"I admit that I’ve only been a prolifer for four and a half years. But I have been a student of this debate for 12 and half years. I’m no expert on all things prolife. But I know what worked for me…a person who was ENTRENCHED in the abortion lifestyle. And I also know what has worked for the 122 former abortion facility workers who have come through our ministry, And Then There Were None. None of them left because someone called them names. Not one of them left because people yelled at them and told them that they were going to hell. I remember that someone was attempting to criticizing me one time and they said, “Good grief, Abby, it’s like you think that if we love these baby killers enough, they will convert.” Um, yeah…that’s kind of exactly what I believe.
Why does name-calling work for leftists, but not for pro-lifers?
Why does it stick when leftists call us "bigots", but not when we call them names? (At least not in Canada.)
It all has to do with social and cultural clout.
When gays didn't have cultural clout, it was okay to make jokes about homosexuality.
When gays developed clout, and created allies, it became unacceptable.
If pro-lifers don't have clout, they have nothing.
If you do not have clout, name-calling does not work.
If you do not have clout in the media, in academia, in business or in any major sphere of influence,your name-calling will sound hateful.
If you do have clout in those spheres, your name-calling is justified.
Abby says that abortion workers laugh at some of the things pro-lifers say.
That's because they can.
If you will not abandon name-calling for the sake of charity, at least understand that the name-calling and nasty names culturally backfires and does nothing for the pro-life movement. In fact, it sets us back, by making us look mean and, as she says, unrelatable.
