Category Archives: Relational Apologetics

Relational apologetics is the art of cultivating friendships with people who are different from you, where you can have many conversations about a controversial topic about abortion. This can often be more effective than single conversations on a college campus because you can build rapport and trust with the person, and have more time to discuss the hurdles that are blocking someone from changing their mind about an issue like abortion.

Posted on

Critical Common Ground in Medical Tragedies

by

Ever since Roe was overturned, we’ve seen a number of news stories where women have tragically died due to pregnancy complications or complications from an abortion. Abortion advocacy groups and sympathetic media outlets are quick to blame these deaths on state abortion restrictions, whether or not those restrictions actually had any effect on their care.

We recently had Monica Snyder from Secular Pro-Life on our podcast to discuss these cases. I highly recommend listening to that episode if you haven’t already, as I consider this article to be a companion/response to the podcast. Really, I’m just running a highlighter over a theme that’s been on my mind for many months now: many of these tragedies aren’t the result of abortion restrictions; they’re the result of a broken system that pro-choice liberals already agree is broken.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Posted on

Pro-Life Advocacy When You’re Socially Anxious

by

I’ve never been very good at a traditional ERI-style outreach or active sidewalk counseling. I’ve always struggled to strike up a conversation with a random stranger. No matter how many times I rehearse an opening line, when the moment comes, my voice chokes off before I can get a word out. I literally feel my throat and diaphragm physically seize. I’ve not completely given up on trying to clear this hurdle, but I’ve had to accept that my social anxiety is a real barrier to certain types of pro-life advocacy.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Posted on

Dear Pro-Choice People, Give Pregnancy Centers a Chance

by

Pro-choice people: “You pro-lifers don’t actually want to help women and babies, you just want to take away abortion rights.”

Pregnancy centers: *exist*

Pro-choice people: “You’re manipulating women!”

On the one hand, that’s a little bit of a caricature—I’ve never seen a conversation quite that blatant. But on the other hand, I do see pro-choice people make both of those comments online a lot, and I get why that’s frustrating to pro-lifers: Pro-choice people say we don’t want to help women, we point out the many, many volunteered hours and donated dollars the pro-life movement pours into helping women, and then pro-choice people reject that obvious proof that we want to help women by saying our help is actually just a guise for manipulation. It can come across as frustrating, ad hoc, or even duplicitous.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Posted on

Get Ready. IVF Confusion is Coming.

by

On February 18, 2025, President Trump signed the executive order “Expanding Access to In Vitro Fertilization,” setting off a firestorm of comments, criticisms, and confusion among pro-life and pro-choice people alike. “We want to make it easier for mothers and fathers to have babies, not harder, you know that…that includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every state in America,” Trump said on the campaign trail last spring. “I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious, little, beautiful baby.”

It’s not hard to see why Americans overwhelmingly believe access to IVF is a good thing. I mean, Trump is right; IVF means that more couples can have more babies! What’s the problem with that?! So pro-choice people (and even some pro-life people) are incredibly confused why Trump’s Executive Order just 30 days into his presidency didn’t make us pop the champagne. 

By us, I mean Rebecca, Emily, and our awesome ERI Affiliate Groups who researched and brainstormed how to effectively respond to the bewildered looks we’ve been getting on college campuses. Rebecca and I co-wrote this article, but really the credit goes to our awesome Affiliate Group members. The pro-choice train of thought we all thought through together goes something like “Isn’t more babies exactly what pro-lifers want? But they don’t support IVF?! Oh, so it really IS just about controlling women’s bodies and sex lives after all…” Here’s what we found.

Estimated reading time: 16 minutes
Posted on

The Pro-Life Message I Wish I’d Heard in High School

by

I don’t know about you, but there was a time in my life when I was absolutely terrified to tell anyone that I was pro-life.

Let me back up.

I grew up Catholic, went to K-12 Catholic school, the whole nine-yards. I knew that I was supposed to be pro-life, and I was pro-life, but I had spent maybe five minutes of my entire life thinking deeply about abortion. So when I went off to college, I had absolutely no idea what I was getting myself into.

I went to St. Olaf College, where in the fall of 2016, the students staged a massive protest against our local pro-life pregnancy center. The pregnancy center was hosting their annual fundraising banquet in the ballrooms of our student union, and when the students found out, they lined the hallways waving signs, trying to stop community members from entering and raising money to provide free resources to pregnant and parenting families.

Yeah, it took me about two seconds to realize that publicly identifying as pro-life was social suicide.

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes