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Our Take on the “AKA Jane Roe” Documentary

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Download Audio MP3 | 01:03:10

After the entire ERI staff watched the “AKA Jane Roe” documentary, we processed our thoughts together and in this nearly unedited discussion, Josh and Rachel offer their analysis of the film, including:

  • Why this story is relevant to pro-choice people and shouldn’t be brushed away by pro-life advocates.
  • A video editor’s take on whether the documentary was deceptively edited or merely biased.
  • Why getting paid speaking fees or through “benevolence gifts” doesn’t prove that your statements are entirely insincere.
  • How the labels “pro-life” and “pro-choice” are adding confusion to this particular discussion.
  • What we believe is the most plausible explanation for Norma McCorvey’s statements in the documentary.
  • Considering several alternative explanations and why they seem less plausible to us.
  • Responding to some of the other pro-life and pro-choice reactions to the documentary.
  • A few lessons that pro-life advocates should take from this situation.

“AKA Jane Roe” can now be seen on Hulu.

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One Easy Step to Avoiding Confirmation Bias: Interview with Tangle Founder Isaac Saul

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Download Audio MP3 | 01:25:02

Josh Brahm interviews Isaac Saul, political journalist and founder of Tangle, an independent, ad-free, non-partisan politics newsletter that offers both sides of the biggest news stories every day.

They start by discussing Isaac’s background and the experiences that led him to attempt to create a truly non-partisan, fair, political newsletter. They then talk about common problems in the media, how to avoid confirmation bias, and how easy it is to fall into the game of snarky tweets, including Isaac admitting that he had published a snarky tweet from his personal account that morning, which they then analyze. Finally Josh asks Isaac for a list of his favorite sources from both sides of the political aisle for people who want to subscribe to at least one source from the opposite side.

ERI-Dialogue-Principle #35

Conversation, on the other hand, is a far more useful skill in persuading people, and that skill is built on kindness, trust, grace, understanding, and, of course, genuinely caring about the other person.

For more of the context of this quotation, visit our blog to read the full article, “Debate vs. Dialogue: How Do They Differ?”: 

ERI-Dialogue-Principle #34

Abortion is not about refusing service to a needy child. Abortion is about killing a child.

For more great tips and principles, visit our blog at: blog.equalrightsinstitute.com

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My First Pro-life Display Was a Flop

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My first pro-life display wasn’t a complete disaster, but it was pretty close. My goal was to get the ball rolling and build up some campus presence. It bugged me that no one seemed to know my pro-life club existed, and I wanted to change that. One way to do so was outreach. The goal of outreach is to raise awareness and educate students on the issue of abortion. It also gives you a chance to recruit new club members.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes.

Image of college campus.

Our group decided to use a display board that showed how many abortions happened in just the past hour, while students were in class. The board had painted baby feet, one for each child killed by abortion. Creating the display was a fantastic bonding opportunity for our group.

I was advised by one of our coordinators not to have too much on the table to avoid it looking cluttered. So I only picked out handfuls of our club info flyer, pregnancy resource cards, and pro-life merchandise. There was also a short stack of papers with what I took to be general pro-life material, based on a quick skim before the tabling. So we had our display as our attention-getter, and then the materials neatly laid out next to it.

At the outreach, we each grabbed a chair and sat behind the table, eagerly waiting for student interaction. Unfortunately, that wait lasted the majority of the day. Most people ignored the display, which was disappointing because I thought it would help stir engagement.

Then, one of our members, Mike, spotted his friend walking near us. Let’s call her Julie. They casually talked for a short bit, and then he asked her what she thought about abortion.

Julie: “It’s my body” (gesturing to her stomach).

Mike: “It’s not your body.”

Julie: “But it’s in my body.”

Mike: “But it’s someone else’s body.”

She seemed a bit frustrated towards the end (reasonably so, as he was misunderstanding her position), and then she turned away from him and towards me.