Editor’s note: Dr. Adams will speak at Christ Church Lutheran Church in Phoenix, AZ on January 19. The speech, which is part of the Voices for the Voiceless "Redefine" Conference, will begin shortly after the conference opens at 8 am. Dr. Adams will then go to Minneapolis to speak at the Minnesota Youth for Life Conference on January 21. The all-day conference will be at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
A former student recently emailed that she was disappointed that I had gotten so heavily involved with the student pro-life movement in recent years. She said she could remember a time when I had a love for defending free speech rights. Her email was somewhat unfair as I am still defending First Amendment rights (did she read my last column?). Also, I have been involved in pro-life advocacy since I became a columnist in 2002. In fact, my very first published column was on the topic of abortion.
In the event my former student is reading this expression of anti-abortion advocacy, I would like to enumerate the reasons why she - a pro-lifer herself - should have been involved in the student pro-life movement when she was in college. The following are also reasons why all pro-life students should be actively pro-life:
1. The Societal Diminution of all Human Life. The pro-abortion choice movement has produced a general devaluing of human life that can only be corrected by a strong pro-life movement among students. How many of you were shocked by the acquittal of Casey Anthony? I was certainly angry but I was not shocked. She wanted to party and to date without being weighed down by the responsibility of motherhood. I believe she killed her little girl in order to live a life of convenience. The evidence clearly points toward her unmitigated guilt. But tens of millions of women have done the same thing since Roe v. Wade. No wonder the Anthony jury seemed bored throughout most of the proceedings. No wonder she walked despite the evidence. Her kind of guilt is commonplace.
2. The proximity of the threat. The culture war is raging in America. There are battlefields everywhere but none as large or contentious as the university campus. This is where the immensely profitable non-profits make a lot of their money off abortion. They are marketing their services to your fellow students. Therefore, simply by virtue of where you are, you can make a greater difference if you are willing to cut against the current.
3. Momentum. A May 2009 Gallup Poll found 51% of Americans calling themselves pro-life. Gallup began asking that question in 1995 and this was the first time a majority of Americans identified themselves as pro-life. Pew Research Center did a survey around the same time showing that only 46% believed abortion should be legal in all or most cases. That was down from 54% the previous year. Therefore, I would urge pro-lifers to become activists because they would be joining a winning team. In so doing, they could help accelerate these positive trends.
4. State and Individual Neutrality. The state cannot be neutral on abortion. It either a) recognizes that the unborn are human and have a right to life or b) permits killing them. Since our government has taken the public policy position that the unborn are not afforded the same rights as toddlers - including the right to be free from dismemberment - you need to take a public policy position, too. That means becoming an activist, not being a pacifist in the midst of a war on the unborn.
5. Propaganda and Passivity. Pro-choice arguments are so bad that they cannot survive scrutiny. They must be confined to soliloquy, rather than subjected to debate. For example, the "back alley abortion" argument suggests that we must make killing children safe or else adults might be killed in the process. Abortion choice advocates warn that "thousands" would be killed in back alleys if abortion were once again illegal. This is the way they justify legalizing the murder of millions. The logic is twisted and the facts are wrong. The Centers for Disease Control reported that only 39 women died from illegal abortions in 1972, the year before Roe v. Wade. Put simply, propaganda is activism. And it is only effective when repeated endlessly in the presence of the passive. So we must all be active in combatting this deadly information.
6. Men's Liberation. Men tend to be more supportive of abortion than women. That is why it is more accurate to call the so-called abortion rights movement a men's liberation movement - as opposed to a woman's liberation movement. Abortion liberates men by allowing them to sleep around without fear of consequences. It frees men from fatherhood and allows them to exploit women. So we need more male activists. Next time someone says "men have never had abortions, so they should not be commenting on it" say this: "women have never played in the NFL, so they should not be sportscasters."
7. Underlining Causes. People will tell you that you should never become an activist seeking to make abortion unacceptable or, heaven forbid, illegal. Instead, they say you should focus on underlying causes. Rape has underlying causes. Should we make it legal and instead try to treat its underlying causes? Come to think of it, spousal abuse has underlying causes, too. We would never elect a politician who ran on a platform of making it legal for a man to beat his spouse. But we routinely elect politicians who run on a platform of saying it should remain legal for a woman to kill her baby. As you young people would say, "that's messed up." Indeed, it is. That's why we need activists.
Reading this column, you may have noticed that all of my observations to this point have been brilliant. I'll have more brilliant observations in my next book, "Up from Humility." But the brilliant observations in this column have not been mine. In fact, each and every one of them was stolen from a new book called "Stand for Life" by John Ensor and Scott Klusendorf.
I highly recommend John and Scott's new book. You can pick it up on Amazon for less than the price of two tall skinny lattes or a single ticket to the late show. By the time you are finished reading, you’ll be ready to take your first steps as an activist fighting for the right of the unborn to take their first steps.
Stand for Life is more than just aptly titled. It's a real life saver (and I mean that literally). Of course, that's just my humble opinion.