I know that pro-lifers mean well in demanding that Parliament debate the meaning of a human being.
But you can't make people argue with you if they don't want to.
The other side doesn't want to.
Why would they? They won.
I would like to suggest another strategy.
If you want people to debate you, just state your thoughts as truth.
Affirm, for instance, that fetuses are human beings.
Someone is bound to argue against that point. It's abortion after all. People can't resist to answer.
I suggest that any MP who is really serious about having a discussion about abortion in Parliament put forward a motion on the issue. For instance: an unborn child is a human being.
You'll have a debate happening in no time.
I would also like to suggest to the pro-life movement to be careful of what it asks for.
There's a reason we have trouble having this debate.
It's not that there isn't some support for recognizing the humanity of the unborn child.
It's that support for the unborn child is a mile wide and an inch deep. If we have to keep asking to have this debate, it's a sign that people either oppose any discussion of the issue (because they're anti-fetal rights) or their support for fetal rights is shallow. When it comes to the rights of the unborn, support is a mile wide and an inch deep. People don't like abortion. But they're not going to exert the smallest effort on this topic. We may end up having the same debate we've had with pro-aborts and losing once again.
Instead of trying to have the debate in Parliament, with MPs whose constituents don't give a damn about abortion, maybe we should be trying to debate the issue outside of the House of Commons. And try to shore up support for fetal rights among people already predisposed to accept the humanity of the unborn child.
