How Do You Convince Someone That Abortion Takes a Life?

I sometimes get requests to do interviews for local students. You can read one of them here at LifeNews.com. I just did another one, and this is my response to two of his questions:

Student: What do you think is the best way to convince those against abortion that it’s taking away a life?

I think it’s very important to be able to communicate the philosophical argument I summarized here.

Screenshot from the TED talk I linked to.

Screenshot from the TED talk I linked to.

For some people, seeing videos about human development can be helpful. National Geographic’s In the Womb and this TED talk can be very persuasive.

There are some people that don’t see abortion as something that takes life unless they see graphic images of what it does to babies. I think you should warn somebody before showing them, and give them the option of choosing not to view them. I think the best video for this is Stephanie Grey’s “Abortion: Before & After” video. It shows both fetal development images and then abortion images from babies that are the same age.

Student: What challenges have you faced in helping fight abortion?

It’s really challenging to get certain churches to partner with us and fight abortion. I can understand why some would be concerned about certain things that some pro-life groups do, but we’re not one of those groups. If they learned more about us, they should have no problem partnering with us and praying in front of Planned Parenthood, or training Christians to be good ambassadors for Christ and then mentoring them as they talk to pro-choice people on college campuses. Unfortunately a lot of Christians are either ignorant, fearful or apathetic about this issue, and fighting those three things is an ongoing frustration for me. You can hear me speak more about those three problems in depth during this sermon audio.

One of the big challenges of talking to young people on college campuses is that some have embraced moral relativism, the view that morals are subjective and that there is no such thing as an objective moral rule, only preferences. This worldview is already outdated and disrespected by the majority of modern philosophers, but sadly young college students have not all caught up to that. Which means I get to spend long conversations sometimes trying to demonstrate that some things like rape are objectively morally wrong, because if I can’t do that, it’s highly unlikely I will change their mind about something less obvious like abortion.

President

Josh Brahm is the President of Equal Rights Institute, an organization that trains pro-life advocates to think clearly, reason honestly and argue persuasively.

Josh has worked in the pro-life movement since he was 18. A sought-after speaker, Josh has spoken for more than 23,000 people in six countries and in 22 of the 50 states.

Josh’s primary passion is helping pro-life people to be more persuasive when they communicate with pro-choice people. That means ditching faulty rhetoric and tactics and embracing arguments that hold up under philosophical scrutiny.

He has publicly debated leaders from Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), Georgians for Choice, and one of the leading abortion facilities in Atlanta.

Josh also wants to bring relational apologetics to the pro-life movement. “Some pro-choice people will not change their mind after one conversation on a college campus. Some of them will only change their mind after dozens of conversations with a person they trust in the context of friendship.”

Josh is formerly the host of a globally-heard podcast turned radio/TV show, Life Report. He now hosts the Equipped for Life Podcast. He’s also written dozens of articles for LifeNews.com and the ERI blog.

He directed the first 40 Days for Life campaign in Fresno, resulting in up to 60 lives saved.

Josh has been happily married to his wife, Hannah, for 15 years. They have three sons, Noah, William, and Eli. They live in Charlotte, North Carolina.

David Bereit, the National Director of 40 Days for Life, sums up Josh’s expertise this way: “Josh Brahm is one of the brightest, most articulate, and innovative people in the pro-life movement. His cutting-edge work is helping people think more clearly, communicate more effectively, and — most importantly — be better ambassadors for Christ. I wholeheartedly endorse Josh’s work, and I encourage you to join me in following Josh and getting involved in his work today!”

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