A Few Additional Thoughts on Bodily Rights and Abortion

Part VII of a Series

To wrap up this series for now, here are a few additional thoughts about bodily rights defenses of abortion:

Bodily Rights Arguments Commonly Come in Combo:

When someone says some version of “it’s her body,” many times it’s not as simple as identifying her argument as being in one of three distinct categories.  It’s not as simple as, “She’s either arguing that the unborn is not a human organism biologically, or arguing that the unborn is not equal in rights and value, or agreeing that the unborn is a fully valuable human being but that abortion should be allowed because of the woman’s bodily rights.”  Many times, the person holds more than one of these positions simultaneously.  In other words, many times bodily rights arguments come in combination with other arguments.

For example, a person may refer to the fact that the unborn is “in her body” and may be fuzzy on the biology, fuzzy on equal rights for the unborn, and may also be intending to make a sort of bodily rights argument.

I suggest peeling the arguments apart and seeing if you can get agreement on the biology first, then see if you can gain agreement about the equal rights of the unborn, then tackle the bodily rights argument once these foundation stones are laid in the conversation.

For Those Who Don’t Believe the Woman’s Body Is Her Body:

Someone may respond to my series by saying that “we are not our own” so “we don’t own our bodies.”  I assume that someone with this view would be consistent and say that even he himself doesn’t own his body.  This person might say, “in some philosophical or metaphysical sense, no one owns his or her body.”  Even if you believe this, this particular point won’t be very helpful when someone makes a bodily rights argument in a discussion of unintended pregnancy and abortion.  The question is this: Can you agree that among all human beings (and all collectives, such as governments), the person who is closest to having ownership of the woman’s body is the woman herself?  Even if you’re right in your philosophical point, shouldn’t we treat her as if she owns her body?

More Resources on Bodily Rights

Find a number of resources on bodily rights available at the link above, including...

• JFA’s Interactive Guide, Activity 6. If you read nothing else, this entry-level material will at least help you ask the right questions to determine if you’re encountering a bodily rights argument.

• “A Response to the Strongest Violinist” - JFA “De Facto Guardian” paper and other links.

• Trent Horn's debate with David Boonin on bodily rights (Both are experts on the topic.)

• Bodily Rights Resources from Equal Rights Institute (ERI)

• ERI President Josh Brahm teaches on bodily rights (video/audio).

Pray for Conversations - July

Pray for Recent and Upcoming Events (Partial List): 

Pray for wisdom for the team members who plan JFA’s event schedule.  Pray for the health of our trainers that they might keep active in the field.  Pray for each person we train and each person with whom we converse at outreach, that God will kindle new affection in their hearts for women in distress and for the smallest humans on earth. 

• July 18 (David City, NE): Interactive Workshop — Aquinas High School
• July 19, 21 (Columbus, NE): Interactive Workshops — St. Bonaventure Catholic Church
• July 28 (Washington, DC): Interactive Seminar — SFLA Regional Coordinators
• August 18 (Wichita, KS): Interactive Seminar — St. Mary’s Cathedral
• August 27-28 (Wichita, KS): Outreach Events — Wichita State University (WSU)
• August 27-29: Georgia Events — See link below for details.
• September: VA, KS, CO, and OK Events — Details TBA
• October/November: OK, KS, and TX Events — Details TBA

Featured Resource for Equipping Yourself - July

Read Steve Wagner’s recent article, “It’s Her Body,” and the accompanying series of blog posts to prepare for defenses of abortion that refer to the woman’s body, such as “my body, my choice” and “she can do what she wants with her body” and “the unborn is part of her body.”  Even after 15 years of engaging bodily rights arguments, Steve recently realized he’s been missing something very obvious and very important.  Through Steve’s reflection on a recent campus conversation, you’ll gain a new way of seeing these arguments and a step-by-step framework (including links to in-depth resources) for meeting the relational and intellectual challenges present in every discussion of bodily rights and abortion. 

Featured Conversation Starter for July

Use the recent JFA blog post, “Her Experience Matters,” to start a conversation with common ground.  This post features a JFA exhibit panel that uses Paul Simon song lyrics to give expression to the feelings of many women facing unplanned pregnancy.  In every conversation about abortion, you can find common ground on the importance of women and their bodies, and this post will help you do this in a natural way.  It will also help you to develop empathy for women facing unplanned pregnancies, and it will help you gently pose thought-provoking questions about those difficult experiences.

Her Experience Matters

What Do You Think?

Many pregnant women feel completely alone when facing unintended pregnancy.  Some believe their decision about their pregnancy only affects them.  Yet, aren't there two senses in which it isn't quite true that she is completely alone?

There's at least one sense in which she is not alone, for there is another being, one of the smallest humans on earth, who is very close by and is affected by her decision.  But does the presence of that being bring the comfort of togetherness or the terror of a life changed forever? 

There's another sense in which she doesn't have to be alone, but this second sense of "not being alone" depends on you and me.  Will we offer our help, without judgment, so she doesn't have to face this difficult situation alone? 

Pray with JFA - June 2018

Pray for Recent/ Upcoming Events (Partial List):

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JFA volunteer Ashley (left) talks with a student at JFA's June 2018 outreach at Wichita State University.

Pray for wisdom for the team members who plan JFA’s outreach event schedule.  Pray for the health of our trainers that they might keep active in the field.  Pray for each person we train and each person with whom we converse at outreach, that God will kindle new affection in their hearts for women in distress and for the smallest humans on earth. 

• June 6 (La Mirada, CA):  Presentation - Redeemer Church
• June 7 (Wichita, KS):  Interactive Workshop - St. Patrick’s Catholic Church
• June 21 (Wichita, KS):  Poll Table Outreach Event - Wichita State University (WSU)
• June 23 (Phoenix, AZ):  Interactive Workshop (via video conference) - Civis Audacia
• June 24 (Washington, DC):  Interactive Workshop - SFLA Wilberforce/Stevens Fellows
• July 18 (David City, NE):  Interactive Workshop - Aquinas High School
• July 19, 21 (Columbus, NE):  Interactive Workshops - St. Bonaventure Catholic Church
• July 28 (Washington, DC):  Interactive Seminar - SFLA Regional Coordinators

Featured Resource - “A Living Room Conversation - Part 3”

Prepare for Conversations (June):

In the last two months, we’ve encouraged you to read Parts 1 and 2 of “A Living Room Conversation,” by JFA trainer Grace Fontenot.  This month, you can finish the story by reading Part 3, in which Grace discusses the topic of feminism with “Heidi,” a young woman she met, not during an outreach event, but in an everyday-life setting.  Do you know someone, like Heidi, who wants to be pro-life, but is fearful of coming across as “anti-woman”?  Through this story, you’ll learn one of the most powerful arguments we’ve found for helping pro-choice advocates rethink their position.  It will prepare you to explain how the pro-life view is the most consistent position on abortion for those who care about women’s rights and human equality.

Conversation Starter - “Can She Embrace Both?”

Featured Conversation Starter (June):

Use the recent JFA blog post, “Can She Embrace Both?” to start a conversation with a friend on social media.  The post features a panel from JFA’s Art of Life Exhibit which suggests that “embracing child and career” is “better than abortion.”  The image on the panel, though, is a painting which appears to be only loosely related to the title...until one looks a little closer.  The post also features free speech board comments about the panel and asks the viewer to add his or her own comments to begin a conversation.  The post ends with the question, “How can we help an underprivileged woman to embrace both her unborn child and her career?”

Can She Embrace Both?

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Panel from JFA’s Art of Life Exhibit (Image: Madame Vigée-Le Brun et Sa Fille, by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, France, 1786; More information: Art of Life web page)

One of my favorite panels from our Art of Life Exhibit juxtaposes a classical painting of a woman holding her daughter with the words “Embracing child and career” and “better than abortion.”

At the University of Oklahoma in 2016, though, one free speech board (see image nearby) showed that this panel made no sense to some viewers.  They pointed out, confidently, that sitting for a portrait isn’t a career, and a woman in 1786 couldn’t possibly have had a career anyway.

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Comments on a JFA Free Speech Board (2016): “In 1786 this woman did NOT have a child and a CAREER!” and, [sarcastically], “Sitting for portraits is a career?”

Had these students looked with just a bit more curiosity at the panel in question (image nearby), they would have found etched just next to the date of the painting in the bottom right-hand corner the only clues they needed in order to discover the point of the panel — the title of the painting and the name of the painter: Madame Vigée-Le Brun et Sa Fille [by] Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun.

This translates to Mrs. Vigée-Le Brun and Her Daughter [by] Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun. 

Yes, indeed, there is little sense in displaying this lesser-known painting from the 18th century to illustrate the idea that a woman can embrace her child and her career, unless, of course, the woman pictured in the painting is...the painter...and the painting is her self-portrait!  A quick look at the website found on the panel (www.debate2dialogue.org) reveals that Vigée Le Brun was Marie Antoinette’s chief portrait painter.  Yes, at least one woman had a “bona fide career” in 1786!

I don’t recall talking to the students who wrote these comments.  When I came across the photos of the free speech board later, the fact that these students missed the point of the sign made me angry, and for a moment, I wanted to mock them and point out how foolish they were.  But then I caught myself.  Isn’t sadness a more appropriate response?  These dear people are missing out on a beautiful moment of realization, after all. 

When people outright reject or miss the point of our outreach events, our good-faith attempts to dialogue with them, the beautiful wonder of life in the womb, the truth about human rights, or any other gift we offer, it makes me sad — sad, first, that they missed the gift, and second, that I, in my weaknesses, have sometimes made it harder for them to receive it.

So, let me reach out to you in that same spirit, seeking to understand your perspective and working together to find truth.  What do you think about the message of this panel?  Do you think that a woman who is experiencing unintended pregnancy can embrace both her child and her career?

It's certainly true that Vigée-Le Brun had prestige and an income that many of the underprivileged women seeking abortions do not have today.  Let's use this painting only as a starting point then (not as a perfectly parallel situation).  Let's assume that we're talking about the typical woman facing unintended pregnancy today, and let's assume she is in a very difficult situation with little money and little hope: Does she have to choose between two goods she cares about, her child and her career?  How can we help an underprivileged woman embrace both her unborn child and her career? 

What do you think?

(Note: Portions of this post were originally published in the letter, "Clueless in the Face of a Great Gift" in December 2016.)

Pray with JFA - May 2018

Pray for Recent/ Upcoming Events (Partial List): 

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Four simultaneous conversations are shown taking place during JFA's outreach event at Colorado State University (CSU) in April 2018.

Pray for wisdom for the team members who plan JFA’s outreach event schedule.  Pray for the health of our trainers that they might keep active in the field.  Pray for each person we train and each person with whom we converse at outreach, that God will kindle new affection in their hearts for women in distress and for the smallest humans on earth. 

• April 16-17 (Fort Collins, CO):  Kiosk Outreach Event — Colorado State University
• April 20 (Boulder, CO):  Interactive Workshop — University of Colorado Boulder
• April 21 (Englewood, CO):  Interactive Seminar — All Souls Catholic Church
• April 23 (Lakewood, CO):  Interactive Workshop — Colorado Christian University
• April 23-24 (Denver, CO):  Kiosk Outreach Event — Metropolitan State University
• April 24 (Boulder, CO):  Kiosk Outreach Event — University of Colorado Boulder
• April 27 (Wichita, KS):  Classroom Presentations — Bishop Carroll Catholic High School
• May 19 (Tempe, AZ):  Interactive Workshop — Tempe Public Library
• June 1 (Wichita, KS):  Interactive Workshop — Private Residence
• June 6 (La Mirada, CA):  Presentation — Redeemer Church
• June 7 (Wichita, KS):  Interactive Workshop — Closed Event

Featured Resource - “A Living Room Conversation - Part 2”

Prepare for Conversations (May):

Last month, we encouraged you to read Part 1 of “A Living Room Conversation,” by JFA trainer Grace Fontenot.  In this three-part story, Grace shares her conversation with “Heidi,” a young woman she met, not during an outreach event, but in an everyday-life setting.  This month, we encourage you to read Part 2 of Grace’s story, in which Grace helps Heidi think through the biological evidence that the unborn is a living, human organism from the point of fertilization.  As you read Part 2, you’ll learn several simple questions relating to biology that you can ask in your conversations about the unborn and abortion, and you’ll gain resources for further study.

Conversation Starter - “What _s M_ss_ng?”

Featured Conversation Starter (May):

Use the recent JFA blog post, “What _s M_ss_ng?” to start a conversation in a natural way this month.  The post shows a JFA kiosk sign, presenting a quotation from an article by author and newspaper editor Verlyn Klinkenborg in a mysterious way that invites the viewer to think more deeply about unintended pregnancy and the unborn.  You can use the post to ask a friend, family member, or co-worker, “What do you think is missing after an abortion?” and, “Is the unborn something very similar to you and me, or is the unborn something very different?”

Worth the Interruption

Spencer Stewart, a high school teacher and long-time JFA volunteer, is passionate about the training opportunities that JFA provides to Christian communities like his school (Veritas Christian School in Lawrence, Kansas).  In recent years, Spencer has invested personal time and effort in equipping his students for dialogue during class time.  In March, after teaching students using JFA materials, he brought twenty students to our University of Kansas outreach event to watch JFA mentors in conversation and to give the students an opportunity to join in.  In this Impact Report, Spencer and several of his students share about their experiences.  (Student quotations have been edited for length.)  We are always eager to come alongside teachers like Spencer who have a heart for discipleship, providing the tools and experiences they can use to help their students “speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves” (Prov. 31:8, NIV).  - Steve Wagner, Executive Director

Spencer Stewart talks with a University of Kansas (KU) student at a JFA outreach event in April 2015.

I have attended about a dozen Abortion: From Debate to Dialogue seminars by Justice For All, often in order to bring new volunteers, as well as multiple outreaches on different college campuses.  For two years now, it has been my privilege to teach JFA’s material to juniors and seniors in my Worldview and Apologetics classes over the course of the week leading up to a campus outreach.  They have eagerly engaged with the training.  I love that the Three Essential Skills (asking clarifying questions, listening to understand, and building common ground without compromise) prepare them to be better humans and better conversation partners on any topic.

All of my students know that they should be pro-life, but I love to see lightbulbs switch on as they learn more precisely why – and how to help others see it for themselves.  At the outreach, we pair students with an apologist with Justice For All so they can listen in on and pray through the conversations taking place.  Having received the training in class, they are able to track with the JFA apologist and better learn the nuances of these kinds of dialogues.  Some of our students even jump in and engage in conversations of their own.  All of the students have been enthusiastic about the experience.  It opens their eyes to the diversity of thinking on campus, and they all benefit from JFA staff members modeling both kindness and conviction in the midst of a controversial issue.  The juniors always want to do it again the following year. The hope is that the second time around will help them internalize the approach and increase their confidence to lead this kind of conversation.

Spencer (left) talks with a University of Kansas (KU) student at a JFA outreach event in April 2016. Students whom he brought to that outreach event listen in.

It obviously interrupts the flow and takes a chunk of time away from our regular content, but I believe it is worth it, without a doubt.  In terms of scope and severity, I consider abortion to be the greatest injustice on the planet, and God’s people are called to partner with Him in seeking justice, especially for the weakest and most vulnerable among us.  With this issue, I believe partnering with Justice For All is the best way to do that, especially because they also work to connect students who are considering abortion (or who need healing from one) with local pregnancy care centers.  We are wired to be heroes, and we can literally save lives at these outreaches, and in our daily walk, once we have been prepared in this way.  I pray that more and more churches and schools will open themselves up to be blessed by JFA and equipped for life on mission.

- Spencer Stewart, Veritas Christian School Teacher

Spencer (right) listens to a conversation at one of the first JFA outreach events in which he participated, at Wichita State University in January 2012. 

[The JFA in-class preparation] taught me how to communicate an important point with someone in a non-threatening way, and it made me really think about my reasons for being pro-life.

- Marianna, Veritas Christian School Student

Spencer (right) and his students listen as Rebecca Hotovy describes JFA’s Art of Life Exhibit at the recent University of Kansas outreach event in March 2018.

The JFA outreach was beneficial to me because I have never gotten the chance to talk to a stranger about my beliefs and ask about theirs.  It was great to [hear] someone else’s belief, and for them to hear mine.  Using the finding common ground technique worked great because they felt differently about the message we were sending after we talked.

- Rondre, Veritas Christian School Student

The JFA [in-class preparation] showed me how to better listen and not just attack a person based on their opinion.  It helped my confidence when speaking to non-believers about scriptural things.  The JFA outreach was super cool to be a part of because we were doing the work of God.  Watching older, wiser people listen and have Godly conversations was helpful spiritually.  The JFA outreach showed me just a glimpse of some of the opinions on campus, and the need for God.

- Quinton, Veritas Christian School Student

JFA impacted me by helping me understand the facts about abortion and how to talk to people in a relational way about this topic.  It strengthened my reasoning for what I believe and opened my eyes to other people’s views.

- Leandra, Veritas Christian School Student

The JFA training impacted me by making me feel more prepared to share about abortion with others and get into meaningful conversations.  The techniques they taught us were very helpful and will be useful going into next year.  The JFA outreach was different than what I thought it was going to be, but in a good way.  The exhibit [was] very thought provoking and a good way to get people to ask questions.

- Emma, Veritas Christian School Student

The JFA [in-class preparation] made me think of most debates or disagreements in a different way.  It gave me a different method to approach them.  The JFA outreach was interesting because it showed the actual beliefs of real people, not just hypothetical responses and answers.

- Anonymous, Veritas Christian School Student

Pray with JFA - April 2018

Pray for Recent/Upcoming Events (Partial List): 

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Metro State University (MSU) - April 23, 2018

Pray for good weather during our outreach events to facilitate good conversations.  Pray for the health of our trainers that they might keep active in the field.  Pray for each person we train and each person with whom we converse at outreach, that God will kindle new affection in their hearts for women in distress and for the smallest humans on earth. 

• April 11 (Denton, TX):  Poll Table Outreach Event — University of North Texas
• April 13 (Fort Collins, CO):  Chapel Presentation & Interactive Workshop — Heritage Christian Academy
• April 14 (Greeley, CO):  Interactive Seminar — Christ Community Church
• April 15 (Fort Collins, CO):  Interactive Seminar — Colorado State University
• April 16-17 (Fort Collins, CO):  Kiosk Outreach Event — Colorado State University
• April 20 (Boulder, CO):  Interactive Workshop — University of Colorado Boulder
• April 21 (Englewood, CO):  Interactive Seminar — All Souls Catholic Church
• April 23 (Lakewood, CO):  Interactive Workshop — Colorado Christian University
• April 23-24 (Denver, CO):  Kiosk Outreach Event — Metropolitan State University
• April 24 (Boulder, CO):  Kiosk Outreach Event — University of Colorado Boulder 

Featured Resource - "A Living Room Conversation - Part 1"

Prepare for Conversations (April):

In “A Living Room Conversation” Grace Fontenot shares a conversation she had with “Heidi,” a young woman she met, not during an outreach event, but in an everyday-life setting.  In Part 1 of Grace’s three-part story, you’ll see Grace help Heidi think through the social and legal implications that logically follow from what Heidi characterized as her “religious” beliefs about abortion.  In doing so, you’ll learn several questions you can ask in your conversations with family members, co-workers, and friends who say, “I am personally pro-life, but I don’t think I can limit the choices of others through the law.”