Equal Rights Institute Blog"How Should I Initiate an Abortion Dialogue with My Pen Pal?" https://blog.equalrightsinstitute.com/how-should-i-initiate-an-abortion-dialogue-with-my-pen-pal/ Clear Pro-Life Thinking Fri, 24 Apr 2026 14:21:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://blog.equalrightsinstitute.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/cropped-ERI-436A89-Just-ERI-square-512-32x32.jpg "How Should I Initiate an Abortion Dialogue with My Pen Pal?" https://blog.equalrightsinstitute.com/how-should-i-initiate-an-abortion-dialogue-with-my-pen-pal/ 32 32 “How Should I Initiate an Abortion Dialogue with My Pen Pal?” https://blog.equalrightsinstitute.com/how-should-i-initiate-an-abortion-dialogue-with-my-pen-pal/ https://blog.equalrightsinstitute.com/how-should-i-initiate-an-abortion-dialogue-with-my-pen-pal/#respond Tue, 11 Aug 2015 22:39:42 +0000 Josh Brahm http://joshbrahm.com/?p=3152 Estimated reading time: 2 minutes. I received an email from a follower I’ll call “Mike” who wanted some advice on how to initiate a dialogue about abortion with his pen pal. I thought some of my tips might help you if you’re trying to figure out how to use relational apologetics. I’ve removed some of […]

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]]> Estimated reading time: 2 minutes.

I received an email from a follower I’ll call “Mike” who wanted some advice on how to initiate a dialogue about abortion with his pen pal. I thought some of my tips might help you if you’re trying to figure out how to use relational apologetics.

I’ve removed some of the details from Mike’s email to help protect his identity. 

Mike wrote:

Hi, Josh.

Since you spend a lot of time writing about how pro-lifers ought to communicate their views when conversing with others, I thought I’d email you with a question I had. I’ve been emailing a pen pal of mine for a few months now, and we mostly talk about our own lives and mutual interests. We’ve never discussed the abortion issue before, and it’s not something I really want to bring up, but I also want to be able to discuss other topics without worrying about whether or not it will eventually lead to a full-blown abortion debate.

Funnily enough, we’re both interested in bioethics, and she’s asked me what bioethical issues interest me the most. I’m not really sure if I should use this as an opportunity to mention my views as a pro-lifer and consistent life ethicist.

Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

I’d use the bioethics common ground to tread a little into abortion waters. Say that the bioethical issue you’re most interested in is the ethics of abortion, and that you’ve actually been a little worried that mentioning that might make things awkward. Say that you’d be really interested in her take on that if she’d be willing to share it. Say that you’re not one of those obnoxious pro-lifers that shouts opinions at people. You’re interested in both sides learning from each other and having respectful dialogue. You would especially like to do that with a friend since it gives more opportunity for learning from each other, since you can both research each other’s statements and then go back again for clarification.

And then let her take that where she wants to. If she doesn’t want to get into it, respect that. She may love debating that stuff though, and now you have a great launchpad into that topic.

Question: Do you have any advice for Mike? Post it below in the comments!

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