The link below is to a 4-minute segment on Morning Joe. They are discussing a recent poll that shows that pro-choice Americans are at a record low percentage. Please check out the video, and then check out the commentary below.
Now, if you watched the video, I want to walk through several very interesting elements of this story and how they covered it.
1. The disbelief of the facts by one member of the panel. As soon as the statistics were done being presented, that today 50% of Americans are pro-life and only 41% are pro-choice, one man on the panel asked if this was because the poll was using archaic methods of gathering information. When he was informed that this was not the case, he incredulously asked, "How do you explain that then?" His disbelief is informative. The pro-choice position has become such the accepted majority position in the public eye that this man thought that the statistics simply HAD to be mistaken. Important lesson: Media presentation of public opinion is not necessarily public opinion.
2. Technology's role in the pro-life movement. One panelist, Joe Scarborough, explains how advanced ultrasounds make it nearly impossible to deny that unborn babies are. . .babies. Several times he repeats the idea that it is simply undeniable that the unborn are persons. His most conclusive statement was, "You can call it what you want to call it, but that's a life in there." Something we complain about technology and the corruption it can bring. But thank God for the medical technology that has allowed us to see the reality of what is going on in the womb.
3. Seeing unborn babies makes it hard to be pro-choice. This is very similar to the point above, but I thought it deserved its own section. People are being swayed to the pro-life position because of what they see. In other words, when we are able to see reality we are compelled to lean to the pro-life side. None of us should be afraid to come face to face with the truth. The truth is sometimes unpleasant, but it should not be ignored or denied. The truth about what goes on in the womb informs our consciences concerning unborn children.4. We are still unwilling to go all the way. The video ends with the entire panel agreeing that a person could be personally pro-life without being in favor of abortion being outlawed. Of course, they are right in the sense that people do claim that position. But this is not a rational or consistent position. If that is a person in the womb, it is NEVER okay for ANYONE to take that life. And, while grace and humility is needed, people need to be called out on this. It is not noble or balanced to say, "I would never personally kill that person, but I am in favor of protecting the rights of others to kill that person." If the unborn child is a person, he or she deserves full protection.
I pray that, through the courage of defenders of the unborn, and through the advances in medical and ultrasound technology, and through a reviving work of God in our hearts, we will embrace a full protection for unborn children. As, God-willing, we advance toward this, it is the calling of each person who embraces the pro-life position to actively promote the dignity and humanity of unborn children.
