage of Romney voters also jumped on board to defeat it.
Last two thoughts:
- The fight against abortion won’t be won without people equating a fetus to a baby. I know that is a simple statement, but it is completely logical for a person to be pro-choice if they don’t acknowledge a fetus as a baby.
- I think the biggest weapon in the whole battle would be Christians spreading Christ first, and not a message of condemnation and shame.
Ex-Gop: I am for gun control but people seem to forget that the guns used in the CT and CO massacres were bought LEGALLY. I think that we really need to do a better job of screening and getting resources for the mentally ill in this country, something that is often overlooked.
Phillymiss -
I’ll never claim that we can bring gun deaths to zero. Even countries with very strong regulation don’t get the numbers to zero – so it makes no sense to go through the 10,000+ gun murders a year and talk about the prevention of each one.
I do agree that the PART of the solution should involve better treatment for the mentally ill in this country. With the number of people in this country attacking medicare and medicaid though, do you really think people could stomach raising spending for better programs? Heck, there’s some people out there that don’t want to feed the poor – I don’t see spending money on the mentally ill getting a lot of traction.
@phillymiss
If only that school had been more gun free right?
katie looks like she’s about to cry.
It would be possible for abortion to be legal yet rare. What would have to happen is that the DEMAND for abortions drop greatly. That could happen if there were dramatically fewer unwanted pregnancies or if women automatically accepted all pregnancies.
Hal 2:30PM
If you have a degree in US history then you are well aware that the struggle against slavery suffered setbacks, disappointments, indifference, stagnation, and plenty of frustration. I have no doubt people such as yourself told abolitionists over the decades to just give it up already.
Wouldn’t you folks be more successful convincing people they don’t need or want to own slaves? I just don’t see any ban on slavery getting much traction. But hey, knock yourselves out. Maybe an annual march of abolitionists would get media attention and change public perception.
EGV 2:54PM
EGV, we regulate and license. We have traffic laws. We have impaired driving laws. People violate these laws all the time. Criminals violate laws, if not with guns then with knives, fire, hammers, poison and anything else they can think of. You can as easily be the innocent victim of another driver as you can be of someone firing a gun. Your momentary carelessness, which we are all guilty of, can be fatal.
Fact remains EGV that every time you get behind the wheel of your vehicle, you are handling a lethal weapon. Now think of the millions on our nation’s roads, all with lethal weapons. I’m sure you would agree its the driver who is responsible, not the fact we can legally own cars.
Mary, I’m not telling you guys to give it up. I’m merely expressing my opinion of your chances. Sure, I could be wrong. I was just commenting on the premise of this thread, i.e., the “safe, legal, and rare” idea has “backfired.” I don’t follow this issue as closely as you do, but I simply don’t see any evidence that abortion rights groups are on the edge of defeat. It seems to me that most Americans don’t “like” abortion, and are perfectly happy to express disdain for it in polling, but don’t really want it banned. If you guys get close to achieving your goal, I think you’ll see a powerful “backlash” rise up to prevent anything like an outright ban. Most people who don’t like abortion aren’t getting fired up about the restrictions you are seeking making it a little harder, but if they sense that abortion might actually be outlawed, the dynamics will change. Just one man’s opinion. Time will tell.
The fact is that a demand, a market, is an absolute necessity for any service or product. This was illustrated on “Married . . . with Children” when Al Bundy set up a 900 phone line for people to call, paying per minute, to discuss shoes. The service was legal. But it made no money. People, the vast majority of them males, will pay to talk with someone over the phone about sexual fantasies. People of both sexes will pay to talk to someone claiming to be a psychic. Although the episode on MwC was fictional, it is reasonable to believe that people won’t pay to discuss shoes (unless it’s part of a sexual fantasy) over the phone. Al had no market for his service.
If the only women getting pregnant were those wanting to have babies, abortionists would be training for other branches of medicine.
Hal, 3:59PM
As I said, I have no doubt that abolitionists heard plenty of opinions on their “chances” of ending slavery, and I’m sure most were less than encouraging. They expressed their opinions then, you expressed yours now. As you say, only time will tel..
The parallel with slavery is not good. The master was trying to get Dred Scott returned. The aborting female is expelling the embryo or fetus. The master was trying to force Dred Scott to labor for the owner. The embryo or fetus requires the physical resources and “labor” of the pregnant female to survive.
I’ve been having more and more abortion proponents I debate come right out and say “Yeah, we think you guys are gonna do it. But you’ll be soooorrreeeeeee!”
It gives me a happy.
P.S. Still waiting on Reality to tell me how I’m gonna have my epiphany moment and realize how abortion isn’t a tool of the patriarchy.
Hi carla please read my clarification under autopsy post. Didnt mean to condem. I used depo for years. I educate women on how depo chemically aborts. Im including myself. I recently met a woman with breast cancer who took birth control for years. I share my story. Abortion and bc kills children. Hope that clears the air.
The abortion industry dumbs women down but many of us are opening our eyes. How can I point the finger at a post abortive woman when im just as guilty? However some women are very hard of heart and we wont reach them all. I believe some people wished death upon singer adells baby and michelle dugger. So much for choice huh?
Gerard = awesome!
Hey Heather,
No worries.
Jamie,
The heart of our movement is love. We love babies and women that are made in the image of God. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made by a loving Father. We love women enough to beg them NOT to end the life of their own child. We love them enough to tell them and show them THE TRUTH about abortion. We love them before, during and after abortion.
The other side? It is death. It is evil. It is devastation. And it will be ended.
How many of my children did I kill on depo provera? Only God knows. I will one day answer to him. I paid a very high price for years on bc. One day I might face breast cancer. I can only repent educate and move on. One must woman up and own it. I used to believe women against bc were nuts. I have changed my mind.
Safe, legal and rare is a campaign slogan, not a mantra. Since Bill Clinton was elected and then reelected, in part, based on his appeal to people who don’t like abortion but think it should be legal, I don’t see how it backfired at all.
Joan are you happy that bill clinton got off the hook after impregnating mistress Gennifer Flowers and coaxing her into an abortion to cover his sin and empower himself?
You cant straddle the fence. You cannot be pro abortion pro plan b and pro contraception and walk with the lord. We are all sinners in need of a savior. We dont get to pick and choose. I am meeting more and more pro aborts and I am shocked by what they say. I met a nursing student who said _ if a kid has downs syndrome the kindest thing to do abort it and try again. I told her to go to jills blog.
hey Heather,
I agree with what Joan said. People who support abortion (for others) were seeking a catchy phrase to justify themselves. And Bill Clinton filled this admirably. The phrasing is dated, but the sentiment is as strong as it has always been. Time for a new slogan, but justification need not hurry!
Hi john! Happy new year. Another point..if abortion isnt the ending of a human life why on earth would we want to keep it rare? Lets just do it as often as we can!
Oftentimes I think of the massacres that occurred in Bosnia, and i wonder if this same attitude is at play here. Some foreign corespondents thought that there MUST be all kinds of easily noticeable differences between the two sides. THE KILLING IN THIS WAR WAS SO VICIOUS AND MASSIVE!
So they asked what this difference was. They were told with perplexed shagrin: “They smoke a different brand of cigarettes than we do!”
AM I NOT MY BROTHERS’ KEEPER? Who is my brother/sister?
Safe? No.
Rare? No.
Legal? For now.
“I’ve said this before and I’ll say it 1,000 more times. If you have a plan to end abortion that ends with a happy ending at the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court is going to rubber stamp your plan and say abortion is now illegal, that is a flawed plan from the beginning. We’re winning on the local and state level, city by city, state by state and that is how we’re always going to win!”
Troy Newman-President of Operation Rescue
http://www.operationrescue.org/
Carla says:
Safe? No.
Rare? No.Legal? For now.
I LOVE this! It should be a t-shirt!
“It is why it really bothers me that the pro-life crowd on this board seems anti-health care, anti-social programs, anti-safety nets”
Ex-RINO. What percentage of “the pro-life crowd” on this board do you estimate volunteer at crisis pregnancy centers?
legacy… Hmmmm…That implies there are heirs, and many of those were aborted by pro-aborts.
The woman’s movement claims it made it possible for women to have jobs outside the home, but what most single working mom’s know they made it MANDATORY. Thanks for the Dutch lunch mother-f•••••’s. N.O.W. is run by women who have no desire to have a reproductive system, or they would fight for the mother’s rights instead of the aboritonists’s ‘rights.’ When women were hurt by ‘reproductive health care,’ these same ‘women’s advocates,’ are the ones who do every thing to hide the crime against women. All ‘women’s lib’ people did was pimp us out to men who were too lazy to be worth our while. They made us victims. Once we waited for prince charming, now we are at the mercy of Howard Stern–and what woman doesn’t know what he wants. There is a reason sex-slavery in America is at an all time-high, and that Planned Parenthood is a tool of the trade. There is a reason female sex slaves are imprisoned if they go to the police, their clothes confiscated, and released on the street a day later in an orange prison jump-suit. The reason is so-called men named Obama, and so-called organizations called, the National Organization for Women. The truth is too horrible to admit.
Women never had a hard time getting screwed, but the ‘women’s movement’ told us things would get easier with abortion-abortion was to set women free from ‘needing’ men. Abortion was the new best friend of the sex-predator preying on the woman who is lonely, vulnerable or who has low self-esteem, who is gullible, shy or well intentioned, but has no father or male-role model to inform her of what it means to get ‘milked through the fence.’ Abortion made women toys, it made us sport, objects of riducule-where once women were producing the heirs of American Culture, women who, if they were really determined enough, and if they REALLY wanted one, could ALREADY have jobs. Patsy Cline and Florence Nightingale wouldn’t have given Madame Cecil Richard’s the time of day.
‘Legacy Movement’ will be what PP’s tombstone reads.
I am a woman who has been hurt by abortion.
I am anti-abortion.
I am ROE. Right ROE N.O.W.
REVERSE Roe VS WADE N.O.W. = WON
The term ‘choice’ is being abandoned because it is a misnomer. Every woman I know who has ever gotten an abortion has said, “What CHOICE did I have.” It’s redundancy has outdated it as unsustainable and tragic.
“Safe, Legal and Rare” Like any propaganda it does not have to make sense or be truthful like regular communication. It just has to be catchy and have a desired effect. Why did Clinton include “rare” in his campaign statement? (instead of just “safe and legal”) Because it helped to push the idea that abortion was already rare (and thus a non-issue) and that he would help it to become rarer. This later idea appeals to the middle type voters who are for natural reasons uncomfortable with abortion but are otherwise basically ignorant of the subject.
Pro-lifers ought to be pursuers of and exposers of the truth about abortion. And do so in complete straight forward honesty. Exposing the silliness behind slogans like “pro-choice” and “Safe, Legal and Rare” definitely moves things forward but ought not over shadow our own messages of life, freedom and love.
[...] Dr. Gerard Nadal, commenting on Stanek weekend question, “Do you believe the ‘safe, legal, and rare’ mantra [...]