Every year at the March for Life, 300,000 people show up to March and a dozen crazies show up to steal all the media attention. It's amusing, as well, to watch about 10,000 each try a new persuasion tactic on the dozen people assembled, trying to make a conversion of the heart on the spot. Even the annual Assembly for Life and Walk brings a few protesters and its tempting to engage them, to hope that they can see the light of pro-life truth.
The effort is well-intentioned, but often ineffective due to simple mistakes. Those who show up to protest often do so lead to harden their positions by being exposed to us, the more we yell, the more we solidify their position. Anyone who has had an argument with a teenage sibling or child knows that strong language rarely persuades. Let's consider seven primary problems with amateur pro-life street apologetics:
1. Appeal to reason and facts, not emotion. Partisans on both sides are filled with emotive stories. The pro-aborts talk about women dying in back alleys, and pro-lifers focus on the gut-wrenching stories such as those of Gianna Jennsen, Rebecca Kiessling and others. Emotional stories are not useful when dealing with partisans and zealots, because they just retreat into their own emotional stories. Instead, focus on facts. The cold hard facts of abortion cut to the mental core of many of these activists, they become unshakable things that sticks with them. There were, at most, 1,500 deaths from abortion per year when it was illegal, but there are 1,000 times more abortions each year now. Each baby feels pain, and scientific advancements in understanding fetal development have provided amazing and powerful facts to present to these zealots. Give them the facts they lack, the things they're never told by their national pro-abortion groups.
2. Don't be confrontational or hostile It's tempting to be angry with these people, they're perceived as 'the enemy' and those forcing abortion on many women in tough situations. Mothers and fathers who are post-abortive can, as well, sometimes have a hardened edge when dealing with these protesters because of their trauma. The key is not to become so confrontational and hostile so as to be counterproductive. Calm, slow and serious is what they aren't expecting. These protesters thrive on being able to shout down a crazed pro-lifer, they want you to lose your cool, but by being kind, gentle, and serious you can potentially make real converts.
3. Don't try to "prove a point" Politics is a sport, but pro-life politics is a matter of life and death. Often times our friends and family members have heard our pro-life sermons many times before, they may not want to hear them again. With pro-abortion protesters, then, it's a rare opportunity to engage in the sport of debate, to rack up rhetorical 'points' and to say things that make us feel good about ourselves by 'winning.' Our goal isn't to 'win' in that way, though, you and I want to win hearts and minds for the long-term. Pointing out every logical error, debunking every claim or quibbling with every comment they make isn't the way to be persuasive. You don't want to make them 'wrong' on everything they say, you want them to feel wrong about one central fact or point that gives them pause. Focus on the one central issue, either the humanity of the child or the societal need to serve the vulnerable and needy or the need to work together to serve women in crisis situations in pregnancy centers. There are many major points that can be persuasive, so focus on one and don't worry yourself about overarguing with people.
4. Don't waste your time There are certain arguments that you probably think are essential to understanding pro-life issues but are too remote from the protesters. Some people think a solid religious grounding is essential, others think that gender relations is critical. Everyone has a theory about the underlying issues that animate pro-life politics. But those are not the issues being discussed, and don't waste your time or that of other people in discussing what's not on topic: focus on abortion. You have such a short period of time to discuss key issues that you want to focus on abortion alone, the facts about abortion. And if you see that a protester is fundamentally unreceptive to your arguments, don't think that continuing will persuade them. Kindly move on to the next one. Too many good pro-life people have wasted an hour trying to persuade someone whose heart had hardened on the topic. Focus on those whom you feel are receptive to your arguments, and don't waste your time on those who are not receptive. Manage your persuasion time carefully.
5. Consider your appearance, signal authority and status Words and ideas are not the only things that are persuasive. The way you look, your position, gender, status, all matter greatly. Take note of who you're trying to persuade. If you are a 50 year old man approaching a 20 year old female, are you signaling to her that she should take you as an authority on what's best for her potential motherhood? Unfortunately despite his best intentions, it doesn't. You want to approach people you can make an impact on. Think about what kind of person the protester respects: if they're a 20something female, it probably means a fellow 20something female, or a working professional woman. If you see a protester with whom you think your exterior characteristics might resonate, focus on them. You want to connect with people to persuade them, and you don't connect with people by alienating them with your unspoken signals.
6. Thank them, be sincere, be pleasant The worst people are the apathetic who don't care at all about these issues. It takes courage to stand, confront and debate those who fundamentally disagree with you on first things. Thank the protesters for their courage, for their tenacity and for talking with you. They won't be expecting a sincere thanks, it humanizes you and hurts the case of those saying that you were a misogynist later, and helps tone down the angry words that too often accompanies a protest. The reason people aren't persuadable is often that they're so highly charged on emotions that they forget to think, they become zealots through peer pressure. But as Lincoln said, you can't fool all the people all of the time, and many of these people have doubts, and reservations in private. If you can come across as pleasant, sincere and calm and their friends are crazed, wild-eyed zealots, it will have an impact on their group retention. It's important to be kind even to your adversaries.
7. Your goal is to plant seeds of doubt Even though the movies and myths are filled with instant conversions of heart, it rarely happens that way. People rarely come to truth in a blinding light, or by suddenly repudiating their previous beliefs. It's unrealistic to have people change on the spot, on the street. What does happen, though, is that something someone said sticks with them, and eats away at them over time. The lingering doubts snowball over time and certain things that are said, sometimes the source of which is forgotten, lead people to gradually change their opinions. You should seek to give these zealots a fact they can't live with, something that eats away at them. You will make converts by saying the truth about pro-life over and over, and understanding that conversions often take a long time and that you likely won't be credited or acknowledged for their intellectual transformation. Plant seeds of doubt that spring into fruits of truth in their minds months and sometimes years later.
Pro-life politics is a difficult and often draining exercise. You want people to know the truth, you want them to see the baby, to understand the importance of life. Reagan's simple comment that no advocate of abortion has not, themselves, been born. That truism aside, people have complex ways in which they receive and process information, especially ones as charged and heated as the topic of abortion. If we're to be effective advocates for the unborn, and good agents of pro-life change, we owe it to ourselves and the babies to be the most effective with our persuasion and street apologetics to pro-abortion protesters.
WARNING: When you approach some of these protesters, remember that some of them are looking for a confrontation that can lead to lawsuits. The law is very liberal when it comes to any kind of contact, and could be considered battery if it becomes unwanted touching. Even blowing smoke on someone could be construed as a "touching." The dozen protesters around the one you're talking with are unlikely to help you or take your side, and even if the police side with you, it'll make for a very long day indeed if you accidentally touch any of the protesters leading to an altercation. Be careful, be aware, and be extra cautious not to touch any of them. Contact can lead to lawsuits.
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