Be Human to Save Humans

     One of the most critical aspects of persuasion is personal connection. Let’s say that I’m talking to a pro-choice person; we’ll call her ‘Andrea.’ Andrea believes that the fetus is not a valuable human person, and that abortion is an essential part of women’s rights. Obviously, I’d like to convince Andrea that A) the fetus is a valuable human person, and B) that abortion is actually damaging to women’s rights (and, more often than not, to their physical and emotional health).

     Now, it’s important that I know the scientific and practical information about this – when human life begins, what the real dangers of abortion are, and so on. But none of that will matter if I can’t connect with Andrea.

     If Andrea thinks of me as an ‘other’ – as a stereotypical angry anti-abortion man who doesn’t care about women in crisis – then it’s going to be hard for me to convince her to change her mind about abortion.   It’s hard to convince people that a fetus is a valuable human person if we cannot convince them of our own humanity.

     On the other hand, if Andrea sees me as a fellow human being, as someone who, in spite of differing views, she can still respect as a compassionate person trying to do the right thing, she’s a lot more likely to listen to and consider the pro-life position.

     If we want to change hearts and minds, we need to be the sort of person who self-evidently cares about people and wants to be a good person ourselves. That may sound easy, but many of the people we talk to might be coming into the conversation assuming our ‘otherness,’ whether they realize it or not. Often, it will be because they have personally had bad experiences with judgmental and harsh pro-lifers.

     Thus, it’s a good idea for pro-life advocates to learn how to let people see that we’re people like any other – that we respect them, love them, and want what’s best for them. For a quick look at how to do that, see below: