Knowing the truth isn't enough. We must Do!
Educate yourself so you can better educate others.
It is critical for pro-lifers to expand the right to life movement by bringing more people on board with the pro-life message. Therefore, we need to explain & discuss our positions with those who don't understand them or who disagree with pro-life in the hope they will come to realize that protecting the right to life of each and every human being is the paramount human right and justice.
Below is information we hope will help you to grow in your pro-life knowledge and build your confidence in engaging in pro-life conversations. This information may be useful in many ways, for example: in school papers/projects, ministry tables, handouts, letters to legislators, and letters to editors.
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions about the information here, you may contact the LICL at 631243.1435 or
Note: This is for informational purposes only. The LICL is not endorsing or vouching for the actions or information on any of the links or sources provided below.
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PRO-LIFE TALKING POINTS
Prenatal Development - Definitions
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Prenatal Development – Basic Definitions / Descriptions
The Endowment for Human Development [https://www.ehd.org] website is a comprehensive resource of human prenatal development, given in text, photos and videos. Copious sources for the information are provided. The definitions/descriptions below are excerpts taken from various pages of EHD.org.
Day 0: Embryonic period begins and continues through 8 weeks after fertilization
8 weeks, 1 day after fertilization: Fetal period begins and continues until birth.
Biologically speaking, fertilization (or conception) is the beginning of human development. [Moore KL, Persaud TVN. 2003. The developing human, clinically oriented embryology. 7th ed. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders.]
Zygote / Embryo: Fertilization begins with the male sperm (spermatozoon) contacting the cells surrounding a woman’s egg (oocyte) and ends with the mixing of the 23 male and 23 female chromosomes. The result is a single-cell embryo called a zygote and it is the first cell of the human body. The zygote contains 46 unique chromosomes with the entire genetic blueprint of a new individual. Chromosomes contain molecules called DNA, which contain all the instructions needed for the single-cell embryo to develop into an adult.
Implantation is the process whereby the early embryo embeds into the inner wall of the mother’s uterus. Implantation begins about 6 days after fertilization and is complete by about 12 days.[Guyton AC, Hall JE. 2000. Textbook of medical physiology. 10th ed. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders.] Once implantation is complete, the embryo continues to grow inside the wall of the uterus.
· At 3 weeks and 1 day after fertilization the heart begins to beat.
· By the end of the embryonic period, the total number of heart beats reaches about 7.39 million!
· The embryo has brainwaves by 6 weeks, 2 days.
· Twinning: From the first days of development, stem cells are present. These cells will differentiate into all of the 200 plus cell types contained in the human body. Under the right conditions, an individual stem cell can separate from the embryo and form an entirely new embryo resulting in identical twins.
· 8 weeks marks the end of the embryonic period. During this time, the human embryo has grown from a single cell into nearly 1 billion cells forming over 4000 distinct anatomic structures. The embryo now possesses more than 90 percent of the structures found in the adult.
Fetus: Fetal period begins 8 weeks, 1 day
· By 9 weeks, the fetus may: begin thumb sucking, swallow amniotic fluid, grasp an object, open and close the jaw, sigh, and stretch.
· By 10 weeks, unique fingerprints are forming.
· By the end of 12 weeks, nose and lips are completely formed,
· By 20 weeks the cochlea, which is the organ of hearing, has reached adult size within the fully developed inner ear. From now on, the fetus will respond to a growing range of sounds.
· Month 9 – The fetus drinks about 15 ounces of amniotic fluid a day.
· The heart beats 54 million times before birth.
Terms of stages of human development. The words embryo and fetus are sometimes used by abortion advocates to obfuscate what that induced abortion kills a human being. Regardless, ‘zygote,’ ‘embryo’ and ‘fetus’ are basically terms like others that are given to describe stages of human development, that is newborn, toddler, teen, young adult, adult, senior.
Human
Human: a bipedal primate mammal (Homo sapiens) : a person
[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/human#h2]
Human being: also known as: human, human race, man, mankind
A culture-bearing primate classified in the genus Homo, especially the species H. sapiens.
[https://www.britannica.com/topic/human-being]
Person
Person: human, individual
[https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/person]
Person: an individual human being
[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/person]
The Unborn are Human / Personhood
Taken from “Persuasive Pro-Life” by Trent Horn [2nd Ed.; c 2023]
Two kinds of evidence to demonstrate the preborn are biologically human:
--If the fetus possesses a human genetic code (or human DNA), then he/she is a human being.
--What kind of animal are the parents of the fetus? If the parents are dogs, then the fetus will be a dog. If the parents are human, then the fetus will be a human. [principle of biogenesis]
Person: “An individual member of a rational kind”
“Even if we can’t function rationally yet (such as when we were infants) or have lost the ability temporarily (like when we are asleep) or permanently (through an injury), we are still members of a rational kind. And since we remain members of the rational, human kind throughout our entire existence, it follows that throughout every stage of our existence, we are persons who deserve the respect and protection due to us in virtue of what we are, not what we can do.”
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Is 'It' A Baby?
Is It A Baby? In the Words of Experts
Quotes from medical text, medical doctors (one pro-life, two abortionists), and past president of Planned Parenthood.
Abortion & Rape
Handout - Abortion in Case of Rape
Rape is a horrific violence and injustice. Any woman who has been raped needs healing and the support of her community, and the rapist should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. We need to support the woman as both a rape victim and as a mother, helping her with life-affirming choices for her child even under such trying circumstances. Abortion does not remove the rape trauma. Abortion adds violence (first against the woman) to violence (against her child). No child deserves to be killed for the crime of the father. Abortion and rape are each wrong for the same reason – they are violent acts against an innocent person.
[See https://www.liveaction.org/the-pro-life-argument]
Assisted Suicide / Euthanasia
WHEN A FELLOW HUMAN BEING SEEKS SUICIDE, THE HEALTHCARE SYSTEM AND THE COMMUNITY NEED TO OFFER PROPER CARE FOR THE PERSON'S PAIN (PHYSICAL AND MENTAL), NOT A PUSH INTO THE ABYSS.
‘Medical Aid in Dying,’ ‘Death with Dignity, ‘Physician-Assisted Suicide’ >> by any other name – Assisted Suicide is still Suicide
The New York Court of Appeals [Myers v. Schneiderman (2017 NY Slip Op 06412, September 7, 2017)] declared long-standing state interests against assisted suicide include:
· Preserving life and preventing suicide, which is “a serious public health problem;”
· Maintaining physicians’ role as their patients’ healers;
· Protecting vulnerable people from financial, psychological or other pressures to end their lives;
· Guarding against accidental and intentional misuse of medications; and
· Avoiding a slide toward euthanasia.
The innate value of each human person becomes distorted when killing becomes caring
· Society becomes desensitized to view self-destruction as 'compassionate'
· Suicide contagion is a real threat (acceptance of assisted.suicide increases 'non-medical' suicides)
Assisted suicide legislation’s so-called 'safeguards' are typically used merely as the proverbial camel's nose in the tent. Experience from countries and states where assisted suicide is legal have taught us that such barriers don't satisfy advocates of 'death with dignity' because the position of proponents of assisted suicide is that EVERYONE has the RIGHT to control when & how they die. limitations in the law are exposed for their discriminatory nature and lawsuits for equal access ensue. So, original laws are broadened over time to apply to nearly all people, all ages, all reasons.
Five Reasons to Oppose Assisted Suicide Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide (Euthanasia Prevention Coalition)
In Vitro Fertilization
Handout - IVF - Because we can, should we?
>> In vitro fertilization commodifies children. Makes them products to be put together in a manufacturing facility (IVF lab).
>> IVF (as currently processed) almost always results in eugenics by grading the resulting embryo-children for quality and/or testing these children for genetic or other abnormalities or wanted/unwanted characteristics.
>> Excess embryos are made with the knowledge that some of these children won't ever be born.
>> Excess embryos may be frozen. Some may be utilized for later use or left to eventually die in their freeze-dried limbo.
What NOT to Say
What about rape?
Someone may say, I’m opposed to abortion except for rape. You may be asked why are you opposed to abortion even in cases like rape.
DON’T SAY:
· Rape only accounts for less than 3% of all abortions and there are more than half a million abortions a year in the U.S. so rape is only a small number.
· Hard cases don’t make good law.
Both of these demean the truly horrible crime of rape and the violence the woman suffered. For someone who became pregnant as a result of rape, the statistic is 100%. If your child was born with a rare disease (per FDA, affects less than 200,000 people in the United States), you don’t need to hear a statistic from your child’s doctor, you want to hear how to treat the problem. Soundbites like ‘hard cases make bad law’ don’t address the underlying question, may come off as snarky or disinterested, and is likely to lose the chance for meaningful conversation with the other person.
Instead use:
Embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) might help cure many debilitating diseases.
Research is done to find answers. Research may be ended if results show that the hypothesis is not being proved, but one can appear to be ‘anti-science’ by defaulting to the premise that because nothing has been discovered so far, the research should stop. If a treatment is found with ESCR, the first bullet point above fails and the pro-lifer is back to right to life first principles anyway – ESCR is wrong.
Instead use:
If you’re pro-life then you MUST be against capital punishment.
Instead use:
If you’re pro-life then you MUST be a vegetarian.
Instead use:
Pro-Life Apologetics
- Live Action Pro-Life replies www.liveaction.org/pro-life-replies
- Live Action the Pro-life Argument www.liveaction.org/the-pro-life-argument
- Making Sense of Bioethics – Fr. Tad Pacholczyk www.fathertad.com/writings/making-sense-bioethics
- Trent Horn ‘How to Win Every Abortion Debate: Trent Horn at the Young Leaders Summit’ www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnrsH-aBzu8
[Provided for informational purposes only. Distributor is not liable for actions of named resources. 2/1926]