Pro-life apologetics - role play
By Brian Jenkins (Quebec Life Coalition)
I recently had the privilege of presenting the pro-life message to a group of believers in an innovative way.
I belong to a faith-based devotional group which met last Saturday, 7 December, for its annual social event at which its members were asked to contribute a five-minute entertainment segment to the proceedings.
By far, the most popular contribution is the singing of seasonal devotional songs. In previous years, friends and I have done this, especially as one of us is a gifted baritone singer. This year, however, at the suggestion of our spiritual director, we performed mini skits about the pro-life work I do on the streets of Montreal. There were two performances, each of which was appreciated by those present.
First, wearing the signs I carry with on St. Catherine Street, I interacted with Jim according to the following script:
Brian, sees Jim, greets him: “Hi.” Jim replies “Hi” and stops walking.
Brian: “Did you know that abortion is legal through all nine months of pregnancy in Canada?” I asked him.
Jim: “No!” I didn’t know that. I don’t agree with abortion when the baby is older. But in the first couple weeks, I don’t really see the problem with it.”Brian: “Do you believe in human rights?”
Jim: “Of course!”Brian: “And who should get human rights?”
Jim: “Humans.”Brian: “If two human beings reproduce, what species are their offspring?”
Jim: “Human, I guess.”Brian: “Then doesn’t it follow that abortion is a human rights violation?”
Jim: “Yes, yes it does! It’s not okay to kill a child, I get that now.”
In the second role play, I exchanged with Angie.
I see Angie approaching and I ask her: “What do you think about abortion?
Angie: "Well, personally I wouldn’t have one, but I think it should be every woman’s choice what to do with her body.”Brian: “What about the baby’s body?”
Angie paused and thought. Finally, she said, “Yeah, I guess I never thought about that before.” She took a pamphlet and headed off.
Special thanks go to Justina van Manen for collecting these scripts her book “Stuck: A complete guide to answering tough questions about abortion.”
Stuck - a complete guide to answering tough questions about abortion, by Justina Van Manen
Stuck is a one-stop shop when it comes to pro-life apologetics based on the human rights argument. It does not bring anything new to the table, but draws from already developed pro-life arguments by people such as Scott Klussendorf, Randy Alcorn and Stephanie Gray. The Canadian Centre for Bio-ethical Reform, or CCBR for short, has tested all of the arguments in this volume on the street in one-on-one conversations, and has found great success in swaying people’s mind on abortion.
In this volume, the main argument presented is the human rights argument against abortion. Everything falls back to the simple idea that all members of the human family should have the same inherent dignity and basic rights. The importance of the human rights argument is that in our ever-increasing secular world, faith-based arguments are much less accepted by people than human right based arguments. Whatever your faith background, it is good to be able to reason with people with little understanding or skepticism about a spiritual reality.
Stuck is broken down into chapters that address the main topics in abortion apologetics:
—In the circumstances chapter, you’ll learn how to respond to the argument that the child is not wanted or that the mother is not ready.
—In the personhood chapter, you’ll examine why a pre-born child is as much a person as a born child.
—It’s my body chapter will examine bodily autonomy, totally debunking the catchy slogan.
—The hard cases chapters will look at how to respond to cases of incest, rape, and where the life of the mother is in danger.
—The abortion procedure chapter gives thorough explanations on the different abortion is being practised today.
—The perspectives chapter talks about being considerate to people’s situation and bringing the right approach. One method doesn’t fit all.
A proven methodology presented in this book is the common ground, analogy, question method, and all apologetics arguments can fall back on this easy three-step method.
Stuck will also suggest extra resources, give examples of dialogues, and prompt you to do activities.
About the Author: Justina Van Manen started doing pro-life outreach at the age of 14 and then joined CCBR as a volunteer, and then as an intern. As a graduate from Redeemer University with a Bachelor in English, she has continued her work with CCBR as well as continued to work on her second university degree. She works for CCBR as a speaker and as communications director. Stuck came out in 2019, and can be found for sale on the CCBR website or on amazon (for a Kindle version). Justina’s 2nd book on embryo adoption came out in 2022.