I have long thought that for the Pro-Life movement to succeed in changing hearts and minds on a scale big enough to realistically overturn RvW or to a minimum drastically lower unlimited access to, government support of and payment for and the overall number of abortions, it has to, as a larger movement, move away from a fire and brimstone and purely religiously centered argument and move to a or at least embrace and engage with a more secular and scientific POV; one that is based on human rights and perhaps even as a feminist issue much like the org. “Feminists for Life” does.
There are even some pro-life atheists (like me ; ) )
Confessions of a Pro-Life Atheist, Why I Fight Abortion
“As a materialist, I think it has been demonstrated that an embryo is a separate body and entity, and not merely (as some really did used to argue) a growth on or in the female body. There used to be feminists who would say that it was more like an appendix or even-this was seriously maintained-a tumor. That nonsense seems to have stopped. Of the considerations that have stopped it, one is the fascinating and moving view provided by the sonogram, and another is the survival of ‘premature’ babies of feather-like weight, who have achieved ‘viability’ outside the womb. … The words ‘unborn child,’ even when used in a politicized manner, describe a material reality.” -Christopher Hitchens, God is Not Great (pp. 220-21)
But when pro-lifers evoke words like “Baal” and “Satan” they turn a good number of non-religious or nominally religious people off who might be persuaded to see what abortion really is – the killing of an individual human being.
When pro-lifers like Akin say stupid things like “legitimate rape” and unscientifically supported ideas like “women have a way of shutting this down”, they turn a lot of people off. When pro-lifers take an extreme position on the use of all or any forms of birth control or say that women who have ectopic pregnancies shouldn’t be saved even as their pregnancy can’t continue, won’t result in a live birth and will almost certainly kill the mother, they turn a lot of people off. When pro-lifers oppose a woman who has been violently raped from receiving emergency contraception or tell them they should just suck it up, Praise God for their rape, smile and be happy and raise their baby on their own, they turn a lot of people off.
This is IMO not a winning position for either the pro-life movement or the GOP.
Do you think Akins holds these positions?
This forum is filled with pro-life conservatives. Can you name one who would take the positions you just suggested?
If not, then your argument is a classic straw man argument.
BTW if you are advocating for abortion on this forum then you are on the wrong forum. This is a pro-life forum and I don't think you will find a single Freeper who would take the positions that you suggested.
Excellent quote from the late Hitchens, which I did not know about, even as it did ironically come from a decidedly “anti-religious” book.
And everything else you yourself stated was absolutely right on.
As strenuously as the current GOP has tried to excommunicate
Akin, distance themselves from him and his views, the damage
has already been done, and the Dems got the red meat they were waiting for—they will play it to the hilt, even if Akin drops out, by unfairly portraying him as the face of the Republican view on this issue, and indistinguishable from Romney/Ryan.And no one should ever forget that HE was the candidate the Dems WANTED—he fit perfectly into the scenario they are now enjoying, and exploiting.
When pro-lifers take an extreme position on the use of all or any forms of birth control or say that women who have ectopic pregnancies shouldn’t be saved even as their pregnancy can’t continue, won’t result in a live birth and will almost certainly kill the mother, they turn a lot of people off. When pro-lifers oppose a woman who has been violently raped from receiving emergency contraception or tell them they should just suck it up, Praise God for their rape, smile and be happy and raise their baby on their own, they turn a lot of people off.Who do you know that has said women should carry "to term" an ectopic pregnancy? When you start saying stuff like that, you become "extreme" and turn people off. As far as rape, it may seem cruel for a woman to carry a child to term, but how cruel is it to allow her to pay someone to slaughter the child within her womb? You don't feel there would be repercussions in that regard? Read up more on pro-life/abortion/rape and the horrendous regret that women experience when they allow their own children to be killed. They go on to mess up America, as they become a substantial drain on society (their friends, relationships suffer) in one way or another (financial, or even criminal).. And "legitimate rape" was actually the correct terminology. It was the left that turned it around. Please read this post: Making a mountain out of a Missouri molehill.