On the Generations for Life blog is an essay by Eric Scheidler on “Hateful Pro-Lifers.” Eric says we’re not hateful at all—we only seem that way. Here’s the gist of it:
One of the most common claims being made about pro-lifers and the pro-life movement is that we are “filled with hate” or that we are bent on “spreading hate.” We hear this all the time in press statements by the likes of NARAL, NOW and Planned Parenthood. It’s all over the blogosphere.
In a way, this is a difficult myth to address. For one thing, it’s so far out of phase with reality that it’s hard to know where to begin. When I think of the kindness and generosity of the pro-life activists that it’s my privilege to stand with out on the street . . .
Are Pro-Lifers Hateful?
Eric goes on to address the idea that it’s hateful to use graphic abortion signs:
This myth is raised most often, in my experience, in regards to the kind of grass-roots, direct action that we specialize in at the Pro-Life Action League (the parent organization of Generations for Life) especially when we bring out the graphic abortion signs. Holding signs of aborted babies out on the street is declared to be “hateful.”
But the question one has to ask in response to this claim is, “Who is the target of this alleged hatred?”
We don’t hate the babies. We’re there trying to show what abortion does to them so people will choose not to abort them. We don’t hate the passersby; we’d hardly make the effort to change the attitudes of people we hate, and in any case, how is it “hateful” to say, “Here’s what abortion looks like you ought to see this”?
You could call it insensitive, inappropriate, even obnoxious to show the mangled victims of abortion out on the street. But “hateful”? Does anyone make a similar claim when activists or news media show the victims of war, poverty or natural disaster? Again, they may object to the tactic of using graphic images, but they don’t attribute the use of that tactic to “hatred.”
What Would Hatred Really Look Like?
Next, Eric talks about our supposedly hateful tactics outside abortion clinics:
This objection is even less rational when it comes to counseling women against abortion at pregnancy resource centers or outside abortion facilities. Yet this again is called “hateful.”
Think about this a minute. If we really believe as we do that abortion is killing a person, would we want to talk our enemies, people we hate, out of abortion? Would we not rather say, with the Psalmist reproaching Babylon, “Happy shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock” (Ps 137:9)?
If we believe as we do that abortion is likely to leave a woman feeling wounded, hopeless and even suicidal, and we hate this woman, wouldn’t we rather stand back and let her go through with it and delight in her decades of misery? It doesn’t add up.
Eric then explains that we don’t even hate the abortionists—the ones killing the babies and harming their mothers:
What’s more understandable is the belief that we hate abortionists and abortion clinic staffers. After all, we are accusing them of abominable crimes against unborn babies and their mothers, so it would be understandable if hated them. But even that accusation breaks down on closer examination.
We have worked hard to convince people involved in the abortion business to quit. Again, not the kind of behavior you would direct towards someone you hate, especially if you believe their transgressions could lead to eternal punishment, as we Christians do. Why not leave them to the justice of a vengeful God?
Eric includes here a picture of the Director with several former abortionists from the League’s 1993 Meet the Abortion Providers conference. The blog goes on to explore the psychology behind the false claim that pro-lifers are the bad guys. After all, what we are is the good guys.
Student Booed for Blasting Contraception
A story out of St. Paul, MN tells about Ben Kessler, an honor student who was booed by his classmates during his commencement address recently, as he spoke of his disappointment in the student morals, attacking such golden calf issues as birth control. Watch Ben’ speech here.
