IT’S THE COAT HANGER!
Whenever I share my pro-life views, an abortion advocate is sure to come along to wave a coat hanger in my face, to recite a litany of pro-abortion talking points and to use those to presumptuously label me. It continues to baffle me why, when both individuals involved in this confrontation obviously care deeply about the topic, a discussion doesn’t ensue, where both parties actually try to listen to and understand the other’s perspective. Although I think my stance is reasonable and should invite constructive dialog, maybe there’s something I don’t see in it that results in the non-starter I’ve described. So, with that in mind, let me see if I can summarize what I see as my reasonable stance.
My pro-life views seem to line up well with those of Dr. Alveda King. If you’re not familiar with Dr. King, I recommend that you check her out, starting with her Priests For Life page. She is the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and she describes herself as “a civil rights activist, speaking out on issues that face society today.” In summarizing her stance on abortion, she starts by saying:
“In the ongoing travesty of the debate over whether abortion … should be condoned, a voice in the wilderness continues to cry out, ‘what about the children?‘ We have been fueled by the fire of ‘women’s rights‘ so long that we have become deaf to the outcry of the real victims whose rights are being trampled upon, the babies and the mothers. Of course a woman has a right to decide what to do with her own body. Thank God for the Constitution. Yet, she also has a right to know the serious consequences and repercussions of making a decision to abort her child. Then too, what about the rights of each baby who is artificially breached before coming to term in his or her mother’s womb?“
My sharing Dr. King’s position, acknowledging that “a woman has a right to decide what to do with her own body”, is the main reason why I continue to be bewildered that abortion advocates still insist on assailing me with their talking points, rather than investing in a constructive discussion. Since I still don’t see a cause for this in my stance, perhaps I can find the cause by taking a closer look at some of the talking points I hear most often.
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