When Russians get serious about abortion, it's game over.
Why? Because Russians are breathtakingly honest about abortion.
Some Russian abortionists will do the sidewalk counselling in the operating room. Why are you having this abortion? Don't you have family supporting you? Where's your boyfriend? Is this what you really want?
I've seen at least one Russian abortionist admit on camera that abortion is legalized murder.
I don't think the feminist rhetoric around abortion has been as strong as in the West. I think the legalization of abortion was done purely for pragmatic reasons. It was criminalized and once again legalized. This is not unusual for communist countries.
Perhaps it's time that Western pro-lifers consider the idea of setting up pro-life medical clinics. I'm not talking about crisis pregnancy centres per se. I'm talking about clinics staffed by doctors and nurses that are out-and-out against abortion. I picture a big sign out front: Abortions not done here. Unborn children respected (or something like that).
Imagine if we decided to compete with Planned Parenthood on offering low-income women medical help. Imagine if we administed Pap tests, STD testing and treatment, gave out prescriptions and anything else they needed.
I think there is probably a lot of unmet medical need out there for low-income women. I'm thinking in terms of medical help for their babies. I remember when I had my first child, getting medical help for basic things like diaper rashes or coughs was complicated. All the walk-in clinics in my town were not taking new patients, so if I wanted to get a diaper rash treated, it would take a few days.
Imagine if average, non-political women were exposed to a pro-life clinic on a regular basis. Imagine we did a better job of treating them wholistically than any other organization.
Wouldn't that be a huge boon to the pro-life cause? If 18-year-old Taylor gets prompt and warm-hearted attention for her STD, if she gets better help for the cyst on her chest, or treatment for her menstrual, don't you think she would be far more likely to trust these familiar faces? If she knew where to turn in the case of a crisis pregnancy, wouldn't that be reassuring and make her less likely to abort?
If Taylor thinks the pro-life community is looking out for her when she is not pregnant, she might be ready to trust pro-lifers when she is.
And when she comes in for prenatal check-ups, and she gets screening for her baby, she won't be referred to an abortionist if the test is positive. She'll be given extra resources to help deal with the issue at hand, so that when the baby is born, everything is in place to treat baby or, as the case may be, provide him with palliative care.
This of course is very resource-intensive. But consider how much we have spent on reaching women. These kinds of medical clinics would be an excellent investment, and also an excellent opportunity to implement the pro-life philosophy in a broader fashion: not just at the abortion clinic door, but in day-to-day life.
