About Time for a New Conversation

Matters of life and death deserve serious attention as well as discernment and grace. But the serious issue of abortion has become a political tool that treats women as pawns. For decades (especially at election time) women are bludgeoned and manipulated by the twin weapons of fear and anger to get women’s votes. No one wins. Death and suffering results for baby, mother, father, entire families, and even society. 

But there are people starting a new conversation about abortion. One that respects the confusion and brokenness involved, but one that offers healing, and answers. Our friend Nancy Barto, former Arizona State Senator and pro-life advocate, shares a practical guide for conversations within love and truth that disarms political weapons.

And this week, America's Women and Dream City Civics are hosting a two-part Pro-Life Outreach Training, September 10–11, designed to equip people to turn their convictions into meaningful action. Register for the ProLife Outreach event today! 

Life – We are Talking, But are We Communicating?    By Nancy Barto

We have talked about abortion for years. Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, voters have been talking even more, especially politically – expanding abortion in 14 out of 17 state ballot measures.  Pro-life advocates spoke too by fighting these efforts and furthering stronger protections for the unborn in some states, but the ugly truth is abortions are up 21%.

We had hoped things would be very different, but we see the culture and it’s disheartening. Many in our party had been avoiding the issue already and some are tempted to give up and shut up.  Those sentiments were articulated to me regularly as a candidate running in the swing district I had just been assigned in 2022 as if abortion is a “settled” issue.  Both parties know it isn’t.  We’re fighting for the same single-issue-voters despite party affiliation, but pretending the issue doesn’t exist doesn’t prepare us for these conversations when they come.   

And they are coming.  In fact, the abortion conversation is just beginning. These same voters are actually more ripe than ever for engagement, but differently.  We don’t have an information problem.  We have a heart problem. As Blaise Pascal wrote, “The heart has reasons that reason alone cannot understand.”     

This was new territory for me as part of the Protect Unborn Babies Team in our swing district, and it’s been a journey. Coming fresh from the political high places where getting the bill through was the goal, working to connect with single-issue voters at a level deeper than arguments and information challenged my motives.  Do I really care about them - or do I just want their vote?

So we started with ourselves.  That’s when our new messaging paradigm began to take shape and Messaging in the Moment was born.  It’s a video training that refreshes our knowledge about the issue: the facts, the history, where we are now, and links to some of the best arguments out there. Then we dig deeper, into the factors undergirding pro-abortion mindsets along with some of the new bold initiatives invading that territory with practical solutions – and heart.  Arguments and facts are necessary, but trust is essential before they can even be heard. Practicing strategies that build trust can open the door to them in the future. It’s not rocket science.  It’s human and humanity will prevail.  

But now? During the critical midterms? Absolutely. We may not see it playing out yet, but last month the Arizona Capitol Times asked and answered the question, “Will abortion be a defining issue in the General Election?” with a definitive, ‘yes’. As they have in the past, Democrats make sure it is because it can still be a winning issue for them.  They know we don’t and won’t give up.  Ever.

Life is in our nation’s DNA! In Speaker Mike Johnson’s words, “We are all created by God…that is the foundational premise.  It’s in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, our nation’s birth certificate... and we abandon that premise at our peril.” 

Despite the fact that at least one out of four* women will have an abortion in her lifetime, ending 1.2 million unborn lives each year in our country, it may take time, but the battle is winnable.  The trouble is many of these women won’t seek out the loving support they need from our amazing Pregnancy Resource Centers, plus there are many other factors at work isolating them. 

Women still want, and need, to be found and cared for.  You and I may encounter these souls this election season and in our daily lives beyond it.  Are we prepared? Perhaps Messaging in the Moment can serve to start better conversations. Not to win an argument or even a vote, but to care and perhaps win a friend - for life.