I absolutely loved our outreach event at Oklahoma State University on October 4 and 5. I had so many great conversations. I’m delighted to share three of my favorite stories.
Chance
Chance is an exchange student from China. After he listened to me explain that an unborn baby is biologically human like us, he agreed it is human, but said that is not a person. I asked him, “What is the same about all of the people on this campus?” He said we have the ability to think. I asked if all of us have an equal ability to think. He paused and said, “No.” I said, “I believe that the thing that is the same about all of us is that we’re all human beings. And since the unborn baby is biologically human like us, doesn’t it deserve to be protected the same as a born human?” He smiled and said, “Yes.”
He expressed concern about abortion in the case of rape. I commended him for his empathy and agreed that rape is a very tough situation. I spent several minutes expressing compassion for rape victims. I then showed him two identical pictures of a seven-week human embryo. I said, “One was conceived in love and one was conceived from rape. Is there any biological difference between those two human embryos?” He said, “No.” I said, “Even though rape is horrific, the manner in which a baby is conceived doesn’t change the fact that it’s a human being, right?” Before he left he said, “I see what you’re saying. That’s really helpful. I’m very thankful for this conversation.”
Alicia
Alicia described herself as pro-choice. She said that women should have a right to abortion. I agreed that women’s rights are extremely important, and we discussed that in more depth.
Our discussion turned to the humanity of an unborn baby, and she pointed to the four-week embryo on our display saying, “I don’t think that’s a human.” I asked, “When does it become a human?” She said, “When it can survive on its own.” I then shared, “When the sperm and egg meet, did you know that a new unique human organism with its own DNA is created? All that it needs for continued growth before birth is adequate nutrition and a proper environment. And all that we need after birth are those same two things. There is nothing injected during the nine months of pregnancy that suddenly makes it a human. If it has two human parents, can it be anything other than human?” She said, “That’s interesting.”
I said, “I’d like to share an imaginary story. Many toddlers go through a challenging stage called The Terrible Twos. It can be unbearable for parents. Imagine a parent that is at her wits’ end and can’t take it anymore. So she takes her two-year-old to a nearby clinic that euthanizes the child and alleviates her misery. Would this be wrong?” Alicia had a look of shock on her face and said, “Absolutely! That’s a child! I have a one-year-old nephew, and I can’t imagine him being killed like that.” I agreed and said, “That’s how we should view an unborn baby. It’s just a less-developed two-year-old.” We went through the JFA brochure, and I could see that the graphic pictures also impacted her. Then out of the blue she exclaimed, “You switched me!” It was such a gift to witness her “aha” moment.
Landon
Landon was reading comments on our free speech board. When I asked if he had an opinion on abortion, he said, “No, not really. I don’t think this is an important topic to me … each person should be able to decide on their own.” I asked a few more questions and found common ground with him about freedom and choice.
I gave a brief description of human biology and explained that the unborn baby is human like us. His eyes lit up. He said, “Hmm, I think I’m against abortion.”
Tammy with Landon
I shared the same imaginary story of The Terrible Twos that I used with Alicia. Then I asked, “Do you think that our society would be outraged if we were killing two-year-olds in real life?” I could see the shock and horror on his face and he exclaimed, “Absolutely! Sadly, we don’t see the unborn baby in the same way as the two-year-old, and that’s part of the problem.” Wow. In a manner of minutes he went from having no view to being pro-life. Before he turned to walk away, he said, “Thank you so much for this conversation – I had never thought of it this way before now.”
Final Thoughts
It was pure bliss for me to witness the changed hearts of Chance, Alicia and Landon. They believed many lies when it came to abortion. Thankfully, they chose to allow light (truth) into their heart. This illumination revealed truth that they had not previously considered.
This was originally sent to supporters in November 2022.
