monica miller

Miller wrote a book that we should read

Part 2: The Abortion Wars – Then and Now

What are some of the most significant changes you’ve noticed in the pro-life movement since your initial involvement back in 1970s to now? Have there been any encouraging developments? Setbacks? 

• Prior to the Roe vs. Wade decision, which was 1973, and all the way through the 1970s the other side was not uncomfortable with calling themselves pro-abortion. They did a PR shift in the early 80s where they consciously began to refer to who they were and what they were all about as the pro-choice movement. That was helpful for them even though I think it’s a lie.

• Another very big change on the other side is that for most of this fight it was very important for the other side to deny the humanity of the unborn. That was their primary justification for why it was all ok for a woman to have an abortion. Because the fetus, the embryo, the zygote, was subhuman, not human, not one of us and so she can have a moral justification to do what she’s doing. Now they have, to a certain extent, abandoned the emphasis on denying the humanity of the unborn because that’s a fight they can’t win. The evidence for the humanity is so obvious. Once you get to that argument you can easily show from science, from biology, from just plain old common sense, that we’re dealing with a human being.

• On our side the pro-life movement has gained credibility and respectability that we didn’t even have 25 years ago. And I think it’s just because we’ve hung in there. We’re not going away. This is a real war. We’re in it for the long haul. We have big name people who are on our side, including lots of politicians and even presidents of the United States. We’ve proven that this is not a political liability to have an anti Roe vs. Wade position.

• I do think more of the population is against the Roe vs. Wade decision, and I put it that way deliberately. Roe vs. Wade essentially gave us abortion on demand for the full nine months (of pregnancy). The general public is, I think, uneasy — and I’m deliberately being conservative with my analysis here — with this idea that a woman can get an abortion at any time in her pregnancy for any reason at all, completely without any government limitation or intrusion on that decision. We’ve shown that the vast majority of the polls show that Americans do not like late term abortions when they are presented with the facts. We’ve got some states that have banned abortion after a certain period of fetal development based on the unborn child feeling pain in the procedure.

• Activism is still alive and well but it is not as bold of an activism. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act coupled with local injunctions placed such an enormous burden on activist activity that the rescue movement is virtually gone. It’s alive in a flicker of activity here and there. Whether it will be revived in the future remains to be seen.

Second part and her book

Miller wrote a book that we should read

Part 2: The Abortion Wars – Then and Now

What are some of the most significant changes you’ve noticed in the pro-life movement since your initial involvement back in 1970s to now? Have there been any encouraging developments? Setbacks? 

• Prior to the Roe vs. Wade decision, which was 1973, and all the way through the 1970s the other side was not uncomfortable with calling themselves pro-abortion. They did a PR shift in the early 80s where they consciously began to refer to who they were and what they were all about as the pro-choice movement. That was helpful for them even though I think it’s a lie.

• Another very big change on the other side is that for most of this fight it was very important for the other side to deny the humanity of the unborn. That was their primary justification for why it was all ok for a woman to have an abortion. Because the fetus, the embryo, the zygote, was subhuman, not human, not one of us and so she can have a moral justification to do what she’s doing. Now they have, to a certain extent, abandoned the emphasis on denying the humanity of the unborn because that’s a fight they can’t win. The evidence for the humanity is so obvious. Once you get to that argument you can easily show from science, from biology, from just plain old common sense, that we’re dealing with a human being.

• On our side the pro-life movement has gained credibility and respectability that we didn’t even have 25 years ago. And I think it’s just because we’ve hung in there. We’re not going away. This is a real war. We’re in it for the long haul. We have big name people who are on our side, including lots of politicians and even presidents of the United States. We’ve proven that this is not a political liability to have an anti Roe vs. Wade position.

• I do think more of the population is against the Roe vs. Wade decision, and I put it that way deliberately. Roe vs. Wade essentially gave us abortion on demand for the full nine months (of pregnancy). The general public is, I think, uneasy — and I’m deliberately being conservative with my analysis here — with this idea that a woman can get an abortion at any time in her pregnancy for any reason at all, completely without any government limitation or intrusion on that decision. We’ve shown that the vast majority of the polls show that Americans do not like late term abortions when they are presented with the facts. We’ve got some states that have banned abortion after a certain period of fetal development based on the unborn child feeling pain in the procedure.

• Activism is still alive and well but it is not as bold of an activism. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act coupled with local injunctions placed such an enormous burden on activist activity that the rescue movement is virtually gone. It’s alive in a flicker of activity here and there. Whether it will be revived in the future remains to be seen.

Monica Miller first part

Very interesting, we have a conference with here.

The following is an interview with Dr. Monica Migliorino Miller, a Michigan pro-life advocate who is the author of Abandoned: The Untold Story of the Abortion Wars. Miller shares her thought son grassroots pro-life advocacy and how to stop abortion.

—

After nearly forty years of controversy, it appears that the war over abortion will not come to a quick and easy end. My hope is that this book will shed a light on one of the most desperate moments in the history of the world – a moment in which we have before us that great struggle over life itself and the meaning of human existence.

–Dr. Monica Migliorino Miller, excerpted from the prologue toAbandoned: The Untold Story of the Abortion Wars

Part 1: A Story That Needs to Be Told

*Bonus – 5 Tips for Pro-Lifers!

What is the main thing that you’d like to accomplish with your book – Abandoned: The Untold Story of the Abortion Wars?

It would be ideal if we could end legalized abortion with a book.

I want readers to come away with a much deeper, internal awareness of the gravity of this injustice. Abortion will, after they readAbandoned, never again simply be a philosophical debate or a legal issue or an issue within the culture war. But (something that) results in the killing of flesh and blood, individual human beings that are innately invisible and cannot be seen. And so, life just carries on as usual. It’s all so pathetically normal. Everything looks normal and it’s not.

Why should people read Abandoned?

Ultimately, because it’s the truth.  And ultimately because it’s the hidden truth. It’s the hidden truth about, I believe, the most important issue of our day. I’m saying things, and revealing things, in this book that have not ever been disclosed. I have had the most unique experiences. In some ways, I’ve been at the right place at the right time. I’ve seen things the human eye is not supposed to look at. And the book is a way to rip off the veil and to help people to see a truth that they otherwise wouldn’t know existed.

In the following excerpt from Abandoned you talk about a college roommate that had an abortion and the impact it had on you.

I left her apartment and stood on the dark sidewalk. I felt dazed and suddenly sick to my stomach. My head and heart pounded with the news of an impending death that I felt powerless to prevent. How could one person stop another from having an abortion anyway?

I walked the short block to my own apartment, entered the bedroom without turning on the light, and collapsed on the floor. I begged God that somehow this baby might not die. But I felt lost and helpless, utterly ignorant as to what I could do.

I imagine this is a feeling that many in the pro-life movement experience. What advice would you give to someone who wants to participate in the pro-life movement but doesn’t know where to start, or perhaps feels as though they won’t have an impact?

You need to educate yourself. Her abortion caught me completely off-guard. Why should you be prepared? Why should anybody be prepared to have to deal with a murder that’s suddenly been thrust upon you? Who’s prepared to deal with that? But this is what our culture really is now. You don’t know what to do. You don’t know how to respond.

My advice is — educate yourself:

1)       Read some good books that provide you scientific material on the development of the unborn child.

2)      Educate yourself on arguments that the other side uses to justify their position.

3)      Know a little bit of history: How is it that we got Roe vs. Wade? What is Roe vs. Wade? And what was the aftermath of Roe vs. Wade?

4)      Every pro-lifer ought to have a stack of literature: literature on fetal development, literature on crisis pregnancy centers, literature that explains arguments from the other side and the pro-life arguments in response. Have that ready. Even have it in the glove compartment in your car, in your locker at school, carry it around in your briefcase, because you just don’t know when the situation is going to come up when you are going to at least say, ‘Please do not get that abortion. Here is some literature, here is my card, here’s my phone number. Let’s talk, let’s see what we can do.’

5)      The biggest handicap for any pro-lifer is simply being afraid to say something and to take that risk to step out of your comfort zone. Do it for the sake of the women and ultimately for the sake of that innocent unborn child.

Adiós Detroit

Después de 4 semanas colaborando en Detroit con Guadalupe Partner ha llegado el momento de regresar a Nueva York. Han sido dias de mucho trabajo, pero tambien de grandes satisfacciones. Como dije en mi blog de presentación, no solo he podido ayudar a muchas chicas y sus familias,que se encuentran en situaciones muy difíciles, sino que también he podido aprender muchísimo de todos ellos. 

Gracias a todos los miembros a de la familia Brackney por acogernos, a Alicia, a Mr.Miller, y a todos aquellos con los he he podido compartir algún momento durante estas 4 semanas. ¡¡¡Gracias Detroit!!!

España en contra del aborto

Medio centenar de asociaciones provida han convocado este jueves la tercera manifestaciónunitaria en contra del aborto, que se celebrará en Madrid el sábado, bajo el lema "Sí a la vida".

Con esta protesta, a la que acompañarán varios actos en todas las provincias de España, se exigirá al Gobierno que "cumpla su compromiso electoral" y derogue la actual ley del aborto, informó Efe.

Rafael Lozano, coordinador de esta plataforma, ha dicho en una rueda de prensa que la convocatoria incluye actos por toda España y ha adelantado que estará "coronada" por una concentración en la Puerta del Sol de Madrid, en la que figuras conocidas tanto españolas como extranjeras darán sus testimonios en contra del aborto.

La directora general de la fundación RedMadre, Carmina García, ha clamado contra esta ley, que considera "injusta" porque "deja indefensas a las mujeres", y porque solo favorece "al negocio del aborto". Por ello, ha reclamado al Gobierno "que se deje de anunciar reformas y las haga".

A su juicio, "ninguna ley que permita el asesinato de inocentes es buena", razón por la que ha pedido "una mayor protección laboral" para las embarazadas y un incremento de las ayudas de paternidad y a las familias. Para García, es una "injusticia" dedicar "millones de euros" a las operaciones de aborto "en estos momentos de crisis".

Junto a ella, la presidenta de la Red Española de Asociaciones Provida, Alicia Latorre, ha pedido"levantar la voz" contra los políticos que "no están tomando decisiones" que afectan a "miles de vidas", y ha insistido en que no se conformarán con una normativa que "simplemente reduzca el número de abortos cada año".

La portavoz de la organización Derecho a vivir, Blanca Escobar, ha presentado su campaña derecogida de firmas internacional para llevar a la Comisión Europea la petición de reconocimiento de los embriones como "seres humanos con dignidad intrínseca".

Con la recogida de rúbricas, que se hace por internet y que se podrá realizar en casetas colocadas en la Puerta del Sol durante la concentración, se pedirá prohibir las investigaciones que supongan la destrucción de embriones y se defenderá que la vida "comienza desde el momento de la fecundación". "No estamos en contra del progreso, porque defender la vida es lo realmente progresista", ha concluido Escobar.

0 COMENTARIOS

IMPRIMIR

COMPARTIR

Share on facebook13

Share on twitter12

Share on tuenti

Share on meneameShare on linkedin

Share on email

EN VÍDEO

Toda la actualidad deSociedad

EN IMÁGENES

Toda la actualidad deSociedad

• BÚSQUEDAS RELACIONADAS
• COMPARTIR

  Share on facebook13

  Share on twitter12

  Share on tuentiShare on meneameShare on linkedin
  
• IMPRIMIR

PUBLICIDAD

Contrata el Depósito NARANJA de ING DIRECT a 4 meses al 2,40%TAE

Cámbiate a la Cuenta NÓMINA de ING DIRECT.

Otras noticias que te pueden interesar...

La tormenta perfecta

Que corra el aire

recomendado por Outbrain [?]

  

Añadir comentario

• Enviar comentario …
• Imagen

La actualización en tiempo real está habilitada. (Pausar)

                                        Ordenar por lo más popular ahora mismo                                                    Ordenar por mejor evaluación                                                    Ordenar por los más recientes primero                                                    Ordenar por los más antiguos primero                                

Mostrando 0 comentarios

  RSS

Reacciones

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Sidewalk Counseling Seminar

Today, I would like write here what Mr.Miller and Alicia, from Detroit, said in the Sidewalk Counseling Nacional Simposium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2 weeks ago:

 

Mr. Miller giving a speech

Occasionally my sidewalk counseling partner and I give seminars and workshops on sidewalk counseling.  Usually people like what we say, yet very rarely does anyone step out on the sidewalk to join us.  Even more rare are those who stick with it a year or more.  Perhaps my approach is all wrong.  Perhaps I should describe mild days in the fresh outdoors, cheering words from passing motorists, and the many honors received as a life-saving hero.  Unfortunately, as we all know, that is far from the truth.  Most sidewalk counseling is done in rough conditions with little or no thanks.  You might go days, even weeks, without a success story to tell.  You’re a muffled, frozen odd-ball.  Sometimes even your own wife (not mine, thank God) or husband begins to resent the time you spend away from home in what often seems a hopeless endeavor.  He or she will make comments like, “What about your own children? Your own family?  Your own home?”  But all these sources of discouragement are, to some extent, the very reason I’ve been sidewalk counseling since 1987.  Let me explain why.

One reason I suspect I have trouble in recruiting for sidewalk counseling is because even ardent, Christian pro- life people have to some exent been affected by the ethos of the age. Our age glorifies movement. The philosophy of movement is neaty summarized by a character named Weston in a C.S. Lewis novel, Out of the Silent Planet. Weston explains that the goal of the human race is to speed from one planet to the next, not letting other species hinder our process, because power is the fuel of movement, and its use is therefore justified for moving us on. Movement, he says, is Life. And is this not the thinking of our own time? Do we not tear down the past in a race to an undefined future? Do we not move from job to job, from house to house, from country to country, at a rate which would have confounded our ancestors? Do we not curse our computers when they fail to respond instantaneously to our bidding? In our human communication, have we not sacrificed meaning for speed? Do we not put those who cannot keep up the pace in out-of-the-way homes? Some of them do we not even kill? Success, for us, must be a measurable thing- measured in how many appointments we have recorded in our notebook and how many times each day the cell phone rings.

In the midst of all this, sidewalk counseling is an anomaly. In the midst of the rush, sidewalk counseling is a stillness. Focus and quiet, in sidewalk counseling, are essential. Sidewalk counselors do not chat, they do not preach, they do not chant slogans. They do not bear large signs. They want to be as unobtrusive as possilble, because when they approach a woman or a couple they want the moment to be one of fresh, genuine human contact.

Yet there is another element to the stillness of a sidewalk counselor. He or she must be willing to suffer–an act which does not allow for anger, defensive techniques, protestations or arm-flailing of any sort. Of course there will be successes; there will be miraculous moments, moments of profound mystery and joy, moments of obvious, near-palpable grace. More often, though, will be those times in which the wind whips around you, the day is bleak and bitterly cold, the clients rush in without even bothering to become angry with you, no one listens– then the world starts to whisper in your ear,” Is this the best use of your time? Are you really being effective?” This is the moment at which the sidewalk counselor must embrace his suffering; for in that embrace, in that acceptance, he holds the key to life.

Weston’s definition of Life, of course, was mostly wrong, or terribly lop-sided, perhaps. The definition of life begins not with movement, but with stillness. Life is, in the begining, a presence–an  unmoving, unchanged presence, the presence of God. The only complete definition of life that one can offer is, simply, God.  That’s it. Obviously, then, the closer to God one lives, the more one has of life. But how does one draw closer? What is the essence of God’s personality? In His constant self-gift, we recognize the obvious truth that His essence is Love.

To be willing to sidewalk counsel one must be willing to suffer. But to be willing to suffer is to be willing to Love, an act which takes us to the very source of Life, to the springs of its growth. Time after time, in the midst of the most bleak circumstances, Alicia and I have seen life flame out; we have seen mothers and fathers smile, thank us, and leave. We have seen an abortion clinic at which we sidewalk counseled for two years close, the business having been so affected by our presence that the abortionist was evicted for unpaid rent. Even without these obvious signs of life, though, we would go, trying to be the still presence we are called to be.  As long as love is there, death can have no victory.

By Edmund B. Miller and Alicia Wong