According to Gallup, Americans are split relatively evenly regarding the abortion debate: 47% describe themselves as “pro-life,” 45% “pro-choice.” Half of America is pro-life, but that doesn’t tell us a great deal. Which people are included in the pro-life half? Old, white men? The same Gallup poll found that those who call themselves “pro-life” include: […]
The University of San Francisco Students for Life invited Secular Pro-Life to give a brief overview of the non-religious pro-life perspective and the need for this perspective in the larger pro-life movement. Click here to see the presentation. Sources for the presentation are listed below the video. Click here to see the partial Q&A session following […]
Students for Life is hosting a Secular Pro-Life presentation at the University of San Francisco: Friday, April 20th 8:00pm 313 Cowell Hall University of San Francisco Join us to hear Secular Pro-Life’s position and why it’s needed in today’s pro-life movement. Update: The presentation went very well. The students were engaged and inquisitive. See here […]
[This post is the first in a point-counterpoint debate. See the argument against the rape exception here.] According to Gallup, 59% of self-described pro-lifers believe abortion should be legal in cases of rape. This is a higher percentage than I expected. Anecdotally, it seems most pro-lifers I interact with believe there should be no rape […]
This past weekend was both the Reason Rally and the American Atheists Convention. SPL spends a lot of time advocating for secularism in the pro-life movement; last weekend was a great opportunity to advocate for pro-life positions in the secular movement. SPL arranged to have a table at the convention in the hopes of reaching […]
I frequently find myself in abortion arguments with people who just cannot wrap their minds around the idea that I think the fetus deserves human rights. It’s like they believe I just bring up fetal rights as a red herring to distract from my supposed hatred of women. They do not believe the fetus deserves […]
While the terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice” are clearly open for interpretation, I’ve had the impression that, generally, “pro-life” people think abortion should be illegal except in cases that threaten the mother’s life (and perhaps in cases of rape*) and “pro-choice” people generally think abortion should be legal throughout pregnancy. My impressions are due partially to […]
So it’s pretty ridiculous how many times I’ve heard this: If you want to understand a pro-lifer’s perspective, take any argument about abortion and substitute “fetus” with “3-year-old.” Try this with me: “If you don’t like killing 3-year-olds, then don’t kill any. But don’t try to impose your beliefs on me!” See what happens […]
I am not, by any stretch, the first pro-lifer to draw parallels between abortion and infanticide. Many before me have tried to explain our concern that society could adapt the pro-choice mentality to apply to newborns. Pro-choicers usually respond with flat denial, and sometimes disgust. Killing newborns, after all, cannot be justified by bodily integrity. […]
In my opinion, bodily integrity—the idea that no person has the right to use another person’s body against their will–is the strongest pro-choice argument. Consider the court case McFall v Shimp: McFall suffered from a life-threatening bone marrow disease and his cousin, Shimp, was a compatible bone marrow donor. Shimp refused to donate bone marrow. […]