Earn Respect

We firmly believe that the contents of this page comprise a critical component of an apologist’s persuasive toolkit. Ideally, everyone’s opinions ought to be grounded in cold, hard reason. In practice, one’s acceptance of a rational argument often hinges as much on one’s ability to identify with the person offering that argument as on the argument’s validity. The biggest obstacle to conversion of any kind is not intellectual reasoning but personal pride—all people, pro-life and pro-choice alike, are emotionally invested in their ideological positions.

The best way to stimulate obstructive pride in another person is by treating a discussion about a topic on which you disagree as a competition. We have seen seasoned pro-life apologists in perfect command of their intellectual material fail to make any progress in persuasion simply because they are trying to “beat an opponent.” This frame of mind inevitably makes it difficult for the pro-choicer to admit that the pro-lifer is right about anything without losing serious face. While this fact might gratify the apologist’s thirst for “victory,” it is antithetical to the more important goal of persuasion.

This consideration is particularly important to the topic of abortion because of the disdain with which the pro-life position is treated in academic circles. Countless pro-choicers consider anti-abortion sentiment as self-evidently absurd. Anyone who espouses a pro-life position is ipso facto a bigoted fanatic. No matter how sound the argument, people are generally less open to being persuaded by a bigoted fanatic than by a close friend or recognized expert whose opinions they inherently respect. Therefore, your first duty as a pro-life apologist, even before establishing Premise 1, is to earn the grudging respect of your audience.