The arguments of the pro-choice side

Today, we continued the Face the Truth Tour in Chicago, and the counter-protestors were out. Let me give you the arguments they gave me:

1) Our pictures are fake. Those are really full-term babies. I asked some follow-ups:
a) Where'd we get the pictures? "You people killed the babies, then took pictures of them." Another fellow said "Those are Iraqi babies, killed by your idol, George Bush!"
b) I asked one woman "Would it make a difference to you if you thought the picture was real? "No." Then why claim that it's a fake? "To show what wackos you people are."

2) Numbers 5 is a theraputic abortion. So said a passerby. I pulled out my bible and read the passage in his presence. He said "See? Therapeutic abortion!" Go read it yourself, and see if his tendentious reading is correct. When I attempted to chat with him about it, he told me to go find someone who read Hebrew. Then he called me a psycho and walked away, even after I invited him to lunch to discuss the issue. His loss--I would have paid.

3) A man dressed in black with a Roman collar and a pectoral cross came by. He said that he had an open mind on the abortion issue. I, of course, love open minds, since one can then have a good debate. I attempted to bring up some bible passages, such as Jeremiah and the Visitation, when John the Baptist leapt in his mother's womb at the presence of Christ. He said "Don't talk to me about the bible! I studied the bible for five years in seminary!" I said "Ok. I studied it too. Let's talk about it!" He then said "I read the bible in Greek!" I said "So do I." He refused to listen or even converse with me in any way, and wouldn't even tell me which church he belonged to.

4) A woman told me that I should support birth control since I am opposed to abortion. When I asked her about the detrimental effects that contraceptive sex has on relationships and marriage, she said "Marriage is a sh*t institution designed by the patriarchy to oppress women!"

All these conversations are reported nearly verbatim, subject to the constraints of my memory.

Tales from the Front

This week I am helping out with the Pro-Life Action League's Truth Tour, where we hold graphic signs on the side of busy streets. There has been much controversey over whether our method is proper, whether anyone should have to see such horrible images, and whether some other method (ultrasounds) might work better. I don't know about all of that, but want to tell you two stories from the last two days:

1) A woman came up to us with tears in her eyes and said that she was pregnant three years earlier when she saw our signs, and it caused her to decide to have her baby. Little Arianna is three years old, the light of her mother's life.

2) Today a boy of fifteen walked by our demonstration and told my friend Pat that his girlfriend was pregnant, that he didn't know what to do, but that he had prayed for a sign. He got it today.

Every day I help out with the tour something like this happened. Earlier this year a woman came up to me crying, and said "I've had six abortions. Do you have any literature I could have?" Would she have sought healing if not for us? Maybe. These questions are open to debate. But she did seek healing, and a boy and his girlfriend are going to have their child, and little Arianna is three.

Constitution, Schmonstitution.

See what I did yesterday: Photo.

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