I (and a virtually bottomless well of better writers and clearer thinkers) have covered some of this ground before, but I think I can make an argument here that might, maybe, at least make a small in-road in the mind of a conservative - if they have even a slight opening in their mind. Perhaps you think the two are mutually exclusive - a conservative and an open mind - but I hope not. Besides, I saw a bumper sticker yesterday, and it keyed off this whole thing inside my head, which is hanging out echoing now.
I am fairly consistently assaulted with pro-life stickers and billboards and stuff while in traffic. Leaving out for a moment that no important cause has ever won people over based solely upon the strength of its bumper stickers and billboards, I find a couple of things odd about sticking a pro-life sticker on your car. First, why is it that pro-life people think that more and more obnoxious and horrific imagery and ideas are going to bring people around to their way of "thinking" about the abortion issue when images of dead people haven't swayed Americans on an important issue since the 1970s? Your sticker annoys me, and your blunt imagery makes me embarrassed for you. Better tools exist.
Second, if being pro-life is something you're really all about, listen (that thing where you close your mouth and actually devote your attention to someone else who's speaking) for a minute: Nobody likes abortion. Nobody thinks it's a really keen idea, and can't wait to rush out and get one, add it to their medical procedures collection. Pro-choice people would like to see abortion numbers go down, too. Okay? The thing is - we think it's something that should be kept unreservedly open as an option when a woman has finished considering the other options. Since I think conservative thinkers understand war pretty well, I will use that for my comparison, here. A war is a problem-solving tool that kills people. It's perfectly legal when done correctly and in theory, nobody likes it. Nobody is supposed to be sitting around excitedly waiting for the next war, or precipitously jumping into the next war with a whoop of glee.
Three things need to happen in the minds of pro-lifers: One, you need stop assuming that every fetus is more important than the woman attached to the uterus it lives in; Two, you need to stop assuming that every one of these women is some knocked-up girl in trouble who, if only introduced to Christ or adoption or counseling, would make a different decision; and Three - slap a "STOP WAR" sticker on your car, if you're really so pro-life. They already make those, and they sell them in funny-smelling shops where you don't go.
But maybe oughta.
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