TRTL: Abortion: Why Not

This is the primary TRTL¹⁾ 101 presentation against abortion used for audience old enough to have an abortion, e.g. high schools, churches, community groups.

Download the presentation files to your computer (you may not have internet access when presenting):

• http://media.trtl.ca/abortion/whynot.html
• http://media.trtl.ca/abortion/abortion-whynot.odp

• First slide: title page

1. (introduce yourself) “Hi, I'm NAME. I'm a member of the Education Team at Toronto Right to Life.”
   • (introduce yourself beyond TRTL) “When I'm not doing this, I'm…” (share something about what you do outside of TRTL)
2. (frame the topic) “Today, we're going to look at the abortion issue from science and human rights perspective. I believe this is an important issue to discuss. Many people in our society today are directly or indirectly affected by abortion. I have friends who have faced unplanned pregnancies and have had abortions. I’m here to present to you the facts behind abortion based on science and human rights, but also to share a message of love and hope to anyone wounded by abortion.”
   • (if in religion class or place of worship) “Even though this is religion class, we're not going to approach this from a religious perspective, but using science and human rights. Everything that I'm going to say is compatible with the faith, but if I were in a mosque or at a covention of atheists, I wouldn't say anything differently.” [religion class is just where ethics gets covered in the curriculum]
3. (set an AMA tone) “Feel free to ask me anything. I'll try to answer your questions during the presentation. If not, I'll address them at the end wherein we have time for discussion. I also encourage you to write down your questions so that you'll remember to ask them at the end.
4. (introduce the survey) “You all should have a copy of the survey. They're anonymous. We really want to know what you think. Start now by filling out the first question, what do you think about abortion before hearing the presentation. The rest you can fill out at the end.”

Transition: just pause for a second

• Next step: who inspires you?
  • “I want to begin by asking you a question: Who inspires you?”
  • (ask for audience examples)
    1. Who inspires you?
    2. Why?
    3. Do you think that [the reason why they inspire] is easy or hard?
    • (aim for 2-3 examples; have some of examples ready if people don't volunteer, either personal examples or examples you've heard from other presentations/activism)
      • could add a few quick personal examples with photos, but probably not enough time
• (draw the conclusion) “Although we often have different answers for who [insert audience answers here], there seems to be a common answer for why: people who inspire us face hardship, suffering, difficulty, and what sets them apart is how they respond to their hardship.”
  • “They don't give up. They rise above. They turn that obstacle into an opportunity. They're more focused on someone else than themselves. In other words, they're selfless, instead of selfish.”
  • (key line) “Inspiring people do the right thing, no matter how hard it is.”

Transition: (segway to the difficult circumstances of abortion) “When it comes to the issue of abortion, the pro-life message that someone who faces an unplanned pregnancy should carry their pregnancy to term is not an easy message to accept. It's a very difficult belief to actually live out. Why? Because the circumstances of an unplanned pregnancy can be very, very hard.” (don't pause)

• Next step (blank) (ask the audience) “What are some of the reasons that people choose abortion?” (just acknowledge and name each reason)
  • Next steps: (reveal reasons as you go, or after naming a bunch with the audience)
    • rape
    • health problems
    • money
    • not ready
    • age of mother
    • school/career
    • unwanted
    • abuse
    • disability
    • (if any are left to reveal, reveal them very quickly if they've already been named, otherwise take just a second to introduce them)
• (trot out the toddler with a few circumstances)
  1. (first, take an easy example)
     • “Let's take poverty for example. (empathize with difficulty, e.g. “Raising a child can be expensive, I couldn't imagine facing poverty and parenting at the same time.”)) How many of you think abortion might be okay when a mother is poor?” (show of hands)
       • Next step: toddler photo (introduce the kid) e.g. “Meet Mara, when she was a toddler.”
       • “Okay, now imagine we're dealing with the mother of a toddler like Mara. Imagine Mara's mom wasn't poor when she was pregnant, but a year or two after giving birth, she lost her job, or became unable to work, she became poor.”
       • “Would it be hard for her mother to raise her when she's poor?”
       • “Would it be okay for Mara's mom to kill her because the circumstances are hard?”
       • Next step: infant photo “What about now, when Mara was an infant? Would it be hard to raise Mara if her mother became poor when she was an infant? Would we allow her mom to kill her because the circumstances are hard?”
       • Next step: pre-born photo “If we say no, then we have to ask ourselves: why would we ever allow someone to kill a child a few months younger for the very same reason?”
  2. (next, take another example, or take the opportunity to make it personal)
     • (if you or someone close to you has faced a difficult circumstance personally) e.g. “What about getting pregnant at a young age.”
       • “I/my mom became pregnant at age…” (share the story briefly)
       • (then, don't use the story as argument, but as context for getting back to the argument) “So what about someone like me/my mom who was pregnant at a young age?”
         • Go back one step: infant “What if Mara's mother was pregnant at x-years-old like me/my mom, and decided to carry the pregnancy to term, but after birth found it was way harder than expected. Would it be hard? Would we allow her mom to kill her?”
         • Next step: pre-born “Why would we ever allow someone to kill a child a few months younger for the same reason?”
     • (otherwise) “Let's take disability. How many of you think abortion might be okay if a child has a disability?”
       • Go back two steps to toddler photo: “Imagine a mom just found out that her toddler has autism. Would that be hard? Yes. Would we allow her mom to kill her? Of course not.”
       • Next step: infant “What about if a disability was discovered as an infant? Could that be hard? Would we allow the mom to kill her child?”
       • Next step: pre-born “We have to ask ourselves: What's the difference? Why would we ever allow someone to kill a child a few months younger for the same reason?”
       • Next step: killing / difficult life circumstances “That is, we have to ask ourselves: Is killing a solution to difficult life circumstances?”
  3. (last, make sure to address the hard case of rape, as it will be on the minds of those in the audience)
     • “Or how about the horrible case of rape” (make sure to briefly express your horror, e.g. “I can't imagine what it would be like to be in that situation, to be the victim of such a terrible and evil act”)
       • “Let's say you've got a married woman who has consensual sex with her husband on Monday, and on Tuesday, she's raped by another man. One month later, she discovers that she's pregnant. She doesn't know who the father of her child is. So let's say she hopes its her husbands child and she carries on with the pregnancy. After the baby is born, the doctors do a paternity test and find out that the father of the child is not her husband, it's the rapist. Would we allow that woman or anyone to kill that newborn baby because of the father's crime?²⁾ If no, then why kill the pre-born baby because of the father's crime?”
       • (the key point to make at this stage): “The point is: it's not money or age of the mother or disability or rape that makes it okay to kill somebody.”
       • “We know the circumstances are hard. Really hard. But if we don't think the circumstances make it okay to kill a newborn baby, then why would it be okay to kill a pre-born baby for the same reason?”

life of mother case

• Dr. Levatino video?
• suggestion: very briefly under circumstances, but save more detailed response to wrap-up or Q&A

Transition: “If we think a difficult circumstance can make killing okay before birth but not after birth, it's not the circumstance that makes killing okay. It's because we think there's some difference between pre-born and born children.” (don't pause)

• Next step: Who are the pre-born? Make changes on the slide

“The key question then, is: who are the pre-born? This is the question that we need to answer to understand whether abortion is right or wrong.”

• (maybe) “If the pre-born aren't human, then we don't really need a reason why abortion is okay. Abortion would be like getting a haircut or having a tooth pulled. But if the pre-born are human, then there's no reason that could make abortion okay, there's no reason that could make it okay to kill an innocent human being.”
  • “We know abortion can be very complex socially, emotionally, psychologically, practically – but it's not morally complex. Even when circumstances are really, really hard, intentionally killing an innocent human being is never okay.”
• (introduce three question apologetic as a foreshadowing of the rest of the presentation, to use the questions to get people thinking – read questions slowly, rhetorically – no commentary at this point)
• “You could sum up the whole pro-life view by asking a few simple questions” (these rhetorical questions are just meant to foreshadow the rest of the presentation)
  • Next step “If two humans reproduce, what species is their offspring?” (just read it slowly and pause, no commentary)
  • Next step “If something is growing, isn't it alive?” (quick pause)
  • Next step “And lastly: Do you believe in human rights? Who gets them?” (pause)

Transition: (outline the rest of the presentation) “This morning/afternoon/evening, we're going to dive into these questions in detail by looking at 3 key concepts:

1. We'll go through the science of human development to figure out whether or not the pre-born are human and alive.
2. We'll talk about the ethics to understand why all human beings should have human rights.
3. Lastly, we'll look at the reality of what abortion does to pre-born children.

But just before we look at science, let's consider for ourselves the “options” for when human life begins. Does human life begin before fertilization, at fertilization, or some time after? would need to edit the slides

Before Fertilization?

• Before fertilization, we have sperm and eggs, i.e. gametes. Are sperm and egg equivalent to the embryo? Here's one way to think about it:
  • If you take a sperm cell, and give it what it needs to live – nutrition, a safe environment – and wait 1 year, or 15 years, what will happen? You will still have a sperm cell.
  • If you take an egg cell, and give it what it needs to live – nutrition, a safe environment – and wait 1 year, or 15 years, what will happen? Again, you will still have an egg cell.
  • In contrast, if you take a zygote, and give her what she needs to live – nutrition, a safe environment – and wait 1 year, or 15 years, what will happen? You will have an infant, or a teenager.
  • A gamete has 23 chromosomes, while a zygote has a complete set of DNA. A gamete stays a gamete until the transformation of fertilization. A zygote, in contrast, continues to grow older, into a blastocyst, an embryo, a fetus, a newborn, an infant, a toddler, etc. A gamete is a human part, while the embryo is a human whole. We know the difference between a human part and a human whole.

After Fertilization?

• Now let's entertain the possibility that human life begins some time after fertilization.
  • Meet my friend's son Noah on his first day of kindergarten. Imagine Noah walked through that door and you had never met him before. Would you assume that his life began at that moment? That he puffed out of nowhere and started living when he walked through the door? Of course not! We know that he grew from a younger version of himself.
  • Now here’s toddler Noah. Would we say that Noah’s life began when he was a toddler? Again of course not. We know he grew from a younger version of himself.
  • How about at infancy? Did Noah’s life begin when he was an infant? No, because we know that a few months earlier, he was born.
  • And where did newborn Noah come from? He was not brought by the stork that’s for sure. He was delivered from her mother's body, at birth. Newborn Noah grew from an earlier version of himself–namely, the fetus.
  • This is fetal Noah at 21 weeks. You can see him making a lot of movements. He must be alive, right? Maybe sucking his thumb, kicking…. He can feel pain about halfway through pregnancy. A few weeks after this, he would have been able to survive outside the womb if born prematurely. Maybe you’re thinking, well he’s a not human, he’s just a fetus.
  • “We have to ask ourselves: what kind of fetus is he? Because you can have…” (slow down just a bit to let photos sink in)
  • next step: elephant “an elephant fetus”
  • next step: dog “or a dog fetus”
  • next step: dolphin “or a dolphin fetus”
  • “You see, fetus is just an age range term.”
    • “First, you're a zygote, then a blastocyst, then an embryo until about 8 weeks, then a fetus from 8 weeks until birth, then a newborn until a month after birth, then an infant, until you're a toddler, and so on until you're a teenager, until you're an adult.”
    • “Age-range terms like fetus or embryo don't tell us what species someone is, but how old someone is.”
    • Let's go back to fetal Noah at a much earlier stage in the 1st trimester when most abortions happen.
    • At 3 weeks is when the heart starts to beat and around 5 weeks is when brain activity can be detected with an EKG scanner. Where did fetal Noah come from? Did he magically appear in his mother’s womb? We know he grew and matured from an earlier version of himself namely, the embryo.
    • And we know that the embryo came to be as a result of the sperm fertilizing the egg. And whereas the sperm and egg–by themselves–will never develop into a toddler or teenager, won't that single-celled human zygote develop into a toddler and teenager? Tiny as he is, Noah is a human whole who will self-direct his own growth. It is at fertilization when human life begins.

• *Transition: immediate ==== Biology 101 ==== <note>Objective [18:00-20:00]: Assert the scientific fact that fertilization is the beginning of a new individual organism of the species.</note> * next step: zygote “Actually, it's not controversial. We already know when life begins! Life begins at the beginning. A clump of crlls doesn't magically turn into a human. A human being starts at the beginning, at the first cell – at fertilization.” * “Your one homework assignment from this presentation: check your bio textbook!” * Next step: bio text “Here's an example from the bio textbook used at the University of Toronto in CSB327, the Developmental Biology course” * (paraphrase highlighted words) * “The very title of the chapter on fertilization is 'Fertilization: Beginning a New Organism'” * e.g. “Fertilization is the process whereby a new, individual organism is created, a new, individual member of the species.” * “This is not controversial. It's a basic scientific fact.” * “At fertilization, you have a unique, whole, human life.” (don't elaborate unless asked) * [unique: individual of the species, distinct from parents] * [whole: human whole (organism) not human part (gamete)] * [human: if two humans reproduce, what species if their offspring?] * [life: if something is growing, isn't it alive? if the child isn't alive, then what do you need an abortion for?] * “At fertilization, you have your complete, unique DNA that will be with you for the rest of your life, and the process begins the rapid cell development and growth that will continue all the way until you are an adult.” * Next step: gametes “Maybe you're thinking, okay, but what about sperm or egg cells? Does every sperm cell have a right to life?” * (illustrate the difference) optional? Does this work? * (men) “I have sperm cells in my body. I'm not worried that I'm going to give birth in 9 months.” * (women) “Guys have sperm cells in your body. Are any of you worried that you're going to give birth in 9 months?” * “Here's one way to think about it.” * “If you take a sperm cell, and give it what it needs to live – nutrition, safety, a natural environment – and wait 1 year, or 15 years, what will happen?” (pause) “You'll still have a sperm cell.” * “If you take an egg cell, and give it what it needs to live – nutrition, safety, a natural environment – and wait 1 year, or 15 years, what will happen?” (pause) “You'll still have a sperm cell.” * “If you take a zygote, and give her what she needs to live – nutrition, safety, a natural environment – and wait 1 year, or 15 years, what will happen?” (pause) “You'll have an infant, a teenager” * “A gamete has 23 chromosomes, a zygote has a complete set of DNA. A gamete stays a gamete until the transformation of fertilization. A zygote continues to grow older, into a blastocyst, an embryo, a fetus, a newborn, an infant, a toddler, etc. We know the difference between a human part and a human whole Transition: (restate conclusion) We know that life begins at fertilization. ==== Constructed vs Developing ==== <note>Objective [20:00-24:00]: Illustrate the difference between constructed objects and developing beings through the analogy of Mr. Potato Head versus a polaroid picture; assert that human beings are developing beings, not constructed things.</note> * “But there's something going on with how our culture thinks about human development.” * “It's like people think that when you're pregnant, you have 'half a kid', and you won't have a full kid until birth.” * “The way we think about pregnancy is wrong” * Next step: Mr Potato Head * (show just the potato) “Does anyone know what this is?” (wait for response) * “Is it Mr. Potato Head yet? Or just a potato?” (wait for response) * (repeat several times) * (add a piece, explain why it might be essential, then ask) “How about now? Who thinks this is Mr. Potato Head now?” (show of hands) * “At what point does this potato become Mr. Potato head?” (slight pause, rhetorical question) * “People think of human development like they think of Mr. Potato Head, like a human being is something constructed, a thing, an objected, like you can have half a human being.” * “But actually, human development is more like a Polaroid picture” * “Does anyone know what a Polaroid is?” (wait for quick responses) * Next step: polaroid time lapse video (talk over video) “Before digital cameras, Polaroid was a type of film that developed instantly, instead of having to bring your film to a professional to get it developed. Like you can see in this time lapse video, you take a photo, and wait a few minutes and the photo develops before your eyes.” * “That picture was created in an instant, it just needed time to develop.” * “A human being is created in an instant, at fertilization – we just need time to develop.” * “This is a more accurate way to think about living beings.” * “Mechanical things, objects, are the type of thing that are constructed – like Mr. Potato Head.” * “Could Mr. Potato Head construct himself, without somebody to put the pieces together?” * “Constructed objects rely on outside³⁾ forces, someone putting the pieces together” * “This is a thing, an object, not a living being” * “We could have an endless debate about when a potato becomes Mr Potato Head. There is no real answer” * “Human beings, living creatures, we aren't constructed – we develop“ * Living beings, organisms, we're not constructed, we grow⁴⁾ – we just need the right conditions to thrive Transition: (restate development line) “Everything is captured in an instant at the moment of fertilization, we just need time to grow.” (short pause) ==== Prenatal Development Video ==== <note>Objective [24:00-27:00]: Use this video to visually show the humanity of pre-born children with stunning photographs and share many interesting facts about prenatal development in a short period of time, while also offering a quick change of pace in the presentation, offering yourself and the audience are short break from speaking.</note> * (quickly introduce the video) “Here's a short video to show you what that development looks like throughout pregnancy.” Next step: prenatal development video * Let the video speak for itself, unless visibility is low and the text is hard to read with lighting, in which case you might need to narrate the captions (no transition) ===== Personhood ===== ==== SLED ==== <note>Objective [24:00-29:00]: Use the concept of SLED to show that differences between pre-born and born humans are not morally relevant, continue before/after birth, and are all a function of age.</note> * “Okay, so, we know that human life begins at fertilization, but maybe you're still thinking…” next step “but… they're different!” * (ask the audience) “How? What are some of the ways that pre-born humans differ from born humans?” * (collect and name/categorize the differences used SLED terminology) * (if not directly a SLED difference, ask “why?” to reduce to SLED) * e.g. “a fetus can't think” – “well, we can measure brain waves from early on, but yes, a fetus can't think like you or I. Why not? Because their brain isn't developed enough yet.” * e.g. “they look different” – “yes, a fetus looks different from an infant, and an infant looks different from a teenager. Why does a fetus look different from us? They're younger, less developed than us.” * (reveal the categories – just name them, no explanation yet) “All of these differences break down into four basic categories…” * Next step: Size * Next step: Level of Development * Next step: Environment * Next step: Degree of Dependency * “Let's ask two things:” - “Are the differences there just before birth, or do they continue after birth too?” - “Do any of these things determine whether or not we should get basic human rights, like the right to life?” * (walk through SLED categories) * Size / Level of Development: “For example, an embryo is smaller and less developed than an infant.” * “You don't stop growing and developing when you're born, but you growing until… when? When you're an adult. An embryo is smaller and less developed than an infant, and an infant is smaller and less developed than a teenager.” * “And, does how big you are determine whether or not you have basic human rights? Bigger humans don't have more of a right to life than smaller humans.” * (leave more detail on level of development, e.g. brain/heart/etc, to the function of age part) does this make sense? * Environment: “Or take environment, an embryo is within her mother's body while the infant is outside.” * “Sure, your environment changes when you're born, but it changes many times throughout your life.” * “And where you are does not determine who or what you are.” * “For example, take two children at the same age, both 30 weeks, but one is still living in her mother's womb and the other is born prematurely and is living in an incubator. Are they not both equally human? Why should one have basic human rights, but not the other?” * Degree of Dependency: “What about dependency? An embryo needs her mother's body in a way an infant doesn't” * “Have you ever help a newborn baby? A newborn isn't exactly independent! An infant is way more dependent than a teenager.” * “A newborn baby might still be dependent on his mother's body to live, for example, with breastfeeding” * “We don't become independent until well after birth.” * “Do people who are more dependent have fewer basic rights? Actually, the more dependent someone is, the greater our responsibility towards them!” * “Say your toddler says to you, 'mommy, I need water.' Should you get it for her?” * “Okay, fast forward 15 years and say she's coming back home after a semester in residence at university, and says, 'mom, get me a glass of water.' Should you get it for her? She can get it herself!” * “The more dependent someone is, the more responsibility we have towards them” * “If you think carefully about why there are these differences between embryos and infants, between infants and teenagers, it's all a function of age” Next step: SLED = f(age) * ”Why is a pre-born child smaller? What size should any member of our species be at that age?” * ”Why is a pre-born child still in her mother's womb? Where else is the natural place for any member of our species be at that age?” * ”Why is a pre-born child more dependent? How independent should any member of our species be at that age?“ * (address Level of Development) ”Why is a pre-born child less developed? How developed should any member of our species be at that age?“ * ”Why can a child not feel pain until about halfway through pregnancy?“ * ”Why can't a child survive outside the womb until about halfway through pregnancy?“ * “Well, our medical technology is only so advanced – it used to be later in pregnancy before a child could survive outside the womb, in the future maybe it's earlier in pregnancy” * “But, given our medical technology, what else would we expect for a human being of that age?” * ”Why are brain waves measurable at six weeks? How developed should someone's brain be at that age? The human brain isn't fully developed until your mid-20s!“ * ”Why does the human heart start beating three weeks after fertilization? When should any human being's heart start beating?“ Transition: “These differences are all just age differences – not differences that matter in terms of basic human rights, like the right to life.” ==== human + x ==== <note>Objective [29:00-33:00]: show that all human beings deserve human rights, but showing that any concept of personhood that excludes some human beings is the very formula for a grave injustice</note> * “Maybe you're still thinking, okay, but, a fetus still just isn't a person! Well, what's a person?” (ask the audience, collect a few answers if offered) * (frame the concept 'human + x') ”Any definition of a person that doesn't include all human beings is a grave violation of human rights.“ Next step: human + x “Whenever we say that, to be a person, to get your basic human rights, you have to be a 'human being plus x', that just being a human being isn't good enough, that's the formula for injustice, a formula for a grave human rights violation.” * “We can see this throughout history, that every time we've said that to be a person, you need to be a “human + x”, it's been a catastrophic moral mistake…” * Next step: Virginia Supreme Court (read it) “To be a person, you had to be a human being plus white skin” * Next step: George Canfield (read it) “Here, a person was a human being plus non-indigenous” * Next step: racism “We know this today as racism.” * “I want to tell you a story. This is Ota Benga, a Congolese man who was bought from slavers in 1904, taken to America and put on display in the Bronx Zoo in 1906.” * “A sign on the exhibit read: The African Pigmy, “Ota Benga.” Age, 23 years. Height, 4 feet 11 inches. Weight, 103 pounds. Brought from the Kasai River, Congo Free State, South Central Africa, by Dr. Samuel P. Verner. Exhibited each afternoon during September.” * “The exhibit quickly became the zoo's most popular attraction, but protests from African-American clergymen had it shut down.” * “I think of Ota Benga whenever people say that a human being “doesn't look like a person”. People thought that Ota Benga didn't look like a person, but how else is someone of his ethnic background supposed to look?” * “People say that a pre-born child “doesn't look like a person,” but how else is someone of that age supposed to look?” * Next step: racism overview “But it doesn't stop with racism.” * Next step: British Voting Rights case (read it) “To be a person, you had to be a human being plus a man.” * Next step: sexism “We know this today as sexism” * Next step: Nazi Germany (read it) “To be a person, you have to be a human being plus non-Jew” * “We know this today as anti-semitism” * Next step: Canadian Supreme Court “Yet our own Supreme Court says that…” (read it) * “To be a person in Canada, you have to be a human being plus a certain age” * “This is ageism, age-based discrimination” * Next step: human being + x = human rights violation ”Whenver we see this pattern, that to be a person you need to be a 'human being + x', it's the pattern of a grave human rights violation“ * Next step: human being + age “With abortion, it's “human + a certain age” – it's just age discrimination, or ageism” Transition: And this ageism has lethal consequences. ===== The Reality of Abortion ===== ==== The Victims ==== <note>Objective [33:00-38:00]: To make the victims of abortion visible, and show the reality of abortion </note> Options: - Video: “I'm going to show you a video. This video includes footage of abortions, and of abortion victims. It's not easy to watch, but I think that you have a right to know the truth about abortion. You can close your eyes or look away, but if you can, I encourage you to watch – We need to understand the consequences when we deny human beings the right to life, and what's at stake with abortion.” * Next step: video ==== Unmasking Choice ==== Michelle Transition: (pause for 3-5 seconds after video ends, count it out) “What you just saw does not unrape a rape victim. It does not make a poor woman right. And it doesn't prevent two people from becoming parents – it just makes them the parents of a dead child. insert here attack on moral relativism: * Choice? * dismantle: “my body, my choice” * candy analogy? * “don't force your views” child abuse, rape ==== Wounded Culture ==== <note>Objective [38:00-40:00]: Convey a message of hope and healing, that while we must condemn the action of abortion, there is always hope for people who have had abortions.</note> (pause) We need strong minds to condemn the action of abortion, but we need soft hearts.” * “With 100,000 abortions every year in Canada, almost 300 every day, and over 3 million since its legalization… that's a lot of women who are hurting.” * “And who are those women? Maybe they're our moms, our sisters, our friends, our teachers. Maybe they're even us. And it's important to remember that while we have to condemn the action of abortion, that there is always hope for people who have had abortions.” * (if you know someone personally who has had an abortion, share this briefly) * Catholic humanitarian Jean Vanier, when speaking of the anguish a woman faces in choosing abortion, says that he would not condemn her. Rather, he says, “I would like to walk with her - maybe cry with her.”⁵⁾ * offer resources/website? Or refer to resource on handout? transition? Transition: “We have a deeply wounded culture. Your voice is needed more than ever to reach out to the wounded, and to stand up for the pre-born.” ==== Change the Culture ==== <note>Objective [40:00-45:00]: To show how local, student action is important to change the culture, and pitch Student Life Link</note> need to rework this * Many people think, what are we supposed to do? How can we stop abortion? * Abortion is legal through all 9 months of pregnancy in Canada – we have no law on abortion * But we need to change the culture before we can change the law. * How many people follow copyright law? Or laws about pot or underage drinking? If people don't respect the law, they won't follow it. * First, we need to change the culture * This happens conversation by conversations, friend by friend, school by school, neighbourhood by neighbourhood, city by city * Pro-life students are already doing this already in Toronto and across the country by… - presenting compelling evidence - having effective conversations about abortion * These are projects you can do this and help you to do this in your school, in your church, in your neighbourhood * concrete Student Life Link examples and photos – specific projects, specific people * Student Life Link sign up / contact card pitch motivation to do something, e.g. Winton/swim, Thomas Clarkson idea: “These are projects that you can run in your school, or your church, synagogue, temple, mosque, or your neighbourhood this year” (transition to “don't force your opinion” should SLL pitch be linked to beINSPIRED at the end? ===== Conclusion ===== <note>Objective [45:00-50:00]</note> * Next step: don't force your views But maybe you're still thinking, “okay, you've raised some good points, but I can't just force my views on someone else” * Remember: the pro-life case is based on science and human rights * This is not a religious issue. This is not a matter of opinion or preference. When a choice hurts someone else, it's not enough to just be personally opposed * Would it makes sense to say, “I'm personally against rape, but I don't want to force my views on other people?” * When an action harms another innocent human being, we need to speak up! It's a matter of human rights, saving lives, and standing up for the voiceless. If we do nothing, more innocent human beings will continue to be killed every day. * Next step: my mom's gonna kill me “Maybe you still think that abortion is acceptable out of fear.” * “A pregnant teenager is pictured here with the caption, “my mom's gonna kill me”” * Will her mom actually physically kill her? No. * Would it be wrong if her mom did? If you knew her mom was going to, should you try to stop her mom? * Now, if this girl has an abortion, will that actually physically kill her child? Yes. * If it's wrong for this girl's mom to kill her, because she's unexpectedly pregnant, why would it be okay for this teenage mom to kill her pre-born child because she's unexpectedly pregnant? * “And someone may say, well, because it's hard. So let's remember how we started” Next step: be inspired * “Inspiring people do the right thing, no matter how hard it is.” * this is why Blaise shares his inspiration from his mom, facing five difficult pregnancies * Next Step: stump a pro-lifer**

• questionnaires
• handouts?
• contact cards?

• guidelines for connecting with teacher
• activism starter prep for enthusiastic students

• SLL info card
• one-page TRTL handout
  • crisis pregnancy contact
  • post-abortive healing (Silent No More Awareness Campaign)
  • facts about prenatal development (ehd.org?)
  • facts about law in canada (WNAL talking points)
  • summary of key points? (apologetics infographic?)
• sign-up sheet thing?