I am adding a few pages in the Foundations section of the Equipped to Serve manual that outlines the three major arms of the pro-life movement. How they are similar and how they are different.
I feel this is important because often volunteers come to the Pregnancy Center ministry having been involved in one or more of the various arms of the pro-life movement. In some ways that can be helpful, but in other ways it can be harmful. Some of the methods used in the other arms of the pro-life movement may not be useful when interacting with individual women faced with the decisions of an unplanned pregnancy.
It is important, right from the beginning of training, to establish how the Pregnancy Center ministry is different – not better – just different. Different in our mindset and methods and the skills we use to interact with our clients.
The three main arms of the pro-life movement that have a variety of expressions are:
- Activism which is about changing public opinion about the abortion issue and standing in the way to prevent abortions from occurring.
- Legal and Legislative which is working within our existing systems to change laws concerning abortion
- Alternatives which is based on ministry to individuals who are grappling with personal decisions concerning current and past pregnancies.
How Are We Similar?
- We believe in the sanctity of human life and that life begins at conception. Conception is the time when sperm travels up through the vagina, into the uterus, and fertilizes an egg found in the fallopian tube.
- We believe that we should speak for those who have no voice.
- We believe that there are personal, societal, moral, and economic consequences to abortion.
How Are We Different?
Activism: Issue Based
Activism Characteristics
- Peaceful protesting
- Civil disobedience
- Radical forms of education
- Occasional violence in the past
Activism Motivation
- Passionate convictions
- Speaking and showing truth
- Changing hearts and minds about the fundamentals of the issues
- Historical examples of successful civil disobedience
Legal & Legislative: Systems Based
Legal & Legislative Characteristics
- Working to change existing laws and legislation
- Working within individual states’ laws as well as federal law
- Legally supporting the other arms of the pro-life movement
- Articulating legal, intellectual, and political arguments in defense of pro-life issues
Legal & Legislative Motivation
- Justice for the unborn
- Protection and provisions for women and unborn children
- Clear and critical thinking
- Slow and steady change from within our existing legal & legislative systems
Alternatives: Ministry Based
Alternatives Characteristics
- Individual ministry – one woman at a time
- Providing accurate information, options and support to women faced with the decisions of an unplanned pregnancy
- Care for women who are facing consequences of previous abortions
- Provide support services to enable women to choose life
- Provide programs or resources in such areas as parenting, adoption, sexual choices
- Provide medical services such as ultrasound, prenatal care and STD testing
Alternatives Motivation
- To affect the abortion issue one women at a time.
- To provide each woman with a safe place to talk about and contemplate their options when faced with an unplanned pregnancy.
- To provide alternatives to abortion
- To provide services that will enable women to choose to carry to term
- To lower the abortion rate and to make the need for abortion rare.
Some Questions to Ponder:
- How do you address these differences in your training? Why would it be important to do so?
- What might be difficult for a person who has been active in the activism arm when they come to volunteer at a Pregnancy Center? How might you help them in your training and supervision?
- How do you see these various arms differ? How do you agree with or disagree with each?
- What caused you to choose the alternatives arm of the pro-life movement?
- Why is it important to be clear about how the alternatives arm is different from the others?