December 12 is a day for long-term strategic planning.
I understand the plans of most pro-life leaders: educate,
then change the law so it protects children again. This plan is and always has
been lunacy, with no precedent in recorded human history; nonetheless, it is
the plan of most pro-life leaders. And now, in pursuit of the impossible,
pro-life leaders have enlisted a great promise-maker, who promises to fulfill
all wishes. Okay. That’s one strategy.
I offer a different strategy. (1) We must reach out to every
sector of society that is interested in justice to help us, and (2) we must re-build
a campaign of nonviolence.
The abortion movement makes two arguments of immense power –
arguments that most pro-lifers do not understand, let alone answer.
One of these pro-abortion argument is, “I am not an asshole
like them” [“them” – pointing at us]. This is not a logical argument. It’s an
ad hominem argument, based on snobbery. And so it’s very powerful indeed! The effective
response to this snobbery is to fight against every injustice that currently
plagues our society, especially against those evils that are part of the
eugenics movement, which is the heart and soul of abortion. Understand and
fight against eugenics wherever it rears up. It matters that we fight broadly,
and – sorry to say it – it also matters that we be seen in every fight. We need
allies! Reach left! Leave tracks, and be patient.
The second pro-abortion argument also has immense power that
pro-lifers generally misunderstand or ignore. The “argument” is loyalty to
family and friends who have chosen abortion. The argument is rarely stated bluntly,
but it’s pretty simple. “My mother/sister/wife/girlfriend is not a murderer,
and if you call her a murderer, I will fight you forever.” The response to this
admirable loyalty cannot be words alone. The answer to this argument must be an
action, sharing the intense vulnerability of a mom at an abortion clinic – as well
as the vulnerability of the child. So study the Sermon on the Mount, and Gandhi’s
use of it, and King’s work. That is, our response is a campaign of nonviolence.
Brief re-cap. (1) To answer the first argument effectively,
fight eugenics, with every ally you can find. (2) To answer the second
argument, read and act on the Sermon on the Mount every day until you’re in
jail, and don’t stop then.
