A Pro-Life Educational Primer

Adaptation Keeps Educational Outreach on Cutting Edge

By Joseph Landrum

Many Catholics are familiar with the phrase, "Invincible Ignorance." This refers to ignorance so profound that the person debilitated by it is not morally responsible for his actions.

While the origins of this particular term may be Catholic, it quite accurately describes a state of mind with regard to abortion that knows no denominational boundaries. One way of looking at 2002 is to see our job in the new year as making sure that no one in this great country can claim invincible ignorance about protecting innocent human life.

Most veteran pro-lifers know that we can never tire of repeating/reinforcing the basic facts of abortion and fetal development. But why?

What seems to us self-evident isn't to many newcomers or observers on the sidelines. They seem to think that we must be doing something wrong - - otherwise, legal protection for babies in the womb, newborns with disabilities, and anyone threatened with euthanasia would have been won a long time ago.

But this is to ignore the fact that pro-life efforts have not been in vain. Lives have been saved, even while the struggles to elect pro-lifers and enact lifesaving legislation continue unabated. It also overlooks the awesome array of opponents whose access to money and media sometimes seems unlimited.

Having said all that is merely to recognize that our strength is not dollars or media favoritism. It is, rather, the extraordinary influence that an educated citizenry can wield--an outcome money cannot buy but you and your chapter can help make possible.

So what outlets are there for pro-life information? State and county fairs, teens for life meetings, church literature racks, and chapter events--all provide pro-lifers with the opportunity to educate their fellow citizens about the marvels of fetal development, the violent nature of abortion, and the physical and psychological harm done to women. We cannot know how many lives have already been saved by our educational efforts, but they are numerous.

NRLC has rightly emphasized the opinion-altering impact of the issue of partial-birth abortion. Of course, the Supreme Court for a season has stymied the Movement's ability to pass a particular bill designed to ban this abhorrent abortion technique. But the debate over partial-birth abortion overcame at least some of the congressional and journalistic ignorance surrounding abortion.

Try as they did, even hardened abortion supporters in the media and in Congress could not successfully defend this gruesome abortion technique. Many were appalled at the blatant lies the abortion industry told about the victims, most of whom, along with their mothers, were in perfect health.

Now, NRLC and pro-lifers face two additional dimensions in our educational efforts, threats to human life that pose different challenges: RU486 and embryonic stem cell research that would require the destruction of human embryos.

The partial-birth abortion debate brought to the nation's attention babies whose lives were taken later in pregnancy. The humanity of the unborn child cannot easily be ignored at this stage.

RU486, now legally available in America, and embryonic stem cell research turn our attention to the first-trimester human embryo.

RU486--a two-drug abortion technique--is generally used to kill the unborn between the fifth and seventh week of pregnancy.

It is scientists, not pro-life organizations, who have shown that the unborn child's heart begins beating 18 days after conception, and measured brainwaves as early as 40 days. Moreover, there is impressive internal development even at the stage when RU486 abortions are performed.

But since most people are not as well versed in fetal development as pro-lifers are, we have our work cut out for us. What to do?

Every pro-lifer needs some pro-life resource that shows powerfully evocative photos of children in utero (such as our " When Does Life Begin?") and that provides a description of the child's developmental journey at various checkpoints. This demonstration of the continuity of human life is the kind of highly useful knowledge that we can share in whatever setting affords us the opportunity to promote respect for life.

Then we face a threat many have only begun to understand. That is the threat that scientists, under the guise of advancing medicine, will create human embryos by cloning, or undertake research that requires the destruction of human embryos--both in pursuit of "stem cells."

Thankfully, President Bush's August decision prevents tax funding from going to research that would require the destruction of human embryos. The President has also stated his unequivocal opposition to human cloning.

So, what does that mean for our educational efforts? More than ever we must emphasize that size does not matter. If it did, then arguably the right to life would increase as a newborn grew to adulthood. But as the great Dr. Seuss taught, "A person's a person, no matter how small."

Second, we must remind people that location does not matter. Our humanity is not lost if we travel from one room, one city, or one nation to another. Likewise, our humanity does not depend on whether life has been conceived in a woman's body or created in a petri dish.

Finally, we cannot rely on the usual milestones of fetal development used when trying to persuade a mother not to abort her child, or to educate officeholders and the public. The embryos created by cloning or at an infertility clinic will not at that stage have the telltale beating hearts and brainwaves, those powerful signs of life we so often highlight.

Therefore, we must be very clear that humanity is not attained somewhere weeks or months after conception. Any embryology textbook will tell you that a new individual member of a given species is created at the moment of conception.
A human being 15 minutes or 15 days old may not be as easily recognizable, except to a skilled embryologist with the necessary equipment. But appearance, size, and level of development are not determining factors.

If anything, the weakness, smallness, and fragility of these tiny brothers and sisters should move us to strive to protect them all the more.

Pro-life education has saved lives and by adapting to meet different kinds of challenges we will continue saving lives. Please remember the following.
Keep up your good efforts. Read (and re-read) articles from NRL News that give you the best overview of human cloning and human embryonic stem cell research that you can find anywhere. (If you are not subscribing, sent a check for $16 to NRL News, 512-10th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20004.) This will enable you to understand these issues, and the threat they present.

With these facts in hand, you will be primed to give pro-life presentations to your teens for life groups, write meaningful letters to the editor, or conduct opinion-changing discussions with friends and family.

To assist you on these difficult issues, the NRL Educational Trust Fund has factsheets on RU 486 and embryonic stem cell research. Single copies are free, and you are welcome to make copies.

We also offer "What the Nurse Saw," an eight-page, full-color booklet discussing partial-birth abortion. The booklet dispels the misinformation surrounding the procedure, offers a brief legislative history through 1998, and discusses the reality of fetal pain. The cost is 25 cents per copy, plus $3.95 for shipping on orders under $20.00, or 20% for orders of $20.00 and over. Call (202) 626-8829; fax (202) 393-0745; or e-mail: nrletf@juno.com.