But What Is It?

But what is it? That’s the question that very rarely gets asked or answered.

I watched the portion of the debate between the vice presidential candidates that focused on abortion (pictured). That question kept ringing in my head, but it didn’t really get any time in the segment. True, JD Vance tried to get clarification on one “what is it?” question, related to the Minnesota abortion law: “What specifically does the Minnesota abortion law allow and not allow?” Indeed, it would have been nice to get a clear answer to that question. If we had, we’d have also gotten close to the edge of the question, “What is it?” related to abortion itself.

If the segment had led to the question, “What is abortion?” it would have been illuminating. Indeed, if we spent more time considering what abortion is itself, it would inevitably lead to the most important “What is it?” question: “What is the unborn?”

That question, “What is the unborn?” is the one that rings in my head throughout any exchange on abortion rights or women’s rights or bodily rights. It’s the first question we have to resolve in order to get any clarity about the others. True, the questions of a woman’s bodily rights or life-threatening pregnancy complications or what a just law would be on abortion are all important questions. But we can’t answer them without addressing this first central question: “But what is it?” Meaning, “What is the unborn?”

So, let’s say I’ve convinced you, and this question is now ringing in your head. Perhaps for you it’s even like a knee-jerk reaction every time the topic of abortion is discussed, as it is for me. But what do we do with this knee-jerk reaction? Do we insert that question robotically, as if it’s the first and only item on a meeting agenda? That won’t do. To win the right to bring clarity to the importance of this one question, our team has found that saying two other words many times and early in a conversation can sometimes make all the difference. What two words? “I agree.”

Find common ground about difficult circumstances confronting pregnant women. Find common ground about serious injustices violating a woman’s right to be free of sexual assault and other abuse. Find common ground about the difficulty confronting women who find themselves in a high-risk pregnancy situation.

We don’t only find common ground, though, and neglect to shed light on what is right and wrong about abortion. And that’s where our central question comes in: “But what is it? What is the unborn?”

So, here’s my suggestion: Remember the sentence, “I agree, but what is it?” Then use that as a structure for the conversation to remind you of these two important things to emphasize in the conversation. I’d spend a lot of time and energy on the first part, “I agree,” but I’d also work hard to not let the “but what is it?” question get lost.

So, when someone says, “women will die of pregnancy complications if abortion is illegal,” I’ll spend three to five minutes showing concern for those situations and agreeing that each woman is important in herself and not just as a talking point in a conversation. I’ll ask the other person if she agrees with what I’m saying. I’ll take time to discuss this. But then I’ll say, “It’s difficult to know which options to offer the woman, though, if I don’t even know how many people are in the hospital room with her. If the unborn is a human being, then that’s going to affect how we proceed in any life-threatening circumstance. Should she be able to get an abortion? Well, if the unborn is a human being, and abortion causes the death of that human being, then we would avoid abortion if at all possible in seeking to save her life.”

That’s the clarity that “but what is it?” brings to the conversation. I admit that it doesn’t answer all the questions about life-threatening circumstances. But it answers the first question, the central question that must be answered in order to make any progress on a solution.

So, the “what is the unborn?” question is like a gate on a roadway. You have to open the gate to pass.

Or, to put it in philosophical terms, it’s a necessary condition for getting to a practical solution. It’s not a sufficient condition - it’s not “all you need.” But it is a necessary condition - it’s “got to be there.”

Here’s another example: Walz emphasized in the debate that women need to control their bodies and make their own decisions.

I’m going to follow my strategy reminder I laid out in the sentence above: “I agree, but what is it?”

I’ll begin with three to five minutes of emphasizing how a woman’s right to be free from assault and other abuse is still important and still under grave attack all over the world. (I’m not talking here about how much time someone should spend on this in a debate, of course…I’m talking about the more common situation in which all of us find ourselves regularly, where the topic comes up and we have a choice of how to engage and for how long. In a formal debate, one could use the same strategy, but we would have to settle for putting it in soundbites.) I’ll emphasize my concern for safety of women and respect of women. At some point early in the conversation, though, I want to also make sure the unborn is not forgotten or invisible. I’ll ask some form of, “but what is it?” Is the unborn a human?

If we’re talking about whether a woman’s bodily rights entail killing the unborn through elective abortion, we’d better get an answer to the question, “What is the unborn?” I’m going to aim to spend an equal amount of time on this question, too: three to five minutes. (Again, in a formal debate we’d have to put these same ideas into soundbites.) I’ll aim to help the person with whom I’m speaking to see the unborn human with new clarity through images and arguments. (See the notes from session two and session three of our Love3 course for help on this.)

If the unborn is a real human being, as we can demonstrate that she is, then it doesn’t immediately tell us what to think about the right to abortion, but rather, it just clarifies that there are, in fact, two human beings in the picture, and each of these human beings, the woman and the unborn child, has an equal right to his or her body. Then we can move forward to consider whether the right to the body that the woman has means she can kill another human being located inside of her body, another human being who has a right to his body. In our work on bodily rights over many years, we’ve gone to great lengths to show that her right to her body does not entail the right to kill her unborn child. See our “It’s Her Body” series, which includes a 20-page response to the strongest version of the bodily rights argument for abortion.

So, remember this simple sentence to remind you of the strategy that will shed the most light in the least amount of time: “I agree, but what is it?” We find common ground because it’s true that the person is making good points, and it helps the person to want to hear the rest of our perspective. Then we move the conversation forward with some form of the question, “What is the unborn?” because that question is a necessary condition for answering the question, “Can I kill this?”

I’d like to mention that I owe this strategy to two of my mentors, Scott Klusendorf and Greg Koukl. I’ve probably heard both of these men say something very similar (or exactly similar) to the sentence, “I agree, but what is it?” many times in the past. I’ve been emphasizing it for the past 23 years. They’ve been emphasizing it even longer, since the late 1990s. For my part, I’ve been open to re-evaluating it or changing the emphasis or abandoning it. But it has stood the test of time and experience. Our team has tested this question, and the strategy I outline above, combining it with common ground, in thousands and thousands of conversations. It isn’t failsafe or foolproof. But it does bring the important first step of clarity to very complicated issues.

Without the question, “But what is it?” the conversation is mostly just slogans and noise. That’s not only a sad waste of time. It’s deadly, because the unborn child continues to be the last thing on everyone’s mind. Let’s change that. Let’s say, “I agree, but what is it?” and put the unborn back where they belong, right in the middle of the conversation about women’s rights and just laws.

Should We Flip-Flop When Someone Flips Out?

JFA trainer Kristina Massa was surprised when an angry young woman lashed out at a poll table sign at our outreach event at Boise State in the fall. She was even more surprised at the conversation that followed. Through her retelling in a recent letter, “Flipping Tables in the Courtyard” (enclosed, or see www.jfaweb.org/jan-2024), Kristina provides a great model for deciding “what to say when,” and she illustrates the sort of balanced approach all JFA trainers aim to exhibit in every conversation. Please read her letter, and then I’ll explain.

Note how Kristina doesn’t shy away from the young woman’s question about homosexuality and marriage. You might think this would lead to a distraction from the main topic. While controversial questions can be a distraction in some abortion conversations, in this instance addressing the topic turned out to be helpful.

Click here for the Printable Version.

Kristina answered the young woman’s questions directly and honestly, giving her the benefit of the doubt that she was asking in good faith and not intending to trap. Kristina didn’t try to hide her views on sexuality and marriage, even though she knew they were very controversial. She didn’t go weak-kneed or change her views because this woman had flipped out by “flipping tables” (her words). Instead, Kristina gave a straightforward answer with a reasonable explanation, and she also avoided expressing her views in an unnecessarily harsh way.

Then Kristina prayed with the young woman, banking on the fact that they shared similar backgrounds in Christian communities. Rather than focusing on the differences she definitely had with this woman regarding beliefs about God, Jesus, and how we should live, Kristina focused on the small sliver of common ground that this woman had implied earlier, that she did consider herself to be following Jesus.

With many people who vehemently disagree with us on difficult topics, we have found this approach to be disarming and bridge-building. In this case, I am guessing that this woman appreciated the fact that Kristina showed interest in a passion of hers. I believe the woman also felt dignified by Kristina’s decision to trust her with what she really thought.

One Person Can Change the World

Train One to Reach One, then Pray for Each One

In my October letter, I asked readers to make a monthly pledge, recommend JFA to a friend, and commit to pray for JFA. Read or share this important letter.

In this Impact Report, we share names and pictures of some of the people with whom our team interacted in 2023. Would you post this list somewhere in your home and pray that God will help each of these people to love the unborn, hate elective abortion, and accept God’s love?

To view more pictures and read recent stories of conversations, see our blog.

As you consider your year-end giving, would you make a special gift to JFA to help our team train many more Christians to reach the people God puts in their path? Thank you!

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Pray with us for…

Or, you can download, print, and post this list somewhere in your home to remind you to pray. 

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Because One Person Can Change the World

There are four senses in which “one person can change the world.” Ultimately, we believe Jesus Christ is the one Person who changes the world for the better. This is why we exist and why we train Christians to depend on Christ to make change. In addition, each person trained, each life saved, and each person listed below also represents one person who can change the world, by God’s power. Each person is worthy of respect and protection and investment, even if he or she may never change the world in a positive way. It is true, though, that each person JFA reaches could play a pivotal role in changing the world for the better. We thank God that we can partner with you in training Christians to reach one person at a time.

Will You Partner with Us through a Monthly Pledge?

October 2023 Letter from the Executive Director

Students at the University of Northern Colorado (UNC) recently invited Justice For All (JFA) to help them reach their campus. Madelyn Biggers, the president of the club, reflected on the event:

“Partnering with JFA was a great experience for the UNC Students for Life… The seminar was very informative and the best pro-life training I’ve ever attended… The instructors were knowledgeable and compassionate. Tabling on campus was a great learning experience, and we definitely got a lot of people talking about abortion. I would love to host JFA again in the future!”

Madelyn’s experience is just one example of how God is using the JFA team to train Christians, nurture leaders, and get people thinking clearly about abortion. Our paid internship program is another (see our fall interns, Seth and Catherine, below).

To train more people, the JFA team has been at work in nine states this fall, including three universities new to JFA*. See recent stories of changed minds and hearts below, and see pictures from recent events at www.instagram.com/picturejusticeforall.

View fullsize

Interns Catherine Gimino (left) and Seth Wiesner (left of center) interact with UNC students.

To continue to invest in leaders like Madelyn, Seth, and Catherine, we need your help. Each of our trainers raises personal support, and their travel, food, laptop, and other essentials are covered by our other giving designations. Each of our trainers and programs needs prayer and increased support, so now is a great time to partner with us. (Learn more about our current needs at www.jfaweb.org/invest.)

Will you make a monthly pledge of financial support or commit to increasing your support? (Set up a recurring bank transaction or credit card transaction at our Donate page. Or, call the number below.)

If you are already giving at the level you can, thank you. You are so important to our team! Would you pass this letter on to one friend with your recommendation that JFA is worthy of support?

Are you unable to give at this time? Please commit to pray for a team member or the entire team.

Use the enclosed form or go to the JFA Donate page to make a commitment to pray or give. Or, you can call our office (316.683.6426) so that our wonderful office manager, Eva Heath, can assist you.

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Recent Stories of Changed Hearts and Minds

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Click here to see recent outreach events at Instagram

Click here to go to Instagram to see recent outreach events.

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Recent and Upcoming Outreach Events

Note: Interactive workshops preceded all events listed below.

8/28-30 * Boise State University (ID)

9/18-20 University of Northern Colorado (CO)

10/2-3 * Minnesota State Univ. Mankato (MN)

10/9-11 CSU San Marcos & Palomar College (CA)

10/18 * Christopher Newport University (VA)

10/30 University of Central Oklahoma (OK)

10/31-11/1 University of North Texas (TX)

11/13-15 University of Texas at Austin (TX)

Be Relational...then Be Intellectual

In my May letter, I shared the story of my conversation with Stacey at Palomar College. It began with her saying abortion should be legal through all nine months of pregnancy because of bodily rights, and it ended with her saying, “I’ve never thought about whether the fetus is a person before. I’ll have to think about that.” This conversation illustrates a simple approach: Be relational, then be intellectual. What began as a principle we applied to the question of rape is now a principle we apply to every question related to pregnancy and abortion. You can see another great model of the basics of this approach in last month’s Impact Report by Kristina Massa entitled, “Answering the Hard Cases.”

I want to share a bit of the history of how this concept became so central to our teaching at JFA. A good starting point is a scene seven minutes into the documentary Unborn in the USA (2007), which was filmed about 19 years ago at Focus on the Family Institute (photo below). After watching that scene, a writer from Nerve Magazine (an edgy online magazine that is not recommended reading) said,

The guy is making perfect sense…He's an articulate, intelligent, calm presence. Suddenly, a chill creeps up your spine: I hope there are people on the pro-choice side who are equally perceptive and balanced.

I was the featured speaker in that scene, and here’s essentially what I was teaching: When talking about the topic of rape, we need to show sympathy for the rape victim and show emotional sensitivity to the heaviness of the topic of rape and the horror of that evil act. We need to do these things first, before making intellectual arguments. I regularly tell audiences that part of my job is to help them recover their common sense as a guide for how to respond to difficult questions like the question of abortion in the case of rape. We should be the strongest advocates for women whose basic rights have been trampled. In fact, the same concern for human rights that animates us to stand up for unborn children also animates us to stand up for all women everywhere and for their very real bodily right to be free from rape.

Focus on the Family Institute (Sept. 2004): During interactive role-play activities, Steve sometimes stood on a chair to make a point.

Being relational first and then giving intellectually credible answers to hard questions is practically wise: it works. It’s the best way to help people be open to our perspective. There’s a more fundamental reason to use this approach, though: it’s the right thing to do. Because all human beings have intrinsic value, we should stand up for them and show concern for them.

At first, we emphasized “being relational and then being intellectual” mostly on the topic of rape. Some of our trainers, notably Tammy Cook, have argued for years, though, that this approach is valuable on a much broader spectrum of questions related to pregnancy and abortion. In 2018 I put some of this approach into words in a series called “It’s Her Body.” I made the case that the relational concerns that are on the minds of people discussing the question of rape are just as present when a woman’s body is mentioned. I pointed out that many pro-choice advocates perceive or feel our advocacy against abortion to be a violation of a woman's body. If they hear our advocacy this way, the fear and horror they feel for other violations of a woman’s body will obstruct hearing our case for the unborn’s value.

To meet this challenge, I claimed that for any bodily rights argument, we should also use the approach of “be relational and then be intellectual.” First, point out that women have real bodily rights, generally speaking, and those rights have been trampled throughout history up to the present day in horrific acts including rape, domestic violence, and slavery. Then clarify how far those bodily rights extend and how it changes things when we consider that since those bodily rights are fundamental, they must have begun when the human being began, at fertilization. If the unborn also has bodily rights, their bodily rights should be respected as well. Be relational, then be intellectual.

The more we as a community have reflected on these things, we’ve realized that this is a good practice to follow with every pro-choice argument. Show sensitivity to the emotional heaviness caused by the suffering in these circumstances, then continue in that relational sensitivity as you offer intellectual clarifications.

Here’s an example: If someone says, “some women are too poor,” I begin with relational and emotional sensitivity: “That’s a good point. Some women are very poor, and I can’t fully understand what it’s like to be poor and pregnant. I’m glad you’ve brought this up, and I don’t have a simple answer.” When it seems helpful, I can then clarify that because poverty isn’t a good justification for killing a toddler whose mom is poor, this justification for abortion only works if something else is also true, that the unborn is not a human being. This clarifies that we all need to focus on this central question. We agree poverty is incredibly difficult, and we agree we need to care for poor women. What constitutes good “care” will depend on our answer to the question, “How many people are in the room?” If there’s only one person present when a woman is pregnant, and abortion kills no one, then abortion should be legal. But if abortion kills a real human being, it would be odd to offer abortion as a solution to poverty. Our approach is the same for most other justifications for abortion, including “the child will suffer,” “a woman’s life will be overturned by caring for a child,” and “the world is overpopulated such that people can’t get enough to eat.” We show concern for the suffering involved (“be relational”) and then clarify the truth that these situations don’t justify killing human beings, including the unborn (be intellectual).

Oct. 2024 Update: Note that this letter expands on the second of a series of three letters Steve wrote from February 2023 until March 2024 - letters focused on conversations skills we teach volunteers that help them get started having conversations and encourage them to stay active. Here are links to the series, including this letter, so you can see how it fits in the flow of thought:

1. “Be a Playmaker” (Feb. 2023) on the importance of seeing your advocacy in

2. “Thinking about the Unborn Child for the First Time” (May 2023) on being relational then intellectual

   • “Be Relational…then Be Intellectual” (this letter, Sept. 2023) on how this approach applies to every topic in every conversation

3. “Only Two Questions?” (March 2024) on the two clarification questions that can help you make an impact in any conversation.

Be a Playmaker

Banner: Photo by Jeffrey F Lin on Unsplash

I was playing soccer with my kids recently and something happened twice during our game that sticks in my memory. In both instances, I was only about halfway across our front yard soccer field and received a pass in the center. In order to have a better chance of surprising the other team (a worthy aim), I fired the ball towards the goal without trapping the ball first. One touch. Sadly, in both cases my decision to be a hotshot led to missing the goal completely. I gave the other team a goal kick.

We saw the same mistake multiple times in the World Cup a few months ago. A player would take a shot from too far out, or he would try to dribble through five defenders. He acted like he was a one-man show, and his whole team paid for it with a missed opportunity.

Contrast this with a different approach to the game, one in which the player looks to be a “playmaker.” He is satisfied to pass the ball to another player who has a better angle and can move the ball down the field by passing to yet another player who sends it on to another player, and because each player was satisfied to play his part, the ball ends up in the net.

It’s the same in our conversations about abortion. We’re aiming to help the person change his or her mind completely, meaning he or she develops a hatred for elective abortion and a willingness to act to change the hearts and minds of others. But our job in each conversation is to see ourselves as a part of a team, a network of advocates who influence a person in successive opportunities that God provides.

This gives us great comfort just as it gives us our marching orders. If we don’t see the goal reached during our conversation, we are satisfied to give the person something to think about—a pebble in the shoe, as Greg Koukl at Stand to Reason says (see str.org for more).

If our personal, individual purpose in the “game,” then, isn't necessarily to see the end goal accomplished but rather to take the opportunity God gives us and to “move the ball forward” for the person with whom we’re talking, this helps us assess our performance. Did we represent Christ well? Did we use His manner? Were we skillfully maneuvering in conversation in a way that sought to help the person be more likely to change his or her mind as soon as possible?

If I had been more patient in my soccer game with my kids, I would have been satisfied to move the ball around the field more and more as we got closer and closer to the goal. Ironically, it is this approach that would have put the ball in the back of the net more quickly.

This is one of the things we teach volunteers so they don’t get discouraged. We encourage them to keep the goal in view and to be satisfied to play their part. This is more realistic, and it places only the appropriate level of burden on the volunteer. This approach is better for volunteers, and it will also accomplish the goal of making abortion unthinkable more completely for more people. We patiently see ourselves as members of a team, serving under the direction of one Coach, and we are satisfied to ask the right question or present the bit of evidence that seems most helpful in the moment. This gives the person the best opportunity to reconsider his or her perspective, many times completely apart from our watchful eye.

March 2024 Update: This letter is the first in a series of letters on conversation skills we teach volunteers that help them get started having conversations and encourage them to stay active. The second in the series was published in May 2023 (“Thinking about the Unborn Child for the First Time”), and the third in the series was published in March 2024 (“Only Two Questions?”).

See the Other Letters in this Series

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Recent Presentation at SFLA’s National Pro-Life Summit

What did Kristina Massa share with 2000 people? Watch the presentation at www.youtube.com/picturejusticeforall

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Recent and Upcoming Events

1/21 Presentation—National Pro-Life Summit—Kristina, Steve

1/21 Presentation—Anglicans for Life Summit—Steve

1/23-25 Outreach—Fullerton College—Jon, Jeremy, Rebekah, Andrea

1/20-22 Deeper Still Retreat—Kaitlyn

1/31 Outreach—Univ. of Texas, Austin—Jon, Jeremy

2/11 Interactive Seminar—Christ Community Church—Kristina, Andrea, Rebekah, Steve

2/12 Presentations—Christ Community Church—Andrea, Rebekah, Steve

2/13-15 Outreach—Univ. of Arizona—Kristina, Paul, Steve, Andrea, Rebekah

2/16-17 Interactive Workshops—San Francisco Area, California—Kristina

2/20-23 Outreach—Univ. of Texas at San Antonio & Texas State Univ.—Jeremy, Kaitlyn, Jon, Mary

3/2 Outreach—Palomar College in Southern California—Rebekah

3/5-8 Seminar and Outreach Events in Albuquerque, New Mexico—Paul, Rebekah, Jeremy, Kristina, Andrea

3/13-15 Love3 Online Interactive Workshops (Register Now!)—JFA Training Team

3/19-22 Seminar and Outreach Events in Wichita, Kansas—Paul, Jon, Kristina, Tammy

3/31-4/5 Seminar and Outreach Events in Colorado—Durango, Colorado Springs, and Alamosa—JFA Training Team

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Recent Outreach Event at University of Arizona

See pictures of recent events at www.instagram.com/picturejusticeforall

Raw from the Fallout of Dobbs?

Towards the end of a recent Love3 online workshop, one participant I’ll call “Sabrina” startled me with these words: “Now I have to find a new place to live.”

Sabrina’s roommate had seen her support for the Dobbs decision on social media and said, “We need to talk.” She made it clear she no longer felt comfortable living with Sabrina, so Sabrina needed to move out.

My heart ached for Sabrina. What an unfortunate result of her reasonable rejoicing over a good Supreme Court decision! For those of us who share Sabrina’s support of Dobbs and strong opposition to legal abortion, it’s perhaps easy to sympathize with her pain of loss. This situation causes me also, though, to sympathize with Sabrina’s friend and others who are feeling so raw from the Dobbs decision that they’d be willing to lose friends over it. Many see abortion as a fundamental right and when it becomes clear that this “right” is not only no longer recognized by the Supreme Court but also not even recognized by those thought to be friends, it can be especially painful.

How should we respond to pro-life and pro-choice people in our acquaintance as they experience fallouts from the Dobbs opinion? One strategy some Christians are following is to simply avoid the topic of unwanted pregnancy and abortion altogether. If we follow this avoidance strategy, we aren’t really serving anyone – not the unborn, not the women and men struggling with past abortions who need to heal, not friends who need more conversation about spiritual topics, and not the Christians who have a special opportunity to make a difference right now.

Dobbs has provided perhaps the best opportunity of the past few decades to discuss unwanted pregnancy, abortion, and the intrinsic value of every human being. As our team embarks on a busy fall with a number of outreach events, I am looking forward to discovering if my hunch about Dobbs is correct. I suspect that the Supreme Court’s decision to return the abortion question to the states will motivate great numbers of people to engage in discussion for the first time.

Sure, if I’m right and people are ready to talk, and if I’m also right that many are sad, angry, and otherwise “raw” from the Dobbs opinion, the conversations will be difficult. But I’d much rather have a difficult conversation than no conversation at all. Getting meaningful conversations started with the millions of people who have been too apathetic to engage has been one of our chief struggles. If it’s true that they will now engage, we must not waste this moment when they are ready.

Think of the unborn children who have been getting the “raw end of the deal” for decades under the Roe and Casey regimes (and still under Dobbs in many, many states) when they are killed by abortion. Whether this reality leaves our emotions “raw” or not, how should we respond?

Instead of glibly flaunting the Dobbs opinion with a smug sense of victory, with no goal of dialogue, we should indeed start conversations, and we should begin with concern for the feelings of those who disagree. Then we should fearlessly offer reasons that compel any person who cares about human rights to include unborn children in their circle of concern. Instead of shrinking back, fearful of making a mistake, we should prepare our minds and hearts, then spend time praying for God’s help. With that foundation, we trust God to use each encounter, however complicated by emotions, for the good of each person and for the purposes of God’s kingdom.

We invite you to join us during our Love3 Workshops beginning September 15 (or at other events in your area – see below) to get equipped for this important task ahead of each of us.

Thank you for praying for us and partnering with us as we train Christians and other pro-life advocates to infuse these dark conversation spaces with the light of love and the light of truth.

Image by Andraz Lazic on Unsplash

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Recent Articles and Posts by JFA Trainers

Recent Instagram post @picturejusticeforall

To Christians Upset About Roe’s Reversal – R. Dyer

What Now? – J. Gorr

Roe v. Wade Overturned – JFA Team

Attitude Can Make or Break... – R. Hotovy

Two Buckets, Take 2 – T. Cook

Question Helps Change a Mind – J. Bai

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Recent and Upcoming Events—Fall 2022

8/27 Seminar (Wichita, KS)

8/29-30 Outreach at Wichita State (KS)

9/4 Presentation (Canton, OH)

9/8 Workshop (Denver, CO)

9/10 Seminar (Windsor, CO)

9/11 Seminar (Fort Collins, CO)

9/12-14 Outreach, Colorado State (Fort Collins, CO)

9/15 Love3 Workshops Begin (Online)

9/17 Seminar (Rogers, AR)

9/18 Seminar (Bentonville, AR)

9/18 Workshop (Ogallala, NE)

9/25 Workshop (Owosso, MI)

October Workshops in DC, TX, OH

October Outreach in DC, TX, OH

November Workshops and Outreach in TX

Jan. 2023 Workshops and Outreach in CA

Expecting God's Unexpected

They expected God to send a conquering king, someone who would set things right between the nation of Israel and the Roman Empire. Jesus constantly turned people’s eyes to an unseen world of unseen rulers.

They expected a visible ruler. Jesus appeared invisibly as an embryo in Mary’s womb. Then he walked among them humbly, exercising undisputable wisdom and power not to secure a visible throne but to conquer unseen demons and to destroy lofty opinions raised against the knowledge of God (see II Cor. 10:5).

They expected the Messiah to sit on the throne of David in Jerusalem, respected by everyone for his power. Jesus was lifted high...on a cross, hanged as criminal, disgusting to Jew and Gentile alike.

During Advent and Christmas we pause and re-live that first season of expectation, when the Messiah had not yet appeared. I’d like to suggest we also try to recapture that sense of what those in the first century were expecting. They had a narrative they had built, detailing the way God would be working “any day now.” They were sure of it. And then God moved, deliberately, decisively to do something utterly different.

JFA’s regular dialogue team after outreach at University of Oklahoma in October 2021: Paul Kulas, Tammy Cook, Jeremy Gorr, Rebekah Dyer, Kristina Massa, Kaitlyn Donihue, Mary St. Hilaire, Jon Wagner, Bella O’Neill, Andrea Thenhaus (Missing: Steve Wagner)

Click the image (or this link) to give a gift to JFA to support the work of these missionaries. Each (including Steve Wagner - see other picture) raises his or her support to be able to continue the work of changing hearts and minds on abortion and other important worldview topics.

Note: For a 2021 tax-deductible receipt, please give or postmark your gift by December 31, 2021.

It’s a sort of cautionary tale for us. Be careful of those things you expect with certainty. For God is at work, and his mind is many times quite different than our own.

Along with many others, I listened to the Supreme Court’s December 1 oral arguments on the Dobbs case. Dobbs concerns the Mississippi ban on abortion after 15 weeks which is causing the Supreme Court to consider overruling its landmark cases protecting legal abortion, Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992). I reviewed the thoughts of various commentators before and after. Many expect the Court to overturn Roe and Casey. Many pro-life advocates are quivering with excitement about the potential that many states could then move forward with stronger restrictions against abortion.

Add to this the Supreme Court’s recent decision on Texas SB8, effectively allowing the law to continue to stand as it has since September 1, causing many Texas abortionists to cease doing abortions after a heartbeat is detected (at approximately six weeks from last menstrual period, or four weeks from fertilization – note that the heartbeat arises at about three weeks from fertilization but normally can’t be detected at that point). Many pro-life advocates in other states are monitoring the Texas situation and hoping to utilize the same type of law to curtail many abortions in their own states.

To be sure, even if the Supreme Court’s decisions in these cases result in the saving of one human being’s life, we will rejoice. Nothing I say in what follows is meant to take away from this.

Let’s remember the cautionary tale of the Messiah expected and the Messiah come: be careful of those visible outcomes you expect with certainty.

It is the same with these Supreme Court cases. Be careful of the visible outcomes you expect with certainty. Sure, the words of some commentators could turn out to be wise, even prophetic. Roe and Casey may be on their way out. The Texas law may survive other challenges and prove to be an effective strategy to stop abortions. These things may all be true. But God – God may be moving in spite of expectations to bring about some other results we can’t even imagine.

We look back at our first century Jewish counterparts and caution them in retrospect to look not for what they had come to expect from their Messiah and God’s plan and the meaning of redemption. We caution them to instead “seek first his kingdom and his righteousness” (see Matt. 6:33). We caution them to “set their mind on the things of God and not on the things of man” (see Mark 8:31-33). We caution them to humbly pray for the strength to wait on the Lord, to know him more deeply, to do his will in this day, regardless of the visible outcomes he brings tomorrow. In short, we caution them to “walk by faith, not by sight” (see II Cor. 5:7).

In the same way, I encourage each of us to pray for the strength to seek to know God in this time, to be with him, even as we earnestly desire for all unborn children to be protected from violence. Our task is not to divine the decisions of the Supreme Court with a certainty we cannot reasonably have about the future; our task is to keep ourselves doing the things we know with certainty God has given us to do today.

The Gospel accounts and the Book of Acts tell the story vividly. Over and over again, the Jews were surprised by the way God was working out his plan. Perhaps we might even say that surprise is the dominant theme of those books.

I suspect that surprise will also continue to be the dominant theme of our work seeking justice for all. I don’t know what God will do with the law in 2022, but I am rather certain of one thing: He will surprise me.

So let us then keep our eyes fixed on God, earnestly seeking what he would have us do in this day. Let us earnestly seek to be with him in his work and to enjoy his decision to be with us in his Son, Immanuel, God with us.

With this in mind, our team is gearing up to keep doing in 2022 those things we believe God has uniquely gifted us to do. We will seek to change hearts and minds so that abortion is unthinkable, and so that love for women and children is kindled into thoughtful action that is unstoppable. We will train as many people as we can to create as many conversations as they can, in hopes of seeing God change the world in a way only he can.

Thank you for standing with us but also kneeling with us before the Father, as we tie all of our expectations and hopes to him and the surprising ways he is working in our midst.

Help JFA “Expect God’s Unexpected” in 2022

Thank you for your faithful support of Justice For All. There’s still time to give an end-of-year gift. Click the picture or click this link to donate or postmark your gift by December 31, 2021.

Pictured above is JFA’s outreach team during California events in November 2021: Andrea Thenhaus, Kaitlyn Donihue, Steve Wagner, Jon Wagner, Rebekah Dyer, Kristina Massa, Bella O’Neill

Please pray with us for every event and every conversation we create, looking with trusting expectation to see what results God is pleased to bring from them, even if he surprises us.

Merry Christmas!

Instagram Comment

This morning I saw a comment referring to our recent Instagram post about Roe v. Wade (right).

I decided to attempt a conversation, even given the very unfavorable conditions. This post is really a text message format, and it’s a public post rather than a direct message. What’s more, there are no less than ten distinct assertions or arguments in the comment, and some of them refer to complicated issues for which sound bites aren’t helpful.

After a few false starts, I wrote a short response to move the conversation forward, aiming to live out our “Love3” idea by showing equal concern for the pregnant woman, the unborn child, and the person who wrote the post.

Watch the post to see what conversation comes of it. Then share the post and engage others in conversation!

This is just one example of JFA’s attempt to tackle one of the most important challenges facing pro-life advocates this year: getting thousands of conversations started in everyday-life situations. Please join me in praying for the conversations like this one that we’re creating and for insight into the best ways to train participants in our events (see below) to create conversations. We truly need God’s help to engage massive numbers of people in meaningful conversations that can help them change their minds about unborn children.

Bridging the Divide

Impact Report
November 2020

In this Impact Report, we’ll describe how throughout the tumult of 2020, God helped us bridge both ideological and physical divides to continue to connect people to the truth that only God can clarify and the healing that only God provides. You’ll also see how God turned the frustration of lockdowns into good fruit, including a new online training program you can help us promote starting now! We give thanks to God for you and your partnership in the work of bridging the divide.

- Steve Wagner, Executive Director

University of New Mexico, Feb. 2020

As we look back at a year filled with discord, debate, drama, disease, and death, it’s easy to get discouraged.

University of Texas at San Antonio, Feb. 2020

Our culture seems to be completely overcome by division, and as if the usual ideological division was not enough, now various versions of lockdowns have made physical division a reality as well.

Early this year, as in past years, our team at Justice For All (JFA) set ourselves to live out our habit of stepping across the ideological divide. We go to people who disagree with us. We train pro-life advocates to come with us. One passion motivates us: kindling affection for the forgotten, beginning with women in distress, the smallest humans on earth, and those who differ from us in appearance or beliefs. What happens to this work, though, when a physical divide confronts it?

Susanna Dirks with a University of Texas at Dallas student in March 2020

During this time of Thanksgiving, will you mark with us the ways God has continued to work through the JFA team to help us bridge both ideological and physical divides, connecting people to the truth only God can clarify and the healing that only God provides?

In February and March, JFA teams trained volunteers in New Mexico and Texas, engaging five campuses in discussion about abortion (pictured).

Interactive Online Workshops, May-Nov. 2020

When COVID-19 hit, we refashioned our in-person training into an interactive online workshop series, complete with step-by-step instructions to help participants create conversations on abortion in everyday life. (See JFA’s June 2020 letter for one story from a participant.) Over the next six months, we produced 105 hours of training for over 130 people in 27 states, including many states we have not been able to visit very often (or ever!). Participants from Canada and France also joined us!

In addition, during the months we were unable to conduct outreach in person, our staff explored a new outreach venue: social media. We had little hope it would come to much, but we were determined to try. Our team was pleasantly surprised that there are plenty of opportunities for engaging strangers and friends online. (Kaitlyn reflected on one special conversation in our July 2020 letter.)

JFA presented workshops in person in seven states this fall (CA, CO, KS, OH, OK, NE, and MI). Then, replete with masks, our team was especially thankful to be able to spend two days interacting with students at the University of Oklahoma.

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Kaitlyn teaches equal rights during an online JFA workshop in Nov. 2020.

While we’re excited about each of these 2020 efforts, we’re not satisfied. We know that every Christian needs training, and with no increased cost, our video conferencing software can handle about ten times the number of people who on average participated in each of our workshops this year.

That’s why we’ve set a goal of registering 800 people for our interactive online workshops taking place from January to March 2021. While we will also plan in-person events, these online events cannot be shut down by COVID-19 restrictions, so they are the most sensible place to put our most robust efforts.

Rebekah Dyer (right) with a University of Oklahoma student in Nov. 2020

We need your help to bring this training to so many people. Do you want to take a next step to “bridge the divide” and help us create thousands of conversations in 2021?

Go to www.jfaweb.org/love3 to learn more about JFA’s online workshops beginning January 18. Register to attend, and invite friends to join you. Thank you for partnering with us in spreading the word about these workshops, and in giving to JFA. Your gifts help provide this free training for others.

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University of Oklahoma, Nov. 2020
Staff members pictured: Rebekah Dyer, Jon Wagner, and Mary St. Hilaire

Banner Image by Andre A. Xavier on Unsplash

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You can also give a gift at JFA’s Donate page to provide training for others.

* Previously titled “7 Conversations in 7 Hours,” Love3 refers to conducting abortion conversations in a way that actively loves the woman, the child, and the person with whom we’re speaking.

7 Conversations in 7 Hours

Dear Friend of JFA,

We pray that God is keeping you in his peace even as COVID-19 has caused so many changes for all of us. The Justice For All (JFA) team conducted outreach at UNT, UNM, Trinity University, UTSA, and UTD before we saw our outreach venues for the rest of our spring schedule shut down almost all at once. (See pictures of these five outreach events at the JFA Calendar page, on Facebook, or on Instagram.)

Convinced that abortion continues to be a great risk to unborn children and their mothers especially with the economic uncertainty of these times, each member of our team immediately changed gears. Together online, we have been meeting regularly to seek out conversations in places most of us thought held little promise for deep conversation (e.g. Instagram).

What about our training program, though? Even before the coronavirus outbreak, I have been troubled that so many people throughout the USA and around the world have no access to mentoring from JFA’s expert dialogue artists. Now, spurred on by the isolation of this season, we’ve developed a version of our training that anyone can access from anywhere.

I’m excited to announce “7 Conversations in 7 Hours,” a new series of seven online interactive workshops from JFA. Each hour-long session will help you to have a productive conversation on one topic related to abortion. After a short lecture, you will role-play a conversation in a safe environment and interact with JFA trainers through Q&A. Then you will receive a conversation starter you can use to immediately put into practice what you’ve learned.

We’re offering a variety of options so you can learn from JFA's dialogue artists right from your home at a time that works for you!

- Steve Wagner, Executive Director

Thank You to Our Supporters

Thank you for standing with us during this unique time of COVID-19. Because of your faithful giving, we have been able to focus on developing online training events and ways to conduct conversations on social media. This work will continue to pay dividends even after we’re able to conduct face-to-face events again, helping us reach more people in more places. Thank you!

You Can Help JFA Through Word of Mouth

Introduce one friend to JFA by asking him or her to register for “7 Conversations in 7 Hours” with you. You can help us train many we would not otherwise.

You Can Help JFA Through Financial Gifts

One JFA supporter is thinking of giving her stimulus money to JFA since she doesn’t need it. Are you in a similar situation? Thank you for considering helping JFA change hearts amidst COVID-19.

Read Recent Conversation Stories and Reflections

See our blog for recent reflections and stories from Rebekah Dyer (“Aubree Changes Her Mind”), Jeremy Gorr (“Spending Spring Break with JFA”), Tammy Cook (“My Aha Moment!”), Kaitlyn Donihue (“Outreach Over Instagram?”), and Mary St. Hilaire (“A New View of Abortion…and Pro-Life Advocates”).

A Four-Year-Old Helps Save a Life

Impact Report, June 2019

In this Impact Report, we share a story that’s been passed down from the early days of Justice For All. The lead character is a four-year-old we’ll call “Rachel” (name changed for privacy). If Rachel was able to help save an unborn child’s life, can’t we do the same?

In the story, Rachel makes use of video footage captured using a technique called embryoscopy. At the time when the story took place, embryoscopy footage was rare and rarely seen. But now the Endowment for Human Development (EHD) has made embryoscopy footage free and readily available through a stunning website, EHD’s amazing apps, and through a new short film (see video below).

JFA recently released a K-4 lesson plan for free on the web (sign-up for updates required). The lesson plan features the video footage from EHD with the hope that we can enable thousands of churches, schools, and families to teach their children (and adults!) to do what Rachel did so naturally: speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves. - Steve Wagner, Executive Director

When “Rachel” went to preschool, she just had to tell her teacher what she had seen.

Rachel had recently climbed into her daddy’s lap as he was preparing the next day’s lesson for his ninth grade biology class. Together, they watched rare footage of very young unborn children, captured using a technique called embryoscopy. Unlike the sonography of the time, these video images were crystal clear. They watched the heart beating through the semi-transparent skin of the embryo. They saw the young fetus move her hands and legs. They watched unborn children open and close their mouths. Rachel was electrified.

As JFA’s founder, David Lee, paraphrased the story years later, here’s what happened next:

Soon after seeing the video with her father, Rachel told her preschool teacher that she had seen babies in their mother’s tummies. She described them in detail. Of course, her preschool teacher knew that wasn’t possible and gently scolded Rachel: “While that is a fun story, it is not really a good thing to make up stories.”

When Rachel’s mother came to pick her up, the teacher felt it necessary to inform Rachel’s mother that she had scolded Rachel for not being entirely truthful. Rachel’s mother replied, “On the contrary, she did see that, sitting in her father’s lap, because he was going to be showing it to his biology class.”

Of course the preschool teacher felt awful. But what might have been the end of a slightly embarrassing story was only the beginning. Not long after, the teacher was entering her apartment, unlocking the door, when she was tapped on the shoulder by her neighbor in the apartment building who was holding a pregnancy test. The neighbor said, “Can you help me read this? I’ve never done this before.”

The teacher was a little embarrassed by the situation, but as a Christian, she decided she must help. She welcomed the young woman into her apartment. Together, they read the test. Her neighbor was pregnant.

The neighbor could only say, “Would you help me go to get an abortion?”

The preschool teacher was shocked and said, “I could never help you do that. I couldn’t help you kill your baby.”

Then it was time for the neighbor to be shocked as she said, “What do you mean, a baby? I’m just four or five weeks pregnant. How could it be a baby?”

““What do you mean, a baby? I’m just four or five weeks pregnant. How could it be a baby?”

The light went on in the preschool teacher’s head: This young woman needed to see the very same footage that Rachel had been talking about at the preschool.

The teacher talked to Rachel’s mother and shared the story about the neighbor who was pregnant and intending to get an abortion. “May I borrow the video to show my neighbor?”

To make a long story short, she did show her neighbor and the boyfriend that video. And there’s a baby whose life was saved, in part because a four-year-old saw video of unborn children and shared it with her friends and her teacher.

If a four-year-old can learn about unborn children and speak up for them so naturally, we think elementary school students (and the rest of us) certainly can watch similar video footage and share what they’ve learned. We think we’ll see lives saved as a result. That’s why JFA has just released our first elementary school lesson plan for widespread use: “The Baby’s Heart Beats Like Mine.” Please click here to access it, download it, share it, and teach it!

Although the lesson can be fun for any age, it’s intended for use with students in kindergarten through fourth grade. As for older students, why not encourage them to help you teach the lesson to your younger students?

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“The Baby’s Heart Beats Like Mine” — Lesson Plan for K-4 Elementary School Students

In this lesson, K-4 students identify with unborn babies through a series of experiences, including feeling their own heartbeats, seeing the unborn baby in the womb, naming similarities they share with unborn babies, making a bracelet that reminds them of when the heart begins to beat, and narrating what they learned to their parents. The goal is to help them value all human beings including the smallest ones and to get conversations about unborn babies started in churches, schools, and the broader culture.

This K-4 Lesson Plan is well-suited for one-to-many instruction in religious elementary schools, Sunday school environments, and homeschool co-ops, and it's also well-suited for use by parents and grandparents in teaching their kids and grandkids one-to-one.

Justice For All makes this copyrighted Lesson Plan available to anyone to use. To share it with anyone anywhere in the world, use the address www.jfaweb.org/heart-beats-like-mine. You’ll be directed to sign up as a "JFA Content Subscriber." That's free. It's just our way of making sure we can keep in contact with folks using the lesson plan. (Or, you can share this lesson plan summary and letter using the link www.jfaweb.org/june-2019.)

You Can't Learn This In a Classroom

Introductory Note:  JFA training is not just theoretical.  JFA volunteers are able to immediately put what they learn into practice.  Once equipped through a JFA seminar, volunteers start their practical training by watching their JFA mentors in conversation, observing how they use JFA dialogue skills with pro-choice advocates.  After that they create their own conversations alongside a JFA mentor who can offer feedback and support.  Volunteers are enthusiastic about this unique, active learning experience, one that can’t be replicated in a classroom.  In this Impact Report, featuring conversation stories from Rebecca Hotovy and Paul Kulas, you'll see how JFA mentors supported outreach volunteers at our recent University of Kansas (KU) outreach, praying for them, modeling good dialogue, and participating with them in their first conversations.  - Steve Wagner, Executive Director

I was mentoring a young woman named Maya, the president of the Jayhawks for Life club that had invited JFA to the University of Kansas (KU).  I had been praying for her throughout the trip because I wanted her to be able to be encouraged by the conversations that she was going to witness while we were mentoring her.  She’s someone who really desires to go out and create conversation. 

Maya (right) talks to a fellow student at JFA’s Art of Life Exhibit outreach at the University of Kansas, an outreach she helped to organize.  See the JFA Photo Archive for more photos from the KU outreach event.

One of the first conversations she witnessed was actually one that she started.  She saw a young man, “Will,” standing next to the Art of Life Exhibit, and when she realized that he was just standing there looking and that no one else on our staff was able to engage him, she walked up to him to ask him what he thought.  When she started to ask him questions, Will revealed that he actually didn’t know yet what his thoughts were about abortion.

She didn’t know where to go from there, so she asked if she could introduce him to someone who could guide him through the pro-life position.  Once she found out that Will was open to a dialogue with someone, she ran and grabbed me, brought me over, and introduced me to him.

Rebecca (left), Maya (hidden, with pink cap), and another volunteer interact with students (not Will) at JFA’s Art of Life Exhibit at KU.

We started a conversation, and Will seemed pretty open to hearing why I believed what I did.  I asked him if I could see if there were areas where we could agree.  First we jumped into the topic of biology.  I told Will that I believed that the unborn is a human being from conception forward, and he said, “You know, I don’t believe that it’s a human being from conception on a biological level.”  I then found out that he was a biology major, so I first asked him, “Since you’re a biology major, would you mind if I would just share with you snippets from my understanding of biology, and then you can break those down, and tell me if you agree or disagree?”  He said, “Okay!”

So I took about two minutes to explain the sperm and the egg coming together.  We also walked through the “construction vs. development” concept.  (See our “Extending Your Learning - Biology” page to learn more about the way in which the unborn is not constructed like a car, but instead develops from within, more like a polaroid photo.)  He said, “You know, there’s nothing there I can disagree with at this point.”

Sean (right) and Benjamin (center) talk to their JFA mentor, Paul Kulas (left), about Benjamin’s first conversation at the KU outreach in March.

Then we walked through the idea that, from fertilization, the unborn is not part of another organism, but is a whole organism with its own functional parts.  I asked Will what his thoughts were on that, and he said, “You know, there’s nothing I can disagree with there either.”  So we came to the end of walking through how we know the unborn is biologically human, and he didn’t have anything to refute.

“Okay, so we agree that the unborn is biologically human,” I said.  “What does that mean with regard to abortion?”  After that, I walked through the Equal Rights Argument, and he seemed to be very responsive to that line of reasoning.  (Learn to defend the equal right to life of the unborn through real-life dialogue examples in our Equal Rights Argument Newsletter Collection.)

We had probably talked for about thirty minutes when Will looked at me and at Maya.  “That is one of the most logical arguments I have heard for the pro-life position,” he said.  “I am really going to have to continue processing this and thinking about this.”

When he walked away, Maya turned to me and said, “That was amazing!”

I was really excited because this seemed to be an answer to my prayers for Maya.  That was one of the first outreach conversations she had witnessed, and it walked through the seminar material in a way that would make it make sense for her.  It wasn’t a conversation about one of the more complicated topics that are sometimes raised at our events, such as “whether or not we know we exist” or “whether or not we can know anything at all.”  It was actually one of the more basic conversations, in which the person with whom we spoke was able to follow pretty simple ideas and logic.

- Rebecca Hotovy, Training Specialist

Three students from a Catholic high school joined the JFA team at KU as mission trip participants from out of state.  These young men were participants at the JFA seminar held just off campus and then came out to volunteer for the first full day of outreach at KU.  After they helped with exhibit setup, our team started to create conversations with KU students.  About an hour or two into the outreach, I noticed that these young men from my group were doing a good job of just observing JFA staff members’ conversations, which is what we had instructed them to do for the first portion of the day.

I was taking pictures, standing off to the side, when a KU student came up to two of the young men, Benjamin and Sean.  They were standing next to the new art table by the Art of Life Exhibit at the time, listening to one of Becca Hotovy’s conversations.  (See pictures of the art table created by JFA trainer Grace Fontenot, and other photos from the recent outreach at KU, in the JFA Photo Archive.)  Right after the KU student came up to talk to them, Benjamin started interacting with him.  The college student seemed to have an agenda, and he had a sort of steamrolling personality in the conversation.  I was within earshot, but not close enough to be in the conversation, so I slowly inched my way closer to listen and be available if I was needed.

The KU student shared that he had grown up in a Christian community in a small, remote town.  A 13-year-old girl in the town had been forced into an intimate, incestuous relationship by an older family member.  He said the girl had ended up getting pregnant as a result, and that the family had shamed this young woman for what had happened even though she was the victim.  The KU student ended up basically saying to the high schoolers, “What would you tell this woman who gets pregnant and wants an abortion?”

It was one of the hardest topics that ever gets brought up, and it was the first conversation in which these students had actively participated.  I didn’t know how Benjamin would handle it, but he did a really good job of showing compassion for the rape victim, balancing the relational and intellectual challenges inherent in responding to the question of rape.  (See “What about Rape?” in JFA's Interactive Guide to learn to meet both challenges and respond in a Christ-like way.)  I thought that with just one seminar under his belt, he actually did very well at staying on the relational side, focusing on the horror of rape and showing genuine sympathy.  He didn’t jump into intellectual argument mode, even though he was a very intellectually adept student.  I did end up joining in the conversation at one point to help out somewhat, but he had done a really good job of focusing on the right approach at the right time. 

- Paul Kulas, Director of Operations

Why I Love Siberians

August 2017

Letter from Steve Wagner, Executive Director

Norman and John wandered near our “Should Abortion Remain Legal?” poll table at Wichita State University, so I struck up a conversation with them.  Norman did most of the talking.  He was a self-proclaimed nihilist who believed no one can know what’s true for someone else about morality.  As I explored with Norman his particular views about knowledge, he admitted they also entailed that no one can know what’s true regarding science or the five senses.  He even declared that there was no reality about truth or morality. 

Norman and I discussed how our different views of knowledge also affected our views of how we should treat the unborn.  John mostly listened.  Finally, Zachary, the JFA volunteer we featured in fall 2016, engaged Norman in conversation.  This gave John and me the space to have a conversation for about ten minutes.  Those ten minutes with John were worth the sweat I had poured into the previous eighty with Norman.

I briefly described to John a case for the pro-life position, centered on a simple observation about how you and I got to where we are now.  From fertilization onward, all that’s been added to us is food.  One might note also that time elapsed and that we needed a certain environment to continue living, but there has not been any essential change of our nature.  There hasn’t even been any insertion of new DNA.  We are actively developing ourselves from within, and we have been doing this since the time of fertilization.  Indeed, if we are the sort of being now with fundamental human rights, then we must have been that same sort of being with fundamental human rights from the time we began to exist, at fertilization.  It is difficult, in any case, to conceive of how we could have gained something durable like human rights by eating.

John and I looked at the pictures of humans throughout development as we discussed these things.  At one point he shared that as an elementary education major he has an immediate appreciation for children.  “I’m just not drawn to the embryo, though, in the same way I’m drawn to infants and children.”  He meant that he didn’t feel affection for the embryo, that he didn’t connect with the embryo as a child.  This was especially true for the embryo early in development, a tiny being who doesn’t look much like us at all.

“I understand...I feel the same way,” I said.  “I don’t identify with the early embryo.  Take the picture of the embryo at implantation.  It looks like an orange with fungus on it.  I’m not naturally tempted to put this picture on my wall and say, ‘Behold the child!’  That’s the reality of my feelings about the embryo.  I don’t naturally have any affection for it.  But then I have to look at the facts about the embryo: It is a living human organism, and since it shares my human nature, wouldn’t it have the same human rights I have?  It’s a very young human, so wouldn’t I call it a child?  Reflecting on these things moves me to work to bring my affections into alignment with the facts.”

I love Siberians not because I have a natural affection or concern for them, but because of the facts.  The fact that they are human beings compels me to work to bring my natural affections in line with the facts. 
It’s the same with the embryo.

Searching for a parallel example to share with John, I said, “I don’t know anyone from Siberia.  In fact, it’s worse: I don’t even really know anything at all about Siberia.  I just know it’s that really cold place up in the northeast “corner” of what used to be called the USSR.  I have never met a Siberian, and I don’t know what Siberians look like.  I don’t even know if they would want to be called Siberians or if that term would offend them.  Consequently, I don’t have a lot of natural concern for Siberians.  As I reflect on Siberians, though, and as I consider what US policy should be regarding Siberia and its inhabitants, I have to bring my affections (or lack of affections) into closer alignment to the facts.  I have to re-train my feelings and affections to “see” the Siberian as an equal to me, even though I’ve never met one.

In this discussion of the embryo and the Siberian, I wanted to give voice to John’s (and my) feelings about the embryo, since they are normal and natural, but I also wanted to point out that our lack of sympathetic feelings about the embryo doesn’t constitute a good reason to think the embryo doesn’t have rights or value.  I also wanted to suggest the virtuous way to handle the matter: seek to train our feelings to fit the facts.

John seemed genuinely interested.  He said that he appreciated learning about the topic.  He had a gentle way about him, a spirit of inquiry that was refreshing.  As we closed up our outreach for the day, we watched as Zack accompanied both Norman and John to the student union.  Let’s pray for more conversations among the three of them, but let’s especially pray for John, that God will help him think carefully about all of these things. 

POSTSCRIPT:

WAS MY CONVERSATION WITH NORMAN WORTH 80 MINUTES?

“Should I keep talking to Norman?” I asked myself after feeling like I was “beating my head against a wall” for a half hour.  No matter how many questions and hard-to-swallow implications I could bring to the table, it seemed like nothing would help Norman see that we can know some things about both science and morality. 

To make matters worse, since John was contemplative, he could barely get a word in edgewise.  Every time he opened his mouth, Norman would cut in and interpret for him.  “This is what John means, and that affirms what I just said a minute ago…” and then Norman would continue on.  I would stop Norman and say, “No, I really want to hear what John thinks.”  Every time I redirected things to John, though, he would say a few words, then pause, thinking things through.  This gave Norman an opening to redirect things back to himself.

If the conversation with Norman hadn’t led to my conversation with John (described in this month’s letter), would it have been worth it?  Listening to someone like Norman is worthwhile on its face, since he is a human being with intrinsic value, but this principle doesn’t tell me how much time I should spend with him.  I have to consider what time I have available to spend and who else may need my time.  Norman seemed completely close-minded, so perhaps I should have ended the conversation sooner.  I realized, though, that the conversation was worth having — for John’s sake.  Because Norman’s confidence might have misled John after our conversation, abandoning the conversation and leaving arguments unanswered might have harmed John.

In contrast to Norman, John seemed to have his common sense still intact.  He thought some things were actually, in reality, wrong.  He thought some things could be known to be true.  He was open-minded, but he didn’t seem easily persuaded by either Norman or me.  So my goal was simple: I sought to put Norman’s views and my views side by side so that John could see them clearly.  For example, I pointed out that my view of knowledge took rape seriously as a real moral evil and took kindness seriously as a real moral good.  Norman’s view of knowledge, on the other hand, could not take these things in any serious way to be real evils or goods.  Making opposing views clear is a modest goal you can aim for in conversations you have this month as well.

Small Decisions and Big Results

Impact Report, November 2016

Grace Fontenot and Clare Lavergne, two young women from Louisiana, had only been interns with JFA for two months, but they had already been inspired by JFA’s emphasis on creating conversations about abortion every week.  The goal?  Help those who are pro-choice come to their own settled conclusion that abortion is unthinkable, and help those who are pro-life become active advocates for unborn children.

Clare (blue, behind table) and Grace (right) interact with Wichita State students.

Seeing that there was one week in their internship with no outreach event scheduled, Grace and Clare grabbed a survey clipboard and headed to Wichita State University to start conversations.  Clare described what happened next:

“After a few surveys that resulted in one lengthy conversation about abortion, we asked a few more students to take our survey, but they declined.  So we decided to ask one final person before leaving campus.  The student whom we happened upon was Zachary Lee-Watts.  

“Right off the bat, Zachary told us he was completely pro-life.  He then shared with us that he was raised by a single mother in an impoverished area in Los Angeles.  He felt that his mother’s situation had made him a prime target for abortion.  Not only that, but he has also seen firsthand the lasting psychological effects of abortion on women who are very close to him.  

“Zachary was so excited to meet people his age who were passionately pro-life like he was, and he asked us how he could get involved.  We invited him to a seminar that took place the next week, and shortly after that, he accompanied us for two days of outreach at Oklahoma State University (OSU), where he engaged in many conversations of his own.  Then he attended another outreach event, this time at Wichita State.  He truly believes that God intended for him to meet us that day on campus and that our friendships and JFA have already had a great impact on his life and faith journey.”

Zachary shared a bit about his experience:

Clare (right), Zachary (second from right), and Grace (third from right) interact with three Oklahoma State University students at JFA’s recent Art of Life Exhibit at OSU.

“At OSU we set up an exhibit titled The Art of Life, which is beautiful in itself, and is quite impacting.  The entire experience was beautiful, insightful, passionate, and just awesome.  Speaking to students about such a ‘controversial’ topic never seemed so peaceful and amicable.  Not just that, but to also be able to connect with individuals on a personal level was splendid. 

Zachary, right, near JFA’s Art of Life Exhibit at OSU.

“I recall speaking to a young guy named David, who was more aligned with the pro-choice side, but we connected because we came from similar backgrounds.  Eventually, I convinced him enough to at least keep his mind open and do research himself on the personhood of the unborn and their intrinsic value.  There was also this fellow named Brent with whom I had a really in-depth conversation.  He was pro-choice.  He said his opinion didn’t matter because he was a guy.  I found that quite ludicrous, so I managed to persuade him that his opinion did matter; that the subject of abortion was not just for women...that it was for humans in general.”

Grace Fontenot interacts with a student at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, in September 2016.  Grace is raising support to work full-time with Justice For All.  You can support her work with JFA by making a donation here (look for Grace's designation or put her name in the notes).

Zachary also described his approach to abortion prior to meeting Grace and Clare, and prior to participating with JFA:

“Admittedly, on any given day I was not one to prompt the seriousness of abortion.  I did understand why it was wrong, and in a general sense how to defend my belief, but not sufficiently enough.  After listening in on JFA dialogues and reading the JFA Exhibit Brochure, I understood how to convey the seriousness, and how to treat individuals who were opposed to my stance in a more comforting way.  I felt more urgency to bring up the seriousness and assured that I could do so more wisely.”

The story of Grace, Clare, and Zachary is really just a story of small decisions, small decisions which ended up yielding big results.  Grace and Clare made a decision which probably seemed somewhat insignificant at the time, a small decision to go and do the hard work of creating conversations about abortion.  In the course of their impromptu outreach event, Grace and Clare happened upon a pro-life advocate, Zachary, who wasn’t doing much to make abortion unthinkable.  They befriended him, encouraged him to participate in our training program, and now he has begun to create conversations about abortion.  He has now made his own series of small decisions to seek to change minds about abortion and encourage pro-life advocates to do the same.

Clare Lavergne discusses the value of the unborn child with a student at Oklahoma State University, while a deacon from a local Catholic parish listens in.  Clare is raising support to work with JFA again in Spring 2017.  You can support her work with JFA by making a donation here (look for the Intern Scholarship Fund or put Clare's name in the notes).

If you think about it, each one of us in our own small decisions each day can have the same big impact, as we prayerfully trust God for help.  Indeed, JFA’s big, “impossible” mission of “training thousands to make abortion unthinkable for millions, one person at a time” can only be accomplished through the small decisions of each one of us.  What part can your small decisions play in JFA’s mission?  Are you able to give one or more years to work as an intern with JFA?  Are you able to partner with JFA financially?  Are you able to pray regularly for our team?  Are you able to encourage others in your community to learn more about JFA?  Are you able to participate in JFA outreach events, creating conversations that change hearts and minds?  Each of these activities requires only a small decision like the decision Grace and Clare made that day to just go out and talk to students at Wichita State.  Yet one of these seemingly insignificant, small decisions can even change the course of someone’s life, someone like Zachary.  When we reflect on the fact that Zachary is now doing the same for others, by God’s grace, JFA’s mission no longer seems impossible at all.

- Steve Wagner, for the JFA Team