The pro-life/pro-choice debate is an often hotly contested issue. I have participated in many debates involving the subject. From experience, many end in yelling, crying, name-calling, and broken friendships. The debates can also end peacefully; it is a matter of how you go about them. Personally, I go in with the mentality that I won't change your mind, and my fellow debater will not change mine. That keeps me open to hearing what you have to say without just trying to spew out talking points. When discussing hot topics like abortion, you must handle it with tact and understanding.
Before I get into the details, I want to put a few things out in the open and make things clear. I am pro-life. This is not an article discussing whether or not abortion should be legal. This article is in reference to the pro-life/pro-choice event that took place on the UNG-Dahlonega campus on April 14, and the reactions that followed. I do not believe the action of some members of the North Georgia Skeptics Society reflect on the entirety of the group.
On April 14, the North Georgia Skeptics Society planned a pro-choice rally. In response, the UNG Students For Life decided to host a counter protest. Georgia Right to Life even brought their Pillars of Personhood display to the free speech zone on campus. I had the chance to stop by the displays for a few minutes before I joined in a debate with my pro-choice lab partner, and one of the Georgia Right to Life's members.
My stop by the tables of each group was brief, as I had planned to go to another event earlier. I saw some papers reading, "Abortion should remain legal because" papers, but nothing else at the time. I saw a few, but cannot remember exactly what they read, but many seemed to be the same. Unfortunately as I would find out later, some did not take this topic seriously, with one writing, "Abortion should remain legal because my vagina is too pretty to let a fetus crawl out." I am a firm believer in the First Amendment, so this method of protesting did not bother me much.
It was later that I would see posts from multiple friends on my Facebook newsfeed that disturbed me greatly. Some members of the UNG Skeptics Society baked cookies that looked like babies. Of course, it bothered me that they did such a thing, but what disturbed me was what they did with them. The cookies' "heads" were broken off. The person taking the photos even reported that some of the members laughed as they did so. This is one of the most tasteless and insensitive methods of "fostering discussion," as the Skeptics Facebook page put it. Abortion is not something to laugh at. It is a painful and scarring experience. This act was demeaning to women who had put themselves through such agony of taking a baby's life. I'm sure most women who have had abortions do not want to be minded about it, especially in such a frivolous manner.
The reactions following the event were that of people being horrified and shocked at how this was done. While I completely agree this reaction is proper, the way we showed it was not. Facebook is not a place for political debates. In fact, debates online rarely accomplish anything except making the participants look foolish. So I found it so crass for Carly and the Skeptics Society to argue on a Facebook post. We are above that. Meet in person and have a sound discussion.
Language is always important in any discussion. While I'm sure some from both sides threw insults at each other in any debate, there is one word I do believe there is one word us pro-lifers must stop using, "pro-abortion." I truly think that only an extremely small amount of pro-choice people are actually pro-abortion. It's wrong to group these two groups together. In order to make progress in our discussions we cannot keep pushing each other to the extremes or else we won't see each other's points of view.
We will most likely never put this issue to rest. So, instead of treating the other side with disrespect everyone must be willing to listen to the other peacefully and open up constructive dialogue. Maybe then we can finally start making some progress.
