Why aren’t you doing anything to amend the social situations that make abortion needed?1
While we must emphatically deny that killing 50 million human beings is an acceptable solution, we also recognize that abortion is a symptom of larger social and cultural disorders that we have a duty to address. In working to end abortion, we must simultaneously work to increase the support, education, and pregnancy resources available to women; we must also combat those aspects of our culture which have led to a disrespectful attitude on the part of men who engage in irresponsible sexual behavior and leave the resulting “inconvenience” to their female partners. Only by increasing society’s respect for women as women and discouraging such exploitation can unplanned pregnancies become rare.
Contrary to the accusations of pro-choicers, at the same time that they are fighting to end abortion, pro-lifers are working very hard to address these underlying social issues. Pregnancy resource centers, support networks, and the push for a culture that respects human life and dignity at every age are all dear to pro-lifers’ hearts and help to eliminate the factors that make women feel that they need abortions.
However, our most important message must still be that, regardless of the nature of the proper solutions, mass killing of innocent babies is not one of them.
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The questions in this section are not intellectual challenges to the pro-life position; rather, they are attacks on pro-lifers’ character. Even if the implications of these attacks were true—that pro-lifers are rude, judgmental, wrong about other issues, and doing nothing to solve the underlying problems that motivate abortion—it would in no wise undermine the philosophical and moral arguments presented here. Fortunately, these attacks are often groundless, so we offer some sample responses. ↩