Abortion Debate Index

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Biology

Regarding when life begins

Biologically there’s no consensus on when life begins.

• Response: “Where does life begin?’ is a spiritual question” (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• The human life cycle begins at fertilization, and not before (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• Deconstructing Three Pro-Choice Myths: 1. Biologically, we don’t know when human life begins.
• (Charlotte Lozier Institute) A Scientific View of When Life Begins
• (Social Science Research Network) Biologists’ Consensus on ‘When Life Begins’
• Even very pro-choice biologists acknowledge a human life begins at fertilization.
• Steve Jacobs’ survey about human life cycles (TikTok, YouTube)
• Collection: For the Biology Textbook Tells Me So
• Does “life begin at conception”? (TikTok, YouTube)

What do we mean by “alive”? Are viruses alive?

• Are viruses “alive?”

Embryos are like sperm, eggs, or skin cells.

• Human Beings Begin as Zygotes: Refutations to 8 Common Pro-Choice Arguments: Q8. Skin cells are human! (en español aquí)
• The zygote is the beginning of the human life cycle: everyday examples.
• “Unique DNA” isn’t exactly the point
• “The fetus isn’t an individual. It’s science.” (TikTok, YouTube)
• The Case Against Abortion: Human Organisms (YouTube)
• The pro-choice view survives on widespread ignorance of biology (en español aquí)
• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – chicken for breakfast
• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – Is this a chicken?

Regarding fetal development

Embryos don’t have hearts or heartbeats.

• Research: Embryonic Hearts
• Responding to 7 pro-choice claims about embryonic hearts
• Embryos have hearts (TikTok, YouTube)
• Embryos have blood circulation by week 6 (TikTok, YouTube)
• Embryology textbooks vs abortion providers (TikTok, YouTube)
• People care about embryonic hearts (TikTok, YouTube)
• “The 6 week fetus doesn’t have a heart” [Scanning electron microscope images] (TikTok, YouTube)
• Our children’s heartbeats

Ultrasounds are just detecting electrical activity, not heartbeats.

• Opponents of heartbeat bills don’t understand how ultrasounds work (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)

A 9 week embryo isn’t even visible to the naked eye.

• Guardian article “What a pregnancy actually looks like” erases embryos (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• Pro-choice women who have miscarried are outraged by The Guardian
• When is a fetus viable? (TikTok, YouTube)
• Many pro-choice views depend on believing embryos are “clumps of cells”

Fetuses can’t feel pain.

• The Facts on Fetal Pain
• Fetal Pain in the First Trimester (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• (Journal of Medical Ethics) Reconsidering Fetal Pain
• “Anesthesia during fetal surgery isn’t for pain” (TikTok, YouTube)
• 3 Keys to Fetal Pain: 1 – Definition (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• 3 Keys to Fetal Pain: 2 – Ultrasound Studies (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• 3 Keys to Fetal Pain: 3 – Frailty of Cortical Necessity (TikTok, YouTube)
• (AAPLOG) Practice Guideline: Fetal Pain

Regarding miscarriage compared to abortion

• “If you’ve had a miscarriage, you’ve had an abortion.” (TikTok, YouTube)
• The phrase “spontaneous abortion” is not pro-choice propaganda. (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• Describing miscarriage as “intrauterine death” threatens abortion rights
• Our cultural gaslighting of women who miscarry before 20 weeks
• Is a D&C for a missed miscarriage an abortion? (TikTok, YouTube)
• Do Texas medical residents learn to provide miscarriage care? (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• “Everyone loves someone who has had an abortion” (TikTok, YouTube)
• Pro-abortion ideology strips compassion from miscarriage care

Personhood

You aren’t a person until…

…you’re viable/can live independently/don’t require someone else’s body to live.

• Viability = personhood?
• Viability is the least plausible definition of personhood (TikTok, YouTube)
• (Equal Rights Institute) Why viability is the least plausible definition of personhood 

…you have consciousness.

• A Primer on Fetal Personhood and Consciousness
• Study: fetuses show consciousness in second half of pregnancy
• Embryos & metaphysical personhood: both biology & philosophy support the pro-life case. (en español aquí)
• Can you step into the same river twice? A closer look at human identity
• Consciousness-based personhood doesn’t justify abortion (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Pulling the plug on a brain dead person is ok” (TikTok, YouTube)
• Abortion: A Topic that Divides the Masses (YouTube)
• Do pro-choicers think preemies are people? (TikTok, YouTube)
• Newborn vs elephant (TikTok, YouTube)

…you have self-awareness.

• “Fetuses don’t care.” (TikTok, YouTube)
• Personhood based on human cognitive abilities.
• (Journal of Medical Ethics) After-birth abortion: why should the baby live?

If life begins at conception…

…what does that imply about IVF?

• Human Beings Begin as Zygotes: Refutations to 8 Common Pro-Choice Arguments: Q3 In Vitro Fertilization (en español aquí)
• What do you call the embryos conceived through IVF, then destroyed?
• “Anti-choicers want to ban IVF” (TikTok, YouTube)
• (Rehumanize International) Embryo Destruction
• (Equal Rights Institute) Selective Reduction
• (Americans United for Life) Statement regarding IVF
• We Asked, You Answered: Embryo Adoption

…why don’t people mourn miscarriage?

• SPL’s Guide for Hospital Miscarriage Care
• LIVESTREAM: personal stories & policy gaps around miscarriage
• Our cultural gaslighting of women who miscarry before 20 weeks
  • “Why aren’t I invited to funerals for miscarriages?” (TikTok, YouTube)
  • Yes, I think embryos are “real” humans (TikTok, YouTube)
  • “Children that never existed” (TikTok, YouTube)
  • “People grieving miscarriage are grieving a potential future lost.” (TikTok, YouTube)
  • “Sorry you’re grieving the imaginary” (TikTok, YouTube)
• Our miscarried children weren’t parasites
  • No, embryos aren’t parasites (TikTok, YouTube)
  • Embryos, parasites, and pregnancy loss (TikTok, YouTube)
• When miscarriage is an emotional crisis, medical professionals can help.
• Processing reproductive grief as an atheist (TikTok, YouTube)
• On miscarriage as an anti-abortion atheist (TikTok, YouTube)
• Prenatal child support, death certificates, tax credits, and life insurance
• (Little Souls At Rest Foundation) Burial process and options for pregnancy loss before 20 weeks
• (Through the Heart) Comfort Kits Program
• On miscarriage (SPL YouTube playlist)

Other general personhood discussions

• Harry Potter explains how fetuses are people
• Arguments Against Fetal Personhood (discusses speciesism, gradualism, threshold arguments, functionalism)
• Why artificial wombs pose a challenge to pro-choice personhood arguments
• Pro-Choicers’ Persistent Infant Problem: A Reply to Boonin
• Pro-Choicers’ Persistent Infant Problem, Part 2: A Reply to DeGrazia
• (Equal Rights Institute) The most undervalued argument in the prolife movement
• The Case Against Abortion: Personhood and Infanticide (YouTube)
• It’s normal to view our embryos as valuable human beings (SYA examples) (TikTok, YouTube)
• Personhood (SPL YouTube playlist)

Bodily Rights

Bodily Rights (SPL YouTube playlist)

It’s my body; I can do what I want with it.

• “You either support reproductive autonomy or you don’t.” (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• (Equal Rights Institute) Autumn in the Sovereign Zone: Why “it’s my body, I can do what I want” won’t do 
• “Abortion doesn’t kill humans, it just refuses to save them” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “In all other ways, we value autonomy more [than right to life].” (TikTok)

It doesn’t matter if the fetus is a person or not, because no person has the right to use your body against your will.

• McFall v. Shimp and Thomson’s Violinist don’t justify the vast majority of abortions. (en español aquí)
• (Justice For All) De facto guardian and abortion: a response to the strongest violinist
• The Case Against Abortion: Bodily Rights (YouTube)
• Syllogism: “right to refuse” the use of your body doesn’t justify elective abortion (TikTok, YouTube and blog)
• “No person can use your body against your will” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “It doesn’t matter if the fetus is a human being or not” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Where is the right to use and occupy another’s body?” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Fetuses don’t have special rights” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Why doesn’t bodily autonomy justify abortion?” (breastfeeding newborn example) (TikTok, YouTube)
• “You can shoot someone who refuses to leave your property” (TikTok)
• “Abortion is defending yourself” (TikTok)
• Of course it matters if the fetus is a person (TikTok, YouTube)
• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – It doesn’t matter
• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – Fun fact

Forced organ donations (kidneys, car crashes, etc.)

• Response: “Bodily autonomy is widely respected in every other context” (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• Abortion isn’t like refusing to donate a kidney (TikTok, YouTube)
• “So you support forced kidney donation” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Do you support requiring people to donate their kidneys?” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “If you caused a car crash, should you be forced to donate blood?” (TikTok, YouTube)

Abortion isn’t about killing; it’s about ending a pregnancy.

• It’s not about bodily autonomy. Here’s how we know.
• What is the point of abortion? (TikTok)
• “Abortion has nothing to do with value” (TikTok, YouTube)

Abortion procedures involving feticide or dismemberment.

• Abortion isn’t just about ending a pregnancy; it’s about killing a fetus. (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• “There is no dismemberment in an abortion. Ever.” (YouTube, TikTok and blog post)
• “They don’t do dismemberment abortions” (TikTok)
• Feticide before termination of pregnancy (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Abortion isn’t about killing” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Abortion is nothing to do with death.” (TikTok, YouTube)
• Later abortion isn’t just birth (TikTok, YouTube)
• “No one to talk to about my induction abortion” r/abortion story (TikTok, YouTube)
• “There’s no such thing as late-term abortion. That’s called ‘birth.'” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Late-term abortion is called having a baby” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “There is no dismemberment in abortion. Ever.” (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• Society of Family Planning gives guidelines on “inducing fetal asystole” (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)

Artificial wombs and abortion rights

• Abortion isn’t just about ending a pregnancy; it’s about killing a fetus. (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• “The right to avoid genetic parenthood” (TikTok, YouTube)
• Artificial wombs and the right to not be a biological mother (TikTok, YouTube)

Consent to sex is not consent to pregnancy

• Child Support
• (Equal Rights Institute) Is Consent to Sex Consent to Pregnancy? (YouTube)
• (Human Defense Initiative) Consent to Sex is Not Consent to Pregnancy: A Pro-life Woman’s Perspective

Outlawing abortion leaves women with fewer rights than a corpse.

• “Fewer rights than a corpse!” rebutted

Healthcare

• A clear definition of “abortion”?
• Abortion isn’t like treating lung cancer (TikTok, YouTube)
• Later elective abortions aren’t done in hospitals (TikTok, YouTube)
• Hospitals don’t perform later elective abortions (TikTok, YouTube)
• Abortion isn’t just about ending a pregnancy; it’s about killing a fetus. (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• Society of Radiologists: don’t acknowledge that embryos are living (TikTok, YouTube)
• Society of Family Planning gives guidelines on “inducing fetal asystole” (TikTok, YouTube)

The “Hard” Cases

• How many pro-choicers support elective abortion? (TikTok, YouTube)
• Laws about pregnancy after brain death: Is Adriana Smith’s son a threat to abortion rights? (TikTok, YouTube and blog post with access to case discussion replay)

What about when her life is in danger?

• “Do you support abortion when her life is in danger?” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “The mother’s life is always at risk” (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• I’m an emergency physician. Pro-life laws don’t threaten my patients.
• (Charlotte Lozier Institute) Abortion Policy Allows Physicians to Intervene to Protect a Mother’s Life
• What counts as “reasonable medical judgement”? (TikTok)
• (Equal Rights Institute) Abortion and Medical Necessity: Improving the Pro-Life Approach

What about when there are fetal anomalies?

Interview series: stories of prenatal diagnoses

• Abortion and Infant Mortality: Termination Does Not Prevent Death
• Prenatal Testing: Do Parents Have Informed Consent?

Life-compatible anomalies

• [Destigmatized Abortion and] Pressure to abort for prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis (TikTok, YouTube, Substack and blog post)
• Why does prenatal testing exist? Perspectives from a parent of a child with Down syndrome
• What’s so special about eugenic abortion: a Down syndrome parent sends notes from the battlefield
• The abortion debate no one wants to have
• When there’s a prenatal diagnosis, the medical community often pressures parents to abort. (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• “We were offered a termination 4 other times because my baby was like me.”
• Unconscious bias in prenatal diagnosis leading to abortion
• Pressuring women to abort after prenatal diagnosis (TikTok, YouTube)
• Collection: They can hear you.
• Collection: Parents can hear you.

Life-limiting anomalies

• (Equal Rights Institute) When is Abortion Fetal Euthanasia In Disguise?
• AAP updates guidelines for prenatal care of babies with Trisomy 13 or 18
• The importance of being a parent when children won’t live long after birth
• A Pro-Life Introduction to Perinatal Hospice
• (AAPLOG) Practice Guideline: Perinatal Palliative Care
• Kate Cox, Trisomy 18, and the Texas abortion law (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• “Some conditions are worse than others” (TikTok)
• Medical community, ableism, and Trisomy 18 (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• Arrow’s Story (TikTok, YouTube)
• Building trust between clinicians and parents of children with Trisomy 13 or 18 (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• Is Abortion the Answer When the Baby Will Die?

What about when she was raped?

Please note Secular Pro-Life does not take an official position on whether abortion restrictions ought to include an exception for rape. We detail our reasoning here.

• The 11-year-old who gave birth in Missouri (TikTok, YouTube)
• (Equal Rights Institute) Responding to the question of rape with wisdom and compassion
• (Rehumanize International) On The Rape Exception
• Misconceptions about the rape exception
• (Georgetown Law) Giving birth to a “Rapist’s Child”: a discussion and analysis of the limited legal protections afforded to women who become mothers through rape

Abortion Procedures and Medications

(WebMD) What are the types of abortion procedures?

Abortion pills

• Why is prescribing abortion pills an exception to established medical practice? Welcome to shield laws.
• “Period pills” are abortion pills for people who don’t want abortions (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• Are abortion pills harming the environment?
• Pro-choicers should be worried about abortion pill abuse
• (AAPLOG) Practice Guideline: Medication Abortion
• The Risks of Telemedicine Abortion (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• Are abortion pills safer than Tylenol? (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• (Equal Rights Institute) What’s Magical About Abortion Pills?
• (Equal Rights Institute) “Missed-Period Pills”: An Ethical Nightmare
• What Mothers See After Taking Abortion Pills
• Abortion provider sends woman abortion pills not realizing she’s 32-34 weeks pregnant (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• Pharmacy gives woman abortion pills by mistake (TikTok)
• Georgia Woman Dies After Delayed Treatment of Abortion Pill Complications [Amber Thurman] (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• ACOG has spoken: 13 phrases we no longer are supposed to use regarding abortion – Chemical abortion
  
• Collection: Coerced Abortion by Pills
  • Donegal man pleads guilty to forced abortion
  • Ohio surgeon accused of forcing abortion pills on sleeping girlfriend (YouTube, TikTok and blog post)
  • Male abuser gets abortion pills online; vendor shows no remorse

Abortion pill reversal

• Controversy around Abortion Pill Reversal: a quick overview
• How Abortion Pill Reversal Works Scientifically
• (AAPLOG) Practice Guideline: Abortion Pill Reversal
• The dishonest claim that abortion pill reversal is dangerous
• “APR has been proven to be unsafe” (TikTok, YouTube)

Surgical abortion

• “There is no dismemberment in abortion. Ever.” (TikTok, YouTube)

Later abortion

• Popular myths about later abortion: LIVESTREAM: Behind the Doors of the Washington Surgi-Clinic (blog post with access to replay)
• Abortion clinic website dispels pro-choice myths about later abortion

Later abortions are only 1% of all abortions.

• Is later abortion only 1% of all abortions?

Later abortions are always or almost always for medical emergencies.

• Late-term abortion (SPL YouTube playlist)
• “There is no such thing as abortion after viability” (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• “There are no OB-GYNs out there who are going to perform an abortion on a viable baby.” (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• New Colorado clinic does abortions up to 34 weeks (Substack, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram and blog post)
• “Aborting healthy babies does not happen” (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• Research: Later Abortion
• Five reasons later abortion is worth talking about
• “Why do you care when abortions happen?” (TikTok, YouTube)
• Deconstructing Three Pro-Choice Myths: 2. Most or all later abortions are medical emergencies.
• 80% of abortions in Arizona at 21 weeks or later weren’t for medical reasons (TikTok)
• Pregnancy recognition and late-term abortion (TikTok)
• Couple says they had to abort a stranger’s baby (TikTok, YouTube)
• Do people support abortion “up until birth”? (TikTok, YouTube)
• Examples of post-viability abortion (TikTok, YouTube)
• Later elective abortions aren’t done in hospitals (TikTok)
• Hospitals don’t perform later elective abortions (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Suddenly wake up and decide they don’t want a baby” (TikTok)
• Number of late abortions versus death penalty executions (TikTok)
• “All trimester” clinic aborts up to 34 weeks (TikTok and blog post)
• “The mother’s life is always at risk” (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)

Later abortion is just birth.

• Abortion isn’t just about ending a pregnancy; it’s about killing a fetus. (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• Feticide before termination of pregnancy (TikTok, YouTube)
• Later abortion isn’t just birth (TikTok, YouTube)
• “There’s no such thing as late-term abortion. That’s called ‘birth.'” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Late-term abortion is called having a baby” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “It’s not really an abortion, it’s really just early delivery and comfort care is given” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Abortion isn’t about killing” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Abortion is nothing to do with death.” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “They don’t do dismemberment abortions” (TikTok)
• “There is no dismemberment in abortion. Ever.” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “There is no such thing as abortion after viability.” (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)

Third trimester abortions are only done in medical emergencies.

• Study: Is third-trimester abortion exceptional?
• Even third trimester abortions are done for non-medical reasons.
• My appointment for an abortion at 28 weeks (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• Podcast: Undercover at an Abortion Clinic While 28 Weeks Pregnant
• “Is Third Trimester Abortion Exceptional?” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “33 weeks pregnant and feeling like I made the wrong decision” r/abortion example (TikTok, YouTube)
• What do they mean by “after birth abortion”? (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)

Effects of Abortion Access

On women

• Minnesota lawsuit argues coerced abortions violate parental rights
• “Did I make the right decision?”
• Pivoting to Unwanted and Coerced Abortion: A Manifesto
• Speech: What is 24% of a million? (TikTok, YouTube)
• Effects of Abortion Decision Rightness (TikTok, YouTube)
• Reasons to talk about women who struggle after abortion (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• Women say they grieve but don’t regret abortion. Is that a contradiction?
• Please don’t conflate abortion harm with abortion regret
• “Aborting my baby.” Women describe their aborted embryos as their children.
• “We invited the child’s spirit to revisit Earth another time.”
• (Support After Abortion) Resources for healing (TikTok recommendation)
• Training webinar for people and organizations who provide abortion healing (overview, full presentation on YouTube and blog post)

On others

• Abortion does not affect only the person getting one
• Collection: They can hear you.
• Collection: Parents can hear you.

Effects of Abortion Restrictions

Women will be prosecuted for abortion.

• A variety of reasons not to criminalize women who abort
• Pro-Life Coalition Rejects Punishing Moms Who Abort
• Why penalties for illegal abortion should not focus on the woman
• Differences between abortion and infanticide (TikTok, YouTube)
• (Equal Rights Institute) Should women be prosecuted for illegal abortions?
• (Americans United for Life) Why the States did not prosecute women for abortion before Roe v. Wade
• (Rehumanize International) Life after Roe: A Restorative Justice Proposal

Abortion is 14 times safer than childbirth.

• (Dr. Calum Miller) Abortion and maternal mortality
• (Equal Rights Institute) Is Abortion 14 Times Safer Than Childbirth?
• Keisha Atkins wrongful death lawsuit (TikTok, YouTube)

Stereotypes of Pro-Lifers

You’re not pro-life; you’re anti-choice.

• “You’re not pro-life, you’re anti-choice” (TikTok)
• Anti-Which-Choice? (TikTok)
• “Oh, so are you against the death penalty?” (TikTok and blog post)
• “You’re not really pro-life if–” (TikTok, YouTube)

Pro-lifers are pushing their religious views on everyone else.

• Interview series: Ask a Pro-Life Atheist
• Podcast recap: “Do you need religion to be pro-life?” with Equal Rights Institute (blog post and YouTube)
• Collection of social media images and stories: Ask an Atheist
• Examples of pro-choice atheists becoming pro-life atheists (TikTok)
• You don’t have to be religious to value prenatal life (TikTok)
• “You’re pushing your views on everyone else” (TikTok)
• “You’re pro-life views are inherently religious” (TikTok)
• On “secret Christians” (TikTok)
• “The Bible Has No Say In What Women Can Do With Their Bodies” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “God is technically pro-choice” (TikTok)
• 7 things pro-lifers wish our pro-choice friends understood about us: 1c. We’re not all religious.
• Statistics demonstrating you don’t have to be religious to be pro-life
• Christopher Hitchens Wound Up Opposing Abortion Choice
• “Where do atheists think human rights come from?”
• Why Secular People Should Care About Abortion (PDF brochure)
• On religion (SPL YouTube playlist)

No uterus, no opinion/Men shouldn’t be making laws about women’s bodies.

• Debunking the Equal Protection claim to abortion rights
• Research: Abortion Views and Gender
• Responding to 16 pro-choice claims about Dobbs, the pro-life movement, and abortion bans: 11. Abortion bans are about men making laws to control women’s bodies.
• 7 things pro-lifers wish our pro-choice friends understood about us: 1f. We’re not all men.
• Hi. We exist. – XOXO Pro-Life Women
• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – If men could get pregnant
• Women are as likely as men to oppose abortion (TikTok)
• “No uterus, no opinion”
• So is it also “yes uterus yes opinion”? (TikTok)
• “If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.” (TikTok)
• Abortion affects men too (TikTok)
• “It’s easy to be pro-life when you aren’t the one carrying the pregnancy” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Don’t speak on abortion until you carry an ectopic pregnancy” (TikTok, YouTube)
• 5 messages men get about abortion

Pro-lifers hate women.

• 7 things pro-lifers wish our pro-choice friends understood about us: 2. We’re not anti-woman.
• “Why not mandate vasectomies?” (TikTok)

Pro-life women hate themselves/are internalized misogynists.

• Hi. We exist. – XOXO Pro-Life Women
• “Why do you hate yourself so much?” (TikTok)
• “The anti-choice woman centers men” (TikTok)
• Reasons pro-choicers have claimed that I, a woman, am against abortion (TikTok, YouTube)
• “There’s nothing worse than a pro-birth woman” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Pick me” girls (TikTok)
• “Anti-choice women are some of the most effective” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Self-loathing harpy” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Anti-choice women want to appease their oppressors.” (TikTok, YouTube)

Pro-lifers are right wing extremists.

• How many Democrats are pro-life?
• 7 things pro-lifers wish our pro-choice friends understood about us: 1e. We’re not all Republican.
• “The anti-choice narrative is rooted in white supremacy.” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “You don’t seem progressive.” (TikTok, YouTube)
• (PAAU) Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising
• (DFLA) Democrats for Life of America
• (The Atlantic) The Progressive Roots of the Pro-Life Movement

Pro-lifers are anti-sex/want to control people’s sex lives.

• It’s about the babies, not your sex life: 5 examples (TikTok, podcast, and blog post)
• 7 things pro-lifers wish our pro-choice friends understood about us: 4. We like sex.
• I’m not anti-sex. I’m anti-crisis pregnancy.
• “They want to protect America from premarital sex” (TikTok)
• “Why are anti-choicers so anti-sex?” (TikTok)
• PSA: I don’t care about your sex life (TikTok)
• “Why do pro-lifers hate sex?” (TikTok)
• Is the pro-life movement anti-sex?
• “Punishing women for having sex” (TikTok)
• “It’s not illegal to have sex.” (TikTok)
• “Why not mandate vasectomies?” (TikTok)
• “But women knew the risk when they had intercourse” (TikTok)
• “Why do you fall on the pro-life side?” (TikTok, YouTube)

Pro-lifers are anti-contraception.

• Abortion restrictions and contraception use (TikTok and blog post)
• Why would I oppose hormonal birth control? (TikTok)
• Abortion Is Dying. Long Live Contraception.
• You can be pro-life and pro-contraception. Most of us are!
• 7 things pro-lifers wish our pro-choice friends understood about us: 3. We’re pro-contraception.
• Why not just advocate for contraception access? (TikTok)
• Pro-lifers aren’t trying to ban contraception (TikTok)
• “I suppose you’ll be going after contraception next” (TikTok)
• “Reproductive rights are fundamental” (TikTok, YouTube)

You’re pro-life because you lack real world experience.

• Becoming pro-life through trauma (TikTok)
• “Everyone loves someone who’s had an abortion” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “You don’t realize how complicated life can get” (TikTok)
• Collection: Becoming Pro-Life
• Blog category: Your Stories
• 7 things pro-lifers wish our pro-choice friends understood about us: 5. We experience unplanned pregnancies too
• 7 things pro-lifers wish our pro-choice friends understood about us: 6. Many of us are post-abortive

Pro-life is just pro-birth.

• 7 things pro-lifers wish our pro-choice friends understood about us: 7. We care about what happens to the child after birth.
• “What have you personally done to support lower income single mothers?” (Facebook post)
• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – Can you spot the differences?

Don’t like abortion? Don’t get one

• The problem with “If you don’t like abortion, don’t get one”
• “Don’t like abortion? Don’t get one” (TikTok)
• “Don’t like forced gestation? Don’t force anyone to gestate.” (TikTok)
• “If abortion is legal, it is not illegal for you to refrain from getting an abortion” (TikTok, YouTube)
• Abortion does not affect only the person getting one
• “Abortion only affects the person getting one” (TikTok)
• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – Don’t like abortion?
• No, I won’t mind my own business (TikTok)
• If you’re against abortion bans, don’t try to enact them, and mind your own business (TikTok, YouTube)

Keep your rosaries off my ovaries

• Interview series: Ask a Pro-Life Atheist
• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – I don’t have a rosary.
• “You’re pushing your views on everyone else” (TikTok)
• “You’re pro-life views are inherently religious” (TikTok)
• “The Bible Has No Say In What Women Can Do With Their Bodies” (TikTok)
• 7 things pro-lifers wish our pro-choice friends understood about us: 1c. We’re not all religious.
• Statistics demonstrating you don’t have to be religious to be pro-life
• Christopher Hitchens Wound Up Opposing Abortion Choice
• Why Secular People Should Care About Abortion (PDF brochure)

An acorn is not a tree

• “An acorn isn’t a tree” (TikTok)
• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – This is not a difficult concept.
• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – Repeat after me
• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – Different stages of life, same organism
• Eggs, acorns, and silkworms: Refuting pro-choice propaganda

If abortion is murder, then masturbation is genocide

• “If abortion is murder, then masturbation is genocide” (TikTok)
• The pro-choice view survives on widespread ignorance of biology (en español aquí)
• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – Basic Biology

If the fetus you save is gay, will you still fight for its rights?

• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – If the fetus you save is gay
• “If the fetus you save is gay…” (TikTok)

God is the biggest abortionist of all.

• “Half of fertilized eggs fail to implant” (TikTok, YouTube)

The unborn are a convenient group of people to advocate for

• The unborn are a convenient group to advocate against (TikTok, YouTube, and blog post)
• Spoken like someone who’s never tried to do it (TikTok, YouTube)

Guess we can’t get rid of tapeworms

• Collection: Fixed That Meme For You – Tapeworm Harry
• No, abortion isn’t like removing a tapeworm (TikTok, YouTube)

Yeetus the fetus

• “Yeetus the fetus” (TikTok, YouTube)

It’s pro-choice, not pro-abortion

• “I’m pro-choice, not pro-abortion. Nobody is pro-abortion.” (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Nobody likes abortion.” – Master post of pro-abortion examples.

“I’m personally pro-life”

• “I’m personally pro-life” (TikTok, YouTube)

Dialogue Strategies

• How to talk (not fight) about abortion (PDF flyer)
• Telling people you’re pro-life is a form of activism (YouTube and blog post)
• Talking about abortion with pro-choice friends (YouTube playlist)
• “I’d love to know what you think.” Opposing protesters dialogue. + LIVESTREAM: Understanding Abortion Across the Aisle (blog post with replay access)
• 3 things you need to motivate people (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• We asked, you answered: How to avoid burnout

General strategies

Tell people you’re pro-life.

• 3 reasons you should let people know you’re pro-life (in brochure form here)
• Tell your friends you’re pro-life (TikTok, YouTube)
• Representation matters. Speak up. (TikTok, YouTube)
• Do your friends know you’re pro-life? (TikTok, YouTube)
• “If I tell people I’m pro-life, they’re gonna get pissed.” (TikTok, YouTube)
• Identify as pro-life to destroy stereotypes (TikTok, YouTube)
• Identify as pro-life to create strategic tension (TikTok, YouTube)

Seek to understand the other’s perspective.

• How pro-lifers and pro-choicers define abortion: results from SPL’s survey
• We asked, you answered: feedback from former pro-choicers
• Could you pass an ideological Turing test? (TikTok, YouTube)
• If you’re going to disagree, you have to know what you’re disagreeing with (TikTok)
• Be able to describe another person’s position in a way that they would say “Yes that’s what I think” (TikTok)
• Ask clarification questions (TikTok, YouTube)

Find common ground, and possibly friendship.

• We asked, you answered: Should pro-life and pro-choice people be friends?
• We asked, you answered: What are points of agreement you have with the other side?
• Areas of common ground in the abortion debate (TikTok 1, TikTok 2, and blog post)
• We should be friends with people who don’t agree with us (TikTok, YouTube)
• Developing friendships with pro-choicers is crucially important (TikTok, YouTube)
• Don’t stereotype everyone based on the worst examples (TikTok)
• “Pro-choice” vs “Pro-abortion” (TikTok, YouTube)
• Who is “really” pro-life? (TikTok, YouTube)

Be patient, and relentless.

• People change their minds over years (TikTok)
• People change their minds all the time (TikTok)
• Collection: Becoming Pro-Life
• How secular pro-choicers become secular pro-lifers

Regarding in-person discussions

• LIVESTREAM: Table Manners for Tough Topics (blog post with replay access + recap)
• Talking to kids about unintended pregnancy (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• Tips on emotional regulation during in-person abortion discussions (TikTok, YouTube and blog post)
• You don’t have to convince, just explain (TikTok, YouTube)
• Make the goal to understand, rather than to persuade (TikTok, YouTube)
• Tell your stories (TikTok, YouTube)
• “Should I be mom friends with a woman who raises money for Planned Parenthood?”
• Holiday Conversations About Abortion (TikTok, YouTube)
• We asked, you answered: coming out as pro-life
• We asked, you answered: Navigating abortion discussions in the workplace
• We asked, you answered: talking abortion over Christmas dinner

We Asked You Answered discussion prompts

• We Asked, You Answered: Have you ever felt out of place for being pro-life?
• We Asked, You Answered:  If you are part of the pro-life community, what’s it like to be LGBTQ in those spaces?
• When did you start opposing abortion?
• We Asked, You Answered: If you discuss abortion in LGBTQ spaces, what messages or topics have you found resonate the most?
• We Asked, You Answered: Do most pro-choicers conceptualize abortion as preventing a life?
• We Asked, You Answered: Stories of your mothers’ strength, compassion, and love
• We Asked, You Answered: What experiences have you had talking to your kids about abortion?
• We asked, you answered: “My daughters are going to have fewer rights than I had.”
• We asked, you answered: “To be an anti-choice woman, you’d really have to hate yourself.”
• We asked, you answered: “I can’t believe people think it’s a good idea to let the government interfere in our lives like this.”
• We asked, you answered: “I can’t believe people get this worked up over basically a parasite.”
• We asked, you answered: “Why did you vote against your daughter’s right?”

Regarding online discussions

• Quick tips for making online abortion debate worthwhile
• Is arguing online worth it? (TikTok, YouTube)
• Remember the silent readers (TikTok, YouTube)
• We asked, you answered: What are best practices for online debate?
• “Why don’t you block the pro-choice trolls?”
• We asked, you answered: Dealing with Trolls
• Suggested boundaries for online debate (TikTok, YouTube)
• Make sure you’re one of the good voices (TikTok, YouTube)
• “I’m met with aggressive dissent.” (TikTok)

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