Randy Alcorn’s ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments is a book I’d like to have on hand at all times. I think it should be required reading in high schools and in university ethics, journalism, public policy, and women’s studies classes. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Divided into sections by type of argument, it takes every common pro-choice statement or question and lays out all of the counter arguments. Alcorn doesn’t shrink from his subject matter, but his tone is calm and rational, not hectoring. He relies on a commendable variety of sources; the book contains 789 citations including both pro-life and pro-choice literature, secular media, congressional testimony, and personal conversations with former abortion providers. The last section of the book contains a variety of further resources – appeals to different groups of people affected by, supportive of, complicit in or working against abortion, a section on finding forgiveness after abortion, a list of pro-life resources, sections on chemical abortions and birth control, biblical passages and a bible study lesson on life issues, ways of giving practical help to the unborn and their mothers, ways of communicating the pro-life message, and a sermon and position statement on the sanctity of life that he delivered at his church. Alcorn is a former Protestant pastor and, now, a writer and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries. In the book, he makes clear his background, beliefs and pro-life activities. He augments some of his arguments with his own experiences, but never substitutes subjective arguments for factual ones.

I have only two caveats about the book, and they are hardly even that. First, being American, the book refers to American laws, statistics and resources, though I noticed one Canadian pro-life organization in the resource list. That takes nothing away from the usefulness of this book to Canadian pro-lifers, but it would be great to have a Canadian edition with a list of Canadian resources.

Second, the book is difficult to read all at once because the subject matter and some of the information can be depressing. Of course, as the introduction states, it is not meant to be read straight through, but rather to be used as a reference.

All things considered, ProLife Answers to ProChoice Arguments is an excellent resource for everyone – those who may not have considered life issues at all, those who may have questions, and those who thought they had all the answers, whether pro-life or pro-choice.

I somewhat recently attended a debate hosted by uOttawa Students for Life in mid-November. At this debate, the pro-choice debater, Jovan Morales, posed an often used argument which presents abortion as a ‘harm-reduction’ solution. Essentially, this position proposes that without legalized abortion, women will seek ‘back-alley abortions’ in non-sterile environments where the possibility of infection and maternal mortality is much higher.

There are a number of issues with this argument, and I will briefly address two of them. The first is that I see this approach as merely a band-aid solution. Legalizing abortions to give women access to sterile facilities with skilled physicians does not address what led the women to seek abortion in the first place: Was it a boyfriend who does not wish to deal with the consequences of his actions? Parents who want to avoid family embarrassment? The terrible trauma of rape? The woman who does not want her life to be disrupted by having a child? A lack of support from family and friends? In these situations, I believe there is a cultural problem rather than a medical one. Western culture is self-centric in that we place utmost importance on our personal choices: What is it I want to do? How does this affect me? What about asking what exactly is at stake when it comes to abortion, and more precisely who? We know beyond a shadow of scientific doubt that the preborn are human beings and as such their lives must be protected along with their mothers’.

Furthermore, if the foundation of the argument is based on the health of the mother, institutionalized abortion is no guarantee of even a decrease in maternal mortality rates. A study conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) titled “Trends in Maternal Mortality” discovered that from 1990 to 2008, after the legalization of abortion, the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) of Canada increased by 94 percent (28) and the MMR of the United States increased 96 percent (32). Legalized abortion is clearly no panacea for women’s health.

The ‘harm-reduction’ argument is also used to push for abortion clinics in developing countries. The National Right to Life group published an article which discusses the myth proposed above by Mr. Morales. I encourage you to read the short document, “Why legalized abortion is not good for women’s health.”

by Nicole Pachla

Here we are, at the beginning of a new year. Some of us may have made a few resolutions to try to keep throughout the year…
I would like to encourage you to make one more resolution. It does not require a whole lot of time or energy, but it does requires some courage and conviction. It is the resolution of becoming a little more active in the pro-life movement. And by that, I do not mean putting all of your time and energy into the pro-life cause, but rather becoming more involved in little things and situations. For example, if the topic of abortion comes up in conversation, do not be afraid to share your point of view and be ready to defend it. If you have friends who are not pro-life, and again the topic of abortion arises, gently explain to them the ugliness of abortion and why it should never be an option. Please, do not let any opportunity to show the truth of abortion pass you by. We need to make everyone aware of its reality. Abortion happens every day. Just in Canada, approximately THREE HUNDRED (300) babies are killed PER DAY. That is incredible, terrifying, and very sad. So please, lend your voice to the unborn and help us defend them.

Come one, come all this Thursday, Dec. 8, starting at 6:30 p.m. for an evening of fun, food, games, and awesome people! Bring a treat to share and a gift for a mother and/or baby in need! If you don’t know what to get, here is a list of suggestions:

- baby clothes (birth to 24 months)
- diaper bags
- diapers
- maternity clothes
- bottles
- soothers
- baby toiletries (shampoo, soap, baby powder, zinc cream, brush, face cloths, towels, etc.)
- baby blankets

All items are being donated to First Place Options.

Please let us know if you are coming and what you are bringing for food by emailing uottawastudentsforlife@gmail.com (Event’s address will be provided in reply.) Come and celebrate life and Christmas!

This presentation is not really pro-life per se. However, it is an excellent reminder of what we’re fighting for and why it’s worth the fight, and plus it’s presented by a mathematician.

Source: http://www.ted.com/talks/alexander_tsiaras_conception_to_birth_visualized.html

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(For more footage of past uOSFL events, see our Videos page.)

See also a recap of the debate, a few photos and a list of debate decliners, courtesy of ProWomanProLife, as well as another take on the Canadian Physicians for Life Students blog.

***New Location: Colonel By Hall, 161 Louis Pasteur, Room C03***
***Update: Jovan Morales of the Atheist Community of the University of Ottawa will be arguing the pro-choice position.***

From an article on a young woman who had a rare tumour growing inside her heart while pregnant:

“I decided I would have him before doing anything with me,” she said. “I wanted him to have a chance to survive before me. There was no way I would be able to do the surgery while being pregnant knowing there was a chance he would die from it.”

Not everyone felt the same way. Some family friends, a nurse in Thunder Bay, even her mother for one brief moment, thought Stout should put herself first. They intimated that Stout could always have another baby if she were healthy.

“They weren’t saying it meanly,” said Stout. “They were saying that I hadn’t met the baby yet, that I wasn’t attached. But even when I was pregnant, Bentley was my whole world. I would never choose myself over him.”

I recently went on a road trip to Saskatoon, crossing into the US at Sault-Ste-Marie, and passing through Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota, before crossing into Manitoba and going on to Saskatchewan. In several of the places I passed through, in both the US and Canada, I saw something that surprised and delighted me. Periodically, at the side of the road and, in one instance, on a billboard, I saw pro-life signs. They said things like “An embryo is a baby too,” “Human life is a gift, protect it” and “Life…a beautiful choice.” The billboard sported a picture of an inquisitive looking baby with the words “I could dream before I was born.” One of the signs was outside of a church, but the others were just there, along the road, where one might usually see signs for tourist attractions, stores or hotels. No one had knocked them down or defaced them; they were just part of the landscape, and that was what struck me most about them.

The aim of the pro-life movement is to work toward making abortion and euthanasia unthinkable. The opposition that students face in getting their pro-life views heard on campus, and the way the media gives scant and often skeptical coverage to pro-life events, could lead one to believe that the pro-life position occupies a miniscule place on the fringes of society. Yet, what is more mainstream than roadside signs? They advertise everything from burgers to candidates to atheism. Some may not be to our liking, and maybe some people feel upset when they see pro-life signs. Others must feel uplifted, as I did. Others still might just ignore the signs because they have seen them a hundred times. My point is not so much the response as the fact that the signs are there. They are part of everyday life and seem to indicate that the pro-life position is more a part of everyday life than we may have been led to believe.