Crash Course in Pro-Life Apologetics

Why are you pro-life? 

What would you say if someone asked you that? Have you ever had to defend your position in conversation? Were you afraid to offend someone with your point of view? Were you afraid your reasons were just not good enough to persuade anyone? Take a look at these very good websites and brush up on your apologetics skills!

At the pro-life conference this year, I attended a really good session on pro-life apologetics. The basic gist of how to be a good apologist is this: pro-choice people want to talk about anything and everything except for abortion itself. They want to talk about things like "back alley abortions,"  saving the life of a mother (which makes up under 1% of all abortions,) problems of poverty in our society, how other people overlook problems of poverty, a woman's choice, a woman's body and on and on.

Pro-choice people do NOT want to talk about the child itself being killed. They will spin the conversation every which-way they can to avoid this painful reality. That is why your main points need to be about things like the the humanity of the child in the womb, the uniqueness of human life, the child's ability to feel pain and the ethical issue of ending an innocent human life.

Here are some helpful websites to review:

(1) This well presented website offers succinct and logical "talking points" for every situation. For example, fact #12 details how, before Roe v Wade, only 10% of women had "back alley" abortions. The argument that abortion ban would increase death from "back alley" abortion ignores that there is no evidence that abortion is any less dangerous today but more importantly, it leaves out the issue of the ethics of taking a human life completely. Review this page. It's filled with clear logic to counter common arguments.

http://www.abortionfacts.com/

(2) What about when people want to talk about how young mothers will "ruin their lives" if they give birth? That's a hard position to argue without knowing the statistics of how abortion creates a greater number of emotional, physical and societal problems than giving birth at a young age. You need to know that suicide risk is 6 times higher with teens that have abortions and that they are twice as likely than their peers to use drugs.

http://theunchoice.com/pdf/OnePageFactSheets/TeensSheet1.pdf

Review these sites and you will feel more secure when faced with pro-choice arguments, but most importantly, always steer the conversation to the undeniable fact that abortion is taking an innocent human life- no ifs, ands or buts.

1st Way Fundraiser with Archbishop Sample

 1st Way is celebrating our 40th Anniversary!

"Every life is sacred. Planned or unplanned, each unique and irreplaceable individual must be profoundly respected and protected, regardless of cost, from conception to natural death."

                                                         -Archbishop Alexander Sample

This moving quote from our new archbishop strongly encourages us to take action for life. Each human life conceived is irreplaceable- there will never be another you or me and each human life deserves the chance to live just like you and me.  

Each life should be profoundly respected and protected- to give God the honor he deserves for creating us and to cherish the gift of children. 

Regardless of cost-
Nothing is too much for this profoundly important cause- to respect and protect human life.

Come to our Fundraiser for First Way, August 4 at River's Edge!

Our new archbishop, The Most Reverend Alexander Sample, will be there and we will have a wonderful meal and entertainment to celebrate our 40th Anniversary. Don't miss this rare opportunity. Tickets are going fast. Contact me to get your tickets now!

Buy your ticket via Paypal here:

River's Edge Events:
 http://www.riversedgeevents.com/

Hope to see you there!  

You Can Make a Difference Easily in Just Ten Minutes

Last week, I posted about how little things you do can mean a lot in serving the pro-life movement. Gayle Atteberry, head of Oregon Right to Life, led a session at the Right to Life Conference about how to make a difference in ten minutes.

When Gayle talked about "influence," "power," and "leverage," she talked about finding your most natural area of "influence."

 For example, what would be most comfortable and ordinary for you to do. Maybe you like to read or write letters to the editor of the newspaper or magazines? Have you considered writing one on a pro-life subject? What about writing to an on-line publication?

Maybe you like to comment regularly in com-boxes on online articles. Make a special effort to find articles about abortion and spend time sharing your opinion.

Do you have any pro-life books lying around that you don't need anymore? Donate them to the library. Your local library may be lacking in helpful literature, and you could fill a real need.

Here's another great idea, especially for people like myself who work with youth. Take a look at what kids tweet. Observe them in their natural kid environment, so to speak. What appeals to them? How might you appeal to them in a better way?

Here's a really fun and easy idea- Do you like to be social or show off? Have you ever worked at a booth in the fair and loved it? Or did you enjoy science fairs at a child? Right to Life will send you materials to set up a table display in your parish hall. All you need to do is ask your pastor for permission and then contact Right to Life.

Do you like to play around on Pinterest? Pin more pro-life pictures and memes. 80% of what people pin on Pinterest is a re-pin. Search for good pins and keep them circulating around!

If you are 13-24, you can compete in 1st Way's Meme Contest. Write to us for information.

If you are a wonderful husband, you can buy lots of beautiful roses for your wife at 1st Way's rose sale this weekend.

Isn't it great how much you can do in just 10 minutes? The cool part is this- 

It really DOES make a difference. You don't have to wander outside your comfort zone much or at all. Give it a try!

Speak Out for the Unborn: Little Things You Do Really Matter

I heard Bryan Kemper speak at the Right to Life Conference in Portland, Oregon about a week ago. What impacted me most was a main theme of his talk: Pro-life is a verb, not a noun. Pro-life is something we do and live, not some sort of political affiliation we identify with.  Too many people see "pro-life" as a position or stance and not a reason to take action.

The media champions "women's health" and "social justice" as being related to abortion, yet they are not. Nothing is more oppressive to women and more unjust to society than abortion. Lately, our government and many celebrities have been promoting ideas that make absolutely no sense- like how being a mother-to-be is an illness and that this is unjust to society.

I'm the sort of person who did not benefit socially from taking a public pro-life position. I spent the first forty years of my life as a liberal who was secretly pro-life. It just isn't "cool" to be a pro-life liberal. You're at least supposed to say it's not okay for you but it's alright for others to decide for themselves. Taking a stand that taking human life is wrong for anyone, regardless of the situation will result in losing friendships. When I "came out" as pro-life, I became anathema to many old friends. I also found out who my real friends are. My real friends still like and accept me. I still like and respect them, even if I don't agree with them about abortion. But, I can not bend or yield in any way on the subject because abortion is always wrong.

So, when I became active and vocal about pro-life, it has definitely always been a verb. Pro-life is something I live and express and believe in so strongly that it is impossible for me not to act.

I wasn't able to stand up for what I know is right until I came to terms within my soul that I want to live my life in a way that God wants and not necessarily a way that other people want. Since then, I've been around pro-life people a lot. I don't like them all and I'm not friends with them all. Opinions and political positions should not dictate friendships. 

One third of the Democratic party is pro-life, even though "pro-choice" is now an official "plank" in the Democratic political platform. Many pro-life democrats are like I was, afraid to let it be known that they believe the taking of innocent human life is wrong. 

Yet, some people who identify with conservative politics believe that pro-life is something they just "are," regardless of what they do. I came to understand this more at the Right to Life Conference. Many people do not feel compelled to act because pro-life is a noun or an adjective to them. Even though pro-life is a part of the Republican platform, that doesn't mean everyone is doing something about it.

If everyone on both sides of our political world could speak out, Roe v Wade really wouldn't have a prayer. Our nation is already pro-life by a slim majority. The millennial generation is overwhelmingly pro-life. The problem is that nobody is saying anything and nobody is doing anything.

If you are reading this, you can make a difference just by doing little things. Really. You don't have to make pro-life advocacy a primary part of your working life. Just speak up for the unborn once in a while. If you are liberal and pro-life, consider "coming out of the closet." If you're conservative and pro-life, consider redefining pro-life as something you do and not something you are.

In one of our afternoon sessions, Gayle Atteberry, President of Oregon Right to Life, presented a list of small things people can do in thirty minutes or less that can make a difference to the pro-life movement. I'll be posting some of those ideas soon.

1st Way Worldwide Meme Contest, 2013

 1^st Way

Meme Contest

(Now Open to Worldwide Competition)

Memes are like “mini-posters” that convey a message powerfully, in a quick, creative way. The goal of 1^st Way's meme contest is to help make 1^st Way and the goals of 1^st Way better known in our community and to help make the new “Talk to a Friend” online outreach popular and successful. By taking part in this contest, you can help women feel cared about and supported and you may also save a baby's life. (example to the right)

Memes may be created on the following themes:

1. Friendship
2. Helping friends maintain purity
3. Helping a Pregnant friend choose life
4. Choosing life will not ruin your future.
5. Strong women choose life. 
   6. Respect for life in all its stages and forms.

Memes may NOT contain

1. Pictures of aborted fetuses.
2. Direct references to abortion only.
3. Emphasis on saving babies without reference to caring about women themselves.
4. Indecent pictures or captions, especially those related to sex.
5. May not imply single parenting is better than married parenting.

PRIZES will be awarded separately on the High School and College Levels. (Anyone age 13-24 may participate, regardless of school enrollment.)

Grand prize= $100 gift certificate for Itunes or Amazon

Second prize= $50 gift certificate for Itunes or Amazon

Third prize= $20 gift certificate for Itunes or Amazon

All memes, winning and not winning, may be posted and distributed on-line.

Contest Deadline: June 7, 2013

CREATIVE HELP

1. Any public domain pictures are okay. However, I put together a collection of pictures to help you get started: http://pinterest.com/talktoafriend/

The “adorable animals,” “BFFs,” and “empowered” boards are the best to draw from for ideas and pictures to use, but the rest are okay if you want to use them.

2. Google “meme generator” websites. There are many to choose from.

3. Questions? Like to help out more with on-line outreach? Contact and send submissions to laurapaxton3@gmail.com .

SB 490 Could Shut A Lot of Crisis Pregnancy Centers Down- Help stop it!!

If SB 490 passes,

many Crisis Pregnancy Centers in Oregon

WILL SHUT DOWN.

The bill requires Crisis Pregnancy Centers

* to pay medical personnel who are now pro-bono.

Effect- Most centers cannot afford the cost. 1^st Way in Eugene has several nurses, ultrasound techs and an M.D. Medical director we would have to pay.

* to post in a prominent location and in all advertising that they do not provide abortion or referrals to abortion.

Effect: Abortion-minded women will go immediately to Planned Parenthood instead of coming to us first to hear about other options. We will lose significant clientele and more abortions will occur as a result.

*to be under the supervision of a government regulatory agency.

Effect: We will face greater and greater restrictions on providing care.

Oregon already has the most liberal laws of any state regarding abortion and this bill

IS NOT MEETING MUCH OPPOSITION AT ALL.

We cannot afford to be complacent.

Lives are at stake.

Call your senator:

Sen. Chris Edwards (D) District: 007 900 Court Street NE S-405 Salem, OR 97301 Phone: (503) 986-1707 Fax: (503) 986-1080 WebSite: http://www.leg.state.or.us/edwardsc/ E-Mail: Sen.ChrisEdwards@state.or.us	(Portions of Lane and Lynn)  Lee Beyer (D) PO Box 131 Springfield 97477 541-726-2533
	(Portions of Lane and  Douglas)  Floyd Prozanski (D) 541-342-2447 PO Box 11511 Eugene 97440

10 minutes to PROTECT WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT RISK

10 minutes to PROTECT WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT RISK

This week, women and babies in Oregon need your help. Can you take ten minutes this week to send an email, and/or make a phone call to your Oregon Senator?

SB 490 threatens to reduce and possibly eliminate the freedom of Pregnancy Resource Centers (PRC) throughout Oregon from offering life-giving options and resources to women and babies at risk.

Please join thousands of PRC’s supporters in appealing to our state Senators to stop this intrusive, discriminatory, unconstitutional bill, currently in the Senate Rules Committee.

PRCs speak caring, life-giving direction into the lives of women and girls facing unplanned pregnancies. SB 490 seeks to muzzle that voice with unreasonable regulations and restrictions from the Oregon Health Authority. This discriminatory legislation potentially burdens PRCs with regulations and penalties that would reduce and in some cases close Oregon PRCs. (Find out more about Oregon PRCs and SB 490 at www.oregonpregnancycenters.org).

Here’s what we can do:

This week, please contact the Senator from your district by email, phone, or appt. and respectfully state your opposition to SB 490, and your support of your PRC. To find yours, go to:

http://www.leg.state.or.us/senate/ .

We need you to do this, this week (April 15-20). Other pro-life agencies (ORTL and OFC) will “carry the ball” over the next two weeks. Then, if the bill is still alive, we will send another email to ask you to once again contact your senator in a couple weeks to urge them to oppose the bill’s movement and passage. (The Rules Committee can present the bill to the Senate for a vote anytime between now and the end of the session in late June).

This bill is the latest attempt in Planned Parenthood’s long-standing national campaign against PRCs. If it passes in Oregon, it will be the first time a state has legislated against PRCs. This will set precedence for other states. We need to stop it here – for the women and babies in our community, and for those in the rest of the nation.

These Senators especially need to hear from their Eugene constituents:

                                    Sen. Chris Edwards (D)
District: 007
900 Court Street NE
S-405
Salem, OR 97301
Phone: (503) 986-1707
Fax: (503) 986-1080
WebSite: http://www.leg.state.or.us/edwardsc/
E-Mail: Sen.ChrisEdwards@state.or.us

 (Portions of Lane and Lynn)
 Lee Beyer (D)
PO Box 131
Springfield 97477
541-726-2533

(Portions of Lane and  Douglas)
 Floyd Prozanski (D)
PO Box 11511
Eugene 97440
541-342-2447

If you are not sure which of these to contact, go to this website, put in your address and it will tell you.
 http://www.leg.state.or.us/findlegsltr/

Thank you for caring. Thank you for saving our Voice for Life.

Larry Gadbaugh, CEO, Pregnancy Resource Centers of Portland