And the counter-protester shouts at me,
00:05
“What if your mother had decided to abort you?”
00:09
He’s wearing a bright green T-shirt that says “pro-life,”
00:12
no like link, organization, just pro-life,
00:14
and in a split second my brain cycles through
00:17
all the possible ways I could reply to him.
00:19
Right. I could say, “Why is it that the loudest ‘pro-life’ voices
00:24
are always, always also the loudest anti social safety net,
00:28
anti access to childcare, anti access to contraception,
00:31
anti living wage, anti environment,
00:33
anti peace, anti democracy, anti gun control,
00:36
anti sex ed, anti education in general,
00:39
anti healthcare voices?”
00:40
Right, I could mention that the U.S. is currently
00:43
at the lowest rate of abortion since Roe v. Wade,
00:46
the continuation of a 30-year downward trend,
00:48
primarily due to increased access to effective and affordable birth control.
00:52
I could say, “If you really believe abortion is murder,
00:55
you would be on the front line, supporting comprehensive sex ed,
00:59
universal healthcare, and, yeah, planned parenthood too,
01:02
the program, services and initiatives that reduce abortion rates
01:05
more than outlawing it ever could.”
01:07
I could also, however, talk about how the pro-life movement
01:10
has never actually been about life, it’s always been about control.
01:14
It’s always been about enforcing this extreme view of family, sexuality,
01:19
and authority in punishing women,
01:21
and anyone who can get pregnant,
01:22
for daring to think differently.
01:24
Right. It’s always been about cynically using people’s deeply held beliefs
01:28
as a way to get out the vote,
01:29
to keep the most immoral, manipulative, hypocritical politicians we have in power.
01:34
I could respond with any variation on one or more of those points,
01:38
and would any of them change his mind?
01:42
How loud do you have to be to put out a house fire
01:45
with just your voice?
01:47
How well constructed must your argument be
01:49
to convince the ocean not to take your drowning friend?
01:53
Do we preach to the choir because it’s easy
01:55
or do we preach to the choir
01:56
because they’re the people who might actually do something?
01:59
The counter-protester asks,
02:00
“What if your mother had decided to abort you?”
02:04
He’s not actually concerned with my metaphysical well-being, right.
02:07
He doesn’t care about my young, scared single mother.
02:10
He’s trying to tell a story.
02:12
So my response is also a story.
02:17
It’s just not a story for him.
02:20
Some day, we are going to live in a world that truly values life,
02:27
where people have not just the choice to have or not have children,
02:31
but the right to raise them in a community with all the resources
02:34
and opportunities and freedom and justice and joy they could ever need.
02:40
Talk about life all you want, but I know who’s fighting for that world,
02:46
and I know who isn’t.
02:49
(cheers and applause)
◊♦◊
Have you read the original anthology that was the catalyst for The Good Men Project? Buy here: The Good Men Project: Real Stories from the Front Lines of Modern Manhood
◊♦◊
Talk to you soon.
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