In an earlier post I discussed the role that images need to play in turning public opinion against abortion (http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=2447271489594435093#editor/target=post;postID=5884137283214906903). S. Adam Seagrave has written a far more sophisticated piece describing where the pro-life movement is presently at, as he compares it to the examples of the anti-slavery and civil rights movements. He notes that intellectual arguments are not enough since they often cannot arouse the moral sense that stirs people into action. He writes:
So where does this leave pro-life advocates? How can we bridge the
Humean—and human—gap between intellectual understanding and actual
practice in our nation? The answer lies in the parallel between the
issue of abortion and those of slavery and subsequent civil rights. The
pro-life movement needs to model more closely in its organization and
practices the antebellum abolition movement and the civil rights
movement in order to achieve similar success in ending the evil of
abortion. It needs to take up the mantle of these causes in a manner
beyond rhetorical parallel or intellectual analogy and be prepared to
undergo similar hardships before achieving its goals.
Both of these historical movements ultimately succeeded not by winning
arguments, but by awakening the moral sense or conscience of a majority
of the nation. Legislation relating to the provision of an ultrasound
prior to an abortion, currently in place in some form in more than
twenty states, is very well suited to this purpose. The dissemination of
graphic images relating to abortion procedures, though controversial in
pro-life circles, is also highly appropriate to this purpose.
The civil rights movement was driven forward significantly by
television and photographic coverage of the inhuman treatment of
protestors, as well as the publication of vivid written reports of
racially motivated cruelties. Moral senses or sympathies are sparked
most effectively by distasteful, unsettling, and shocking information;
and when intellectual argument has had its day in trying to awaken
consciences and has shown itself insufficient, recourse must be had to
the level of moral sense and feeling.
The pro-life movement currently finds itself in the same place as the
abolition movement at the time of Frederick Douglass’s great speech. If
we are to experience similar success, we would do well to follow
Douglass’s advice and focus our energies on awakening the moral sense of
our fellow citizens. It would help to have another Douglass for our
cause, but at least we still have his words: “The feeling of the nation
must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the
propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation
must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed
and denounced.”
The article is an excellent piece that is well worth reading.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/to-abolish-abortion-we-must-awaken-societys-moral-sense
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