A Response to Steven Crowder From a "Wimpy" Pro-lifer

Before I even opened Steven Crowder’s recent article, I was already cringing at the title. “Dear evil women who abort their babies”. No wonder pro-choice advocates don’t buy our slogans of “love them both” or “pro-woman, pro-life”, when we have those in the movement launching an attack campaign on women who have made a life altering decision; and as equally disturbing to the opinion piece, were the comments I was reading on his Facebook post for the article. It has reconfirmed a pattern I’ve been noticing in the pro-life field. Activists are turning to hurtful methods of “evangelization” and people like Steven are stirring the fire to make it appear that this small percentage is the majority, when it is in fact not.

Since Crowder is expecting a pion such as myself, who has volunteered in the prolife movement for thirteen years, to conjure up a response I don’t expect him to bat an eye, so I instead direct this to all those who call themselves defenders of life: If you truly care about ending abortion, a condescending course of action is never going to be the right option. We must be selective with our words towards those who do not share the same opinion on abortion or are actually living with the consequences of acting on that opinion. We are not being advocates of life if we are tearing down the inner life of the mother. It’s not just adding insult to injury, it’s adding injury to injury.

Women are not going to seek our help if they don’t see us as individuals with whom they can build a trusting relationship. I mean, I wouldn’t trust someone who called me evil would you? Our hopes of offering open and non-judgmental conversations will become harder to accomplish if we are not united in a mission that is centered on understanding; if not, it will do serious damage to what decades of peaceful advocates have built. I can’t help but think of organizations like Save the Storks who are making significant strides in the pro-life movement by offering their services with love and compassion.

I’m not ashamed to admit that I believe this “wimpy” approach to our ministry is the only way to reach those on the other side of the debate, because I know it’s true. I had a conversation with a former co-worker once who opened up to me about the day she went for her abortion. She asked why people were yelling and acting the way they were towards the women going into the clinic. I had to uncomfortably explain that there are those who take a harsher approach to promoting pro-life ideals. Some pro-lifers may take offense to that but there it is. Whatever was said to my friend from the sidewalk did not change her mind that day and instead offended her and made her more steadfast in her decision to get an abortion. The fruits of disrespect are confusion and resentment and those who gravitate towards this methodology need to reevaluate, because it’s not going to work.

I’m glad people like Steven Crowder are recognizing the severity of this issue and we can even have passionate discussions on the topic when the time calls for it, but when it comes to persuading others to our point of view, attacking women will never be the answer.