I recently wrote a column published on this site called “I Was a Pregnant College Student”. You can find it by using the site’s search engine. Reading that column might give you some idea of the complexity involved in answering your question.

God bless.

I too stand at the abortion mill regularly with a sign and a rosary. I stand there as witness to the holocaust, recognizing that I actually do very little in hopes of saving the children scheduled to be slaughtered that day. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Too much water has gone under the bridge by the time a mother reaches the mill. In almost all cases, she’s too resolved to be swayed at that point.

I don’t think the theater analogy is very useful within the context of this discussion. I will never physically jump the abortionist as he arrives at the mill. I don’t think it’s an appropriate approach. I wouldn’t hesitate in the theater, though.

It has always stricken me as odd that we live in a country where a young woman can go into an abortion clinic, pay a fee and have her child killed. But this same young woman if she went out and paid someone to kill her boyfriend or husband she would be arrested for contracting someone to commit a crime. So is it any different when she paid the fee to the abortion doctor to kill the child she is carrying?

My issue with your theatre example is that it is not exactly equivalent to the abortion situation. Unlike in the theatre, the person being killed is 1.) not obvious to the entire community as actually being a person (ridiculous, but accurate); 2.) the death is legally sanctioned; 3.) there is not one, but multiple murderers. Yes, I would stop the murders at all costs in your hypothetical example, but if you equate it with worldwide abortion today, I would also face an uprising on the part of the majority of the theatre-goers, be silenced and rendered ineffective, others who feel as I do would be demonized and those who are “on the fence” would be even less likely to listen to reason and scientific evidence. And then the killing would go on, even more unimpeded.

The theatre deaths only stop permanently when we incite the majority of the theatre-goers to all rise up against the killers.

In answer to your final question, for me, the personhood of the preborn baby is driven home when you start with the most obvious discrepancies in pro-choice (or cafeteria Catholic) “reasoning”. In Fr. Pavone’s words:

“When people are astonished by these facts, as they will be, they are forced to re-evaluate just how much priority “privacy” and “choice” have over life. If they are “pro-choice,” they are forced to figure out when in pregnancy the line is drawn — and why.

And now you’re talking.”

However, there is room and need for all in the Church and her battles: martyrs and discoursers. Christ set the example for both, and called us each according to our gifts to fight for life.

I feel like we are standing under the same tree, but somehow not holding hands around the trunk, if you will…

In Christ’s love,
Denise

Confrontation is not the issue at all. It’s Personhood for the preborn baby.

I think real change will come when pro-life people actually (in their gut) believe a real live person is being killed, and sense the urgency to do something about it. What were your answers to the guy killing a person every 25 seconds. What would you do? You would stop them, of course. But there are many folks who say they are pro-life, and don’t vote for pro-life candidates.

So, I certainly agree that we must be compassionate in our discussions, but it’s 35 years and counting. A real person is being killed every 25 seconds.

How do we emphasize the personhood of the preborn baby?

Jim McFillin
Great Mills, MD

For those responding to Ms. Kimmel, I think there might be some misunderstanding:

I doubt that anyone could consider that I vacillate on pro-life issues. I believe abortion is gravely immoral in all circumstances. I vote, and vote every time, consistently pro-life before any other issue. And I see exactly where Ms. Kimmel is coming from.

She did not say that she herself believes there is a grey area. She did not say that there were not other and better options than opting out of the “burden” of bearing a child by having an abortion. She reiterated an important point in Fr. Pavone’s article that all too many ardent pro-lifers, in their zeal, often overlook: To change people’s hearts and minds, you must talk WITH THEM, not AT THEM.

And to effectively talk with someone you disagree with and hope to change the mind of, you absolutely must find that common ground. You must, casting off disgust or anger, have to seek to understand their concerns. Trying to walk in someone else’s shoes does not mean that you give any indication that you endorse their point of view. It does not mean that you run the risk of suddenly “switching sides”. It is not a sin.

If you seek role models, consider God Himself, who came to us humbled as a slave. He did not mince words about what sin and Hell are, but came for the sinner nonetheless, walking in our shoes.

Not everyone is called to the ministry of reaching out to pro-choice individuals, of course. But please do not minimize the importance of supporting those who do so, risking ridicule and rejection on an even more personal level than I do when I’m standing in front of the abortion clinic with my rosary and a sign.

Blessings and strength to all in the continuing fight for life!
Denise

In all things, love: 1 Cor 13

In your statement, you said, “The problem I have encountered is that pro-lifers don’t want to wander into anything that may be perceived as a grey area.”

Let’s say we are in a theater with 4000 people. And let’s say, I start killing a person every 25 seconds. Would you tell me to stop? Would you stop me yourself? Would you just ignore it, because these people are “not wanted.” (A woman at Planned Parenthood actually yelled, “This baby is not wanted.”)

Ask yourself the real question.

Do I believe this preborn baby is an actual person with the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? If you do, you see abortion for what it is–evil, death, black as opposed to white. If not, grey is an option.

Jim McFillin
Great Mills, MD