Rights and Fairness Part II: Prolife Answers 13-16
In: Pro-Life Answers By: Joshua
20 May 2010Before we begin the summaries for arguments 13-16, I think it’s important that we again focus our thoughts on what the goal should be when talking with someone who is pro-choice. We’ve mentioned in our previous summaries that the ultimate goal of a general debate with a pro-choice person is to bring the argument back to two key questions on which the whole abortion debate heavily depends: What is abortion? and What are the unborn? These two questions summarize the primary differences between the pro-life and the pro-choice perspectives, as each side’s responses to those questions portrays their mindset concerning the subject of abortion.
However, while we do want to bring the topic back to those two questions, it is just as critical that we actually address the argument itself. Thus, with this summary I hope to show you an effective way to intelligently respond to each argument, while also giving you a few clues on how to swing the topic back to the two core questions.
Pro-choice argument 13: “It’s unfair for an unmarried woman to have to face the embarrassment of pregnancy or the pain of giving up a child for adoption.”
Elena Kagan-Judicial Activist?
12 May 2010It appears that Elena Kagan will be the first nominee of President Obama for the opening Supreme Court seat, and therefore we must seek to understand better exactly what she will bring to the Supreme Court if approved.
The news is currently flooded with articles about her right know, but I chose to investigate this one specifically, drawn in by the reference to Thurgood Marshall. For those of you who don’t know, or have forgotten, Thurgood Marshall was a lawyer critical in the victory in Brown v. Board of Education, as well as the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court. With this knowledge in mind, I was somewhat shocked by the title of the article (“Michael Steele attacks Kagan’s praise of Thurgood Marshall”). Upon reading the article, however, I discovered that it had nothing to do with race-relations, and everything to do with the Constitution.
New Recruits for the Blog
In: General By: jonny
12 May 2010Hello everyone. Over the past couple weeks the Voices for the Voiceless blog has recruited two new members to help contribute.
Samuel F. – Events Coordinator, also someone to help me with the site code itself
Jonny W. – Writer of both original content and news
Although as of yet there is still no way to tell from the main site who wrote each post (working on that), our hope is that having more contributors will help to maintain a steadier stream of posts.
God bless,
Joshua S. and Josiah F.
- (1) Comment
- Tags: blog, new, staff, update
Rights and Fairness Part I: Prolife Answers 9-12
In: Pro-Life Answers By: Joshua
7 May 2010Continuing on in the series, here are arguments 9-12.
Pro-choice argument 9: “Even if the unborn are human beings, they have fewer rights than the woman. No one should be expected to donate her body as a life-support system for someone else.”
One compelling pro-life response to this would be that if the unborn are indeed human beings, then there is little reason to need to continue the abortion debate. Continued slavery in this present world and the holocaust of the past share this key element with the abortion industry: they are all based on the assumption that not all human beings are “persons,” and even if they are, some are more of a “person” than others. To say that the aborted are human beings should send off a trigger in the mind; if they are indeed human beings, how can one advocate destroying their lives?
That brings us to the the idea of some human beings having fewer rights than others. What criteria are involved in determining how much personhood somebody “has”? Given nearly any response, we can apply the SLED test to give examples of why either,
- Closely analyzed, that criteria makes no logical sense (e.g. why should size matter in determining personhood?)
- Carried to logical extremes, that criteria has heavy consequences. (e.g. if the ability to contribute to society is what should be used to determine worth in this life, why keep the elderly? why keep the mentally handicapped?)
Abortion Requirements Bill Signed Into Arizona Law
In: Life News By: Joshua
23 Apr 2010This past Wednesday, Arizona bill SB-1304 was signed by Governor Jan Brewer, thereby becoming law. This law requires any facility providing an abortion to record the following statistics: (among many others)
- The name and address of the facility where the abortion was performed.
- The woman’s age.
- The woman’s educational background by highest grade completed and, if applicable, level of college completed.
- The woman’s race and ethnicity.
- The woman’s marital status.
- The number of prior pregnancies and prior abortions of the woman.
- The gestational age of the unborn child at the time of the abortion.
- The reason for the abortion, including whether the abortion is elective or due to maternal or fetal health considerations.
- The type of procedure performed or prescribed and the date of the abortion
A full list can be found in the House’s summary.
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- Tags: abortion, arizona, bills, law
Who is the Pro-Life Movement?
In: Foundations|General By: Josiah
15 Apr 2010
After a seemingly unending string of back-room deals, the House Dems narrowly passed the Senate’s healthcare proposal, which mandated tax-funded abortion for the first time in our nation’s history. Despite the President’s promise that his executive order would ban funding of abortion from the legislation, prominent pro-life groups immediately denounced it as meaningless. And though the battle is far from over as it shifts to the courts, Congress has dealt a significant blow to the sanctity of human life in America.
Pro-lifers around the country now face an even bigger challenge in protecting the lives of unborn children. The battle will only get harder from here.
Proverbs 24:10-12 states, “If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small. Rescue those who are being taken away to death; hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it, and will he not repay man according to his work?”
- (1) Comment
- Tags: life, movement, pro-life, youth
Rep. Bart Stupak, D-MI Not Running for 10th Term
In: General By: Joshua
12 Apr 2010[Source]
After 18 years of service in Congress as one of the few pro-life Democrats, Bart Stupak will not be running for a tenth term in the House. “Last month, we finally accomplished what I set out to do 18 years ago — we passed comprehensive national health care reform,” he said at a press conference last week.
Stupak has played a crucial role in the health care debate over the past year, particularly with regard to abortion funding. After amending the House bill to include the ban of federal funding for abortion, Stupak voted for the Senate version which included no such measure. The Senate version of healthcare is now law here in the United States partially because Stupak and the rest of the pro-life Democrats voted for it.
Some legal solace may be found in an executive order that President Obama was willing to make in order to acquire pro-life Dems’ votes. The order stipulates that abortions may not be funded by tax-payers’ dollars. However, an executive order is not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution, may be repealed by the acting President at any time, and is not nearly as legally binding as something in the healthcare bill such as the Stupak Amendment would be.
Time will tell of it’s efficacy.
Regardless of your opinion towards Stupak’s decision to vote for healthcare and consequently to leave Congress, he will leave an empty seat this November. Let us pray that his seat will be filled by a representative with even more zeal for the pro-life movement than Stupak did.
Life, Humanity, and Personhood Part II: Pro-Life Answers 5-8
In: Pro-Life Answers By: Joshua
9 Apr 2010Next up are answers to Arguments 5-8. As with last time, I’ll be summarizing Alcorn’s points, focusing on the ones we discussed. Let’s begin with argument 5:
Pro-choice argument 5: “The unborn isn’t a person, with meaningful life. It’s only inches in size and can’t even think; it’s less advanced than an animal, and anyway, who says people have a greater right to live than animals?”
One of the most crucial points to bring up in a situation like this is simply that, (to quote directly from Alcorn’s book) “Personhood is properly defined by membership in the human species, not by stage of development within that species.” Dictionary.com’s first (most commonly used) entry definition for the word person is “a human being, whether man, woman, or child.” The unborn fits into this category because it is human. (and if it is not human, what is it then? It is scientifically alive, so it must be categorized into a species)
As for the size issue (or non-issue as we should realize), we read the Dr. Seuss book Horton Hears a Who and read the famous quote, “A person’s a person no matter how small.” If need be we can utilize examples from the Size (SLED) to make this more clear.
Should size matter in determining if someone is a human being deserving protection? Certainly not! Personhood is not a function of height, as anyone would agree that a taller person has no “extra personhood” over a shorter person. (Sharkbait!) Young children don’t gain personhood as they increase in stature, neither should the unborn. Their personhood is already acquired.
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- Tags: alcorn, answers, arguments, humanity, life, personhood, prolife, randy
Life, Humanity, and Personhood Part I: Pro-Life Answers 1-4
In: Pro-Life Answers By: Joshua
4 Apr 2010Welcome, everyone, to the first post in a series of summaries called Pro-Life Answers, where I will list common pro-choice arguments and hopefully give you some pointers for how to approach discussion with someone who holds such a view as presented in said arguments.
We will be following Randy Alcorn’s excellent book ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments. If you have not heard of this book, it is an outstanding resource in which Alcorn defends the pro-life position against 39 pro-choice arguments that we have all heard before. He gives useful examples and techniques to respond to statements such as “The unborn isn’t a person with meaningful life,” and “Reproductive freedom is a basic right,” along with the hard cases such as “What about rape?”
The Voices for the Voiceless group has been discussing these arguments and practiced defending them from the rest of the group members during our meetings. We have found it convenient to review four arguments every meeting, and I will continue the pattern by summarizing them in sets of four.
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- Tags: alcorn, answers, arguments, humanity, life, personhood, pro-life, randy
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Voices for the Voiceless is a pro-life group for teens by teens located in the east valley area of Arizona. We are a generation called to take a stand for life, to the glory of God. Edmund Burke once said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” [more]
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