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OPINION www.liveactionnews.org
NARAL’s Wild Rhetoric About the Susan B. Anthony List Smacks of Desperation
By Kristi Burton Brown
It’s usually the desperate who resort to baseless name-calling. If truth, right, good, and even real power are really on your side, you have no need to stoop low enough to smear someone you oppose to rile up your own base. You have no need for wild rhetoric.
It’s one thing to call your opposition out for misinformation, bad facts, lies, or just plain cruelty (like killing unborn children). It’s quite another to do what NARAL has just done to the Susan B. Anthony List in an email letter. While the SBA List is certainly strong enough to stand up for themselves, the crazy ideas put out in the letter by NARAL’s President, Nancy Keenan, are worth refuting.
Below are excerpts from the letter, with the most outrageous parts highlighted:
It’s time. The fight has begun, and women’s rights hang in the balance.Rick Santorum is out, and anti-choice extremists have tapped a new leader in the War on Women: Mitt Romney.This morning, the radical anti-choice Susan B. Anthony List announced its endorsement of Romney, and pledged to spend $10 million to elect him and defeat President Obama.Show these zealots that their $10 million won’t silence us.We have to show these anti-choice extremists that we won’t let them buy this election.Our research shows that key blocs of women voters in battleground states are turned off by the extreme views of anti-choice radicals like the Susan B. Anthony List.
(Notice how many highlighted parts there are. I had to hold myself back.)
Let’s get a few things right here. First, Nancy Keenan, I’m a woman, too. Don’t tell me that my rights hang in the balance now that the SBA List has endorsed Romney. Pro-life presidents are not anti-women. You think those two terms are synonymous, but they’re not.
Abortion should never, ever, ever, in the history of all mankind, have been classified as a woman’s right. Why? There’s probably a million and one reasons. Here’s three: 1) Not all women want this “right.” In fact, I’d argue numbers that are clearly becoming a majority don’t want it. We’re tired of how abortion has hurt our fellow women. 2) Men are fathers and should have a right to save their children’s lives. 3) Most importantly, abortion kills a separate, unique, living individual. The pro-life/abortion issue is about the right of an innocent human being to remain alive and not be killed—a right every one of us should equally enjoy.
It’s pretty desperate for NARAL to go down their list of smear names and try to call SBA List every one in the book. Can you see them in their dark back room now, asking each other, “How do we include every one of these names in one, short letter so the public feels like the SBA List is out to attack us AND them?” Then, when they figure it out, they rub their hands together in glee, masking their desperation through empty rhetoric and sophomoric phrases.
I’m joking, of course, but really, NARAL, is this the best you could come up with?
Extreme?Radicals?Extremists?Zealots?Extreme?Radical?
Did you know that every single one of those words could be applied to you, too? You think the SBA List and the rest of us are “extreme” in our views about protecting every human life? You think we’re “radical” about the equal right to life? You think we’re “zealots” because we don’t give up on the cause until every person is allowed to live? Well, you’re extreme for demanding that abortion on demand, for any reason, be completely legal. You’re radical about opposing any and all restrictions to abortion and guidelines for abortion clinics. You’re zealots because you refuse to give up, even when you’re losing ground.
There, we’re equal now. Tit for tat. Maybe now we should start focusing on the real issues. Not on your opinion that we’re extreme. Not on our opinion that you’re extreme. Calling an opposing side “radical” without proving how they are does nothing. Of course they’re radical in your opinion. But you’re radical in theirs! That’s the nature of the beast. Stop whining and show some proof.
Calling names without evidence never helps anyone. It sidesteps the real issue of women and babies and innocent human life. The truth is a discussion that can help people. Name calling, not so much. That just speaks of desperation.
One more thought. Maybe, NARAL, it would do you good to read this article: “Words and phrases that smart people should stop using.” Here’s a sample of what the author writes:
When it comes to politics, people are all about the sensationalism. As most three-year-olds have figured out, negative behavior and throwing tantrums is a good way to get attention fast. In politics, this behavior often takes place as the misuse and abuse of language. Make something out to sound worse than it is, and then have a tantrum over it…. This is a great tactic for causing an uproar and distracting people from real issues.
She also has a really good idea about your new favorite phrase “the war on women”:
The use of the word “war” in the context of American politics belittles the real war against women in Egypt and other countries. This is yet another example of how language is misused to rouse emotions rather than focus on the facts and attempt to arrive at a suitable solution
ABOUT KRISTI BURTON BROWN
Kristi Burton Brown is a pro-life activist in her home state of Colorado, a pro-bono attorney for Life Legal Defense Fund, an allied attorney for Alliance Defense Fund, and a stay-at-home mom. She is married to the amazing David Brown, and together, they have the cutest baby girl in the world! Kristi loves her Savior, Jesus Christ, speaking out for the truth, reading historical fiction, scrapbooking, politics, and cooking.


4 comments:
Grrr...Didn't know the SBA List had switched to Romney. Disappointing.
Jackie, yes it is disappointing. But, what other course did they have? Well, I suppose that they had the choice of Ron Paul. Maybe San(c)torum will re-enter the race. We can still vote for him in our primaries. Perhaps we can all write to the SBA List and let them know of Mitt Romney's track record on abortion, or what he would call "choice." See also www.chooseliberty2012.com Also, for some good articles on what is, and what isn't in Our Dear America here, and for good perspective, see see America's Party on Face Book. I'm not promoting a certain political party, I'm just saying that America's Party has some article worth reading. Thank you.
Actually, it is VERY disappointing. It was WRONG for them to endorse Romney the MOST Pro-Abortion Governor America ever had.(MA) (See also that which is known as "Romney Care.") What were they thinking? Maybe they were thinking, "Not Ron Paul." In any event, I think that they were in error. Perhaps they can correct that. Idk NARAL's attack against Romney isn't an attack against Romney so much as it is an attack against the f PRO-LIFE PLATFORM of the Republican Party, and thus against the SOUL and/or the CORE of those whom "they" call, "VALUE VOTERS." "Value Voters?" hmm. In any event, yes, it makes sense that to harm the little ones is not "environmental friendly" or, "friendly," at all. It also makes sense that Romney though he be "nice" if he is for "CHOICE" like he said he was in 2002 in a public interview on where he stood with this "Women's Issue," isn't really "nice" at all. Nor is he, 'GOOD." I am very grateful to Live Action and the Writer of the Article that shed light on this subject of NARAL's attack against we who are for the not harming of these little ones of their Mother's Heart in the Womb, and partial post, and post. Mercy.
I'm very grateful to the author of the article that I found in Live Action News (www.liveactionnews.org), Kristi Burton Brown of God's Heart, and ours. (And, to paraphrase The Most Honorable Rep Col Allen West, "yes I said, God." And, I know, I know, he didn't say, "God.") Thanks Jackie, for your comment, once more. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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