Why I’m OK with the Pro-Life booth on campus

I believe it was the Tuesday that the Pro-Life booth was there. I had just gotten off from my internship, had parked my bike near the COHO, and was walking towards the gift store. I noticed that there were women standing on the far side of the MU holding umbrellas with signs that read “Umbrella Escorts.”

I’d figured it was to guard from the sun for some reason. You can probably see where I was completely wrong.

One of the umbrella holders

As I was walking towards the booth I did see a few women holding “pro-choice” banners, the usual for UC Davis. When I came closer to the booth, a young man in his twenties approached me from the pro-life booth, and asked if I had a few minutes to chat. I looked at the booth for a moment, and thought “oh no, this is going to end in a screaming match, isn’t it?”

I grew up in a very pro-life area, and I’m pro-choice for the fact that I don’t really care. I knew that this was a heated topic and emotions might run high. But being that I had no where to be for seven hours, I gave the guy a chance.

The pro-life booth

I don’t remember his name, so we’ll call him Dan. Dan was a very educated young man. He had counter arguments to all of my claims, presented actual scientific facts to back him up, and he kept a very calm and knowing tone. It was more of a conversation than a debate.

The major topic we discussed was about when (and if) a fetus should be aborted. I told him my view, that it should be decided within the first trimester and shouldn’t go much further. And he brought up the point of “well, what changes at that point to make it not OK?” He then brought up that the fetus has a heartbeat not too long after conception, and I brought up my personal favorite rebuttal for that statement “yeah, well if you give an electric shock in the right place, so can a dead frog.” It was a lot of calm statements and quick rebuttals, my favorite kind of debate.

We talked about other alternatives to abortion (contraception, abstinence, and adoption). When I brought up adoption I noticed he tensed up a bit, and asked what I thought about that. I told him I’d “prefer babies be adopted as opposed to aborted, but I know there are problems with the adoption process and foster homes” and he mentioned that his brother had had issues with the process when he was young. This led me to believe Dan himself was put up for adoption.

There was one question I asked him that he didn’t know the answer to (The question had to do with in what situations would aborting the fetus be acceptable, as per his religion). He didn’t try to make anything up, instead he asked two of the other men there, who were able to give me a good answer (the answer being if the mothers life was particularly at risk during pregnancy or birth).

These men were not trying to fight. They were simply trying to get their message out. They had every right to be there, they broke no rules set by the campus or student affairs. They weren’t making anything up. The pictures weren’t fake. These were legit people with justified feelings, beliefs and arguments.

I understand that not everyone agrees with their message. Everyone has different views and beliefs. Every single person is entitled to their opinion and are protected because we live in the USA. To request that a booth or table be shut down because you don’t agree with their message is a direct violation of the other parties 1^st amendment right to freedom of speech.

And that doesn’t mean people can just block out what they’re saying. If you block out the other side, you will never know the whole truth.

Our perception determines our views. But a rose by any angle is still a rose

I’m still pro-choice after my conversation. But by talking to Dan and his colleagues, it helped open my eyes to the other argument. After our conversation he handed me a fake million-dollar bill and said “Thanks a million”, which was a great way to add a bit of levity to our rather deep conversation.

‘Thanks a million’

@ranger_kielak