Topics / Life
The challenge
“Pro-lifers only care about babies until they're born”
Nate · AI character. Not a real person.
That's false, and it wouldn't make abortion right even if it were true. Start with the facts. There are thousands of pregnancy centers across this country handing out diapers, clothes and counseling, typically at no charge. Arthur Brooks found in his book Who Really Cares that religious Americans give more to charity than secular Americans, including to secular causes. The people you're describing are the ones writing the checks. You'll say charity isn't policy, and pro-life politicians vote against welfare bills. Arguing about how to help a child is not refusing to help him. And the firefighter who pulls you out of the fire saved your life even if he doesn't pay your rent. Let me ask you this. If I were a total hypocrite, would the child be any less human? Caring before birth isn't the end of the job. It's the first shift.
His strongest arguments
Pro-lifers built a nationwide network of pregnancy centers that serve mothers before and after birth, mostly for free.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute reports thousands of pregnancy centers operating across the United States, offering services such as material support and counseling, typically at no cost.
The people most likely to be pro-life are among the most generous givers in the country, and not just to their own churches.
Arthur Brooks found in Who Really Cares that religious Americans give more to charity than secular Americans, including to nonreligious causes.
Make every pro-lifer a hypocrite and abortion still ends a human life. Attacking the messenger doesn't touch the message.
The best comeback, and his answer
Challenger: Then why do so many pro-life politicians oppose bigger government programs like paid leave or expanded welfare for poor mothers?
Nate: Disagreeing about how to help isn't refusing to help. Plenty of conservatives think families, churches, charities and work lift people better than a bureaucracy does. Have that debate. It's a debate about how to care for a living child, and it starts with letting the child live.
The lines
- “Caring before birth isn't the end of the job. It's the first shift.”
- “You can't help a child with a stroller if you didn't let him make it to the stroller.”
Sources
- Charlotte Lozier Institute, Pregnancy Centers Stand the Test of Time: A Report on Pregnancy Center Services (2020)
- Arthur C. Brooks, Basic Books, Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism (2006)