23 Aug Afghani Tragedy, Preventing Suicide, and a Columnist Who Compares Pro-Lifers to Taliban
Friends,
I am sure we are all utterly horrified by the tragedy occurring in Afghanistan at this moment. Whatever our views on the war may be, the results of this mishandled withdrawal are a human rights nightmare, and it is appalling to see such events unfold.
Especially distressing is the knowledge of what happened to women and children under Taliban rule (and what will no doubt happen again, whatever they claim), as the Taliban have a long history of sex trafficking, rape, and murder of women and children.
Some mothers are so desperate to save their children that they are literally throwing their babies over the barbed wire fences to the troops on the other side because, as one traumatized officer noted, they have no other option.
The travesty of the Taliban conquest of Afghanistan is beyond horrific, and I have no doubt that many of you have, like me, wept upon hearing some of the stories from the ground.
My initial intent in writing this email was simply to state the above, and to urge the following:
- That those among you who are religious join me in ceaseless prayer for the Afghani people, for our troops – both active and veterans – and for the conversion of the Taliban.
- To reach out to veterans and families of veterans, many of whom are struggling deeply with this; I know of at least one who has, tragically, committed suicide. Please reach out and be good friends to them in this dark time, and be aware of such resources as the Veterans Crisis Line (1-800-273-8255) and website (http://www.veteranscrisisline.net/), as well as the organizations MakeTheConnection.net, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (TAPS), Together We Served, and the American Red Cross Military Veteran Caregiver Network.
- To assure veterans and families of veterans that it was not all for nothing – for 20 years, sex trafficking was attacked by American and allied forces, saving many lives. For 20 years, women and children were able to participate in society and access education, healthcare, and opportunities they’d never had before. For 20 years, people tasted freedom. That’s not nothing. Poland was only briefly free between the World Wars, but that taste of freedom sustained them through the Soviet occupation. It wasn’t for nothing.
Unfortunately, there is one more thing we need to talk about.
We need to talk about the MSNBC writer who equates pro-life conservatives with Taliban militants.
Yes, you read that right. No, I’m not kidding. Follow this link and select “read more” to see additional details.
To be frank, I really don’t want to talk about this. I’d rather focus on the tragedy unfolding overseas. But it’s important to understand what this means:
While MSNBC opinion columnist Dean Obeidallah slightly backpedals by noting that pro-lifers aren’t quite as awful as the Taliban (which goes beyond Understatement into full-on “How-Is-That-Even-a-Question” territory), he still spends the better part of his article lambasting pro-lifers for allegedly oppressing women by taking the “hateful” stance that bigger people shouldn’t be allowed to kill smaller people.
As slack-jawed as this may leave you, it is important in that it reveals how astonishingly misunderstood the pro-life position is.
So let’s clear up a couple things:
- Pro-life people don’t care about controlling women’s bodies – we care about not killing tiny humans. That is literally the entire crux of our position. People are free to disagree with us on whether or not the fetus is a person – and we are quite happy to share our reasoning and have a respectful conversation about it – but that is our motivation. So you can accuse us of being wrong, but don’t accuse us of hating women. We don’t. We love women too much to be okay with helping them abort because they don’t know there are better options (which we want to provide to them for free and without judgment, by the way).
- To take people who genuinely believe that innocent babies are dying and are trying to stop it while also providing resources to their mothers and then to compare those people to the Taliban is… I don’t think “slander” is even a strong enough term. It’s like being called “Hitler” because you run a soup kitchen and that’s… somehow seen as “racist” even though you never did anything racist and, in fact, fervently oppose racism. It’s so crazy I honestly struggle to find a good analogy. MSNBC should be ashamed they ever let Dean Obeidallah write for them.
As much as I want to be furious about this (and, believe me, it is taking a lot of restraint not to flip my lid), I try to remember that the people of Afghanistan are going through much, much worse, so I focus on praying for them (and for Dean’s conversion) instead, and on writing this piece to educate people. That’s a much better use of my time.
Likewise, I encourage you, if you are ever confronted with this kind of monumentally insulting argument to take a deep breath, pray for patience, and calmly respond with the truth, taking the opportunity to invite the other person to get to know a real pro-lifer. I often say to people on the other side, “You can disagree with me, and I would love to dialogue about it, but please don’t think I’m evil; even if I’m wrong, my motives are good.” I’ve had many productive dialogues and helped people question abortion thanks to this approach.
Once again, I hate to take time away from talking about the tragedy in Afghanistan to talk about MSNBC’s questionable choices. I wouldn’t do it if they hadn’t brought it up first, because I think it’s incredibly crass to use tragedy as a platform for a completely different talking point.
But, sadly, this is no longer a different talking point because MSNBC went there, and the stakes are just as high for the unborn as for the Afghani people. It’s important to understand what many people on the other side erroneously believe about us – beliefs they hold because of very successful propaganda that has deceived them.
Speaking again of the Afghani people, I repeat my strong urging to those of you who are religious to pray for them. Whether you are religious or not, please do what you can to raise awareness for what is happening (and why). We cannot let this Afghani tragedy be forgotten or ignored.
Through all of this, talk to your friends, talk to your family, keep the faith with our humanitarian mission, and take time to love the people around you. Connect with the vets and families of vets in your life. Pray, hope, and do your best to live with charity in these difficult times.
Michael Dumais
Outreach Coordinator
Human Life of Washington