In a television interview about abortion with actress Kathy Ireland, Alan Colmes of the popular daily program on the Fox News Channel, “Hannity and Colmes,” first stated his pro -choice position, which I think is a very typical pro-choice argument.  Colmes said: "Now I think I'm conservative on abortion because I think the government should not be involved and that this is not a governmental issue. It's a personal issue. So wouldn't I then have the conservative position here?"

 One problem with the debate over abortion is people tend to see abortion as a preference, like drinking or smoking, rather than a moral issue such as slavery, notes Francis J. Beckwith, associate professor of philosophy, culture, and law at Trinity International University, and author of Politically Correct Death and Abortion and the Sanctity of Human Life (College Press). To master the pro-life position, we must understand this is a key part of the pro-abortion position.

 First of all, whenever you defend the pro-life position never use the Bible as a reference.  The only exception would be if the person you’re talking to is a committed believer, but even then you need not mention Scripture at all.  Why? First of all the pro-life position can be defended by reason, logic, science and philosophy very well. Secondly, many people will be put-off by reference to Scripture on this subject, especially non-believers. Here are some suggestions on how to defend your pro-life position:

1. First Clarify the Issue:  The first and most important thing that you need to do is clarify the issue at hand.  Is abortion a private matter that anyone can simply decide on based on how they feel?  One of the most articulate defenders of the pro-life position is Scott Klusendorf.  On his web site, Life Training Institute, Klusendorf has a piece called “The 5-Minute Pro-Lifer,” where he explains how to clarify the issue: “Pro-life advocates contend that elective abortion unjustly takes the life of a defenseless human being.  This simplifies the abortion controversy by focusing public attention on just one question: Is the unborn a member of the human family?  If so, killing him or her to benefit others is a serious moral wrong.  It treats the distinct human being, with his or her own inherent moral worth, as nothing more than a disposable instrument.  Conversely, if the unborn are not human, killing them for any reason requires no more justification than having a tooth pulled.” 

2.  Point Out that science confirms the humanity of the unborn:  As pro-life advocates, we believe that an unborn is a human being from the point of conception.  This is not just a religious view but very much a scientific one. Embryology textbooks used in medical schools spell this out very clearly. The widely used medical textbook The Developing Human, Clinically Oriented Embryology, 6th Edition, Moore, Persaud, Saunders,1998, states at page 2 that "The intricate processes by which a baby develops from a single cell are miraculous .... This cell [the zygote] results from the union of an oocyte [egg] and sperm. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being ...."At page 18 this theme is repeated: "Human development begins at fertilization[emphasis in original] "There is no longer any doubt that individual human life begins at conception." Dr. Landrum Shettles, the first scientist to achieve conception in a test tube, writes that conception not only confers life, it "defines" life.[i] 

3. Point out the logic of the Issue:  Based on what we’ve stated here, we can make a logical syllogism: 

                  a)  Human life should be protected by law

                  b)  The unborn is a human life from conception

                  c)  The unborn life should be protected by law 

4. Is the Unborn a Person?  One of the most common responses you will get from pro-choice advocates, even after hearing the evidence, is that the unborn is not a person and should not have any legal rights. The Roe v. Wade 1973 Supreme Court decision made this same argument - that the unborn has no legal rights.  Well, who determines when a human being starts to be a person and on what criteria?  Even better, ask the person making this statement what is the difference between a human being and a person?  Are there human beings that are not persons?  If so who? They will not be able to answer this.  Personhood is not a status that is conferred by man or by any stage of development, it is conferred by the essence of being a human being at the beginning of life - conception.  You cannot be a human being and not a person. 

5. Responding to “that is just your opinion or your view.”  You will often hear this response from pro-choice advocates.  This response ignores all we’ve talked about so far; it ignores that the unborn is a human being, it ignores that we see abortion as a moral issue not a subjective preference such as what color car do I like or I prefer chocolate ice cream.  This response confuses subjective choices and an objective moral claim.  Pro-life advocates claim that abortion is a moral claim that is not subject to a choice.  We do not have a choice to kill one of our children.  In the same way, we do not have the choice to an abortion because abortion kills a living human being; it is not a subjective view or an opinion. 

6. I dislike abortion but there should not be a law against it.  This is basically what pro-choice politicians such as Rudy Giuliani say.  A woman should decide for herself whether to have an abortion.  Again, this view ignores the fact that the unborn is a human life.  Our society has laws that no human being can take the life of another – we call it murder.  If you accept that an unborn is a human being there can be no other choice but to protect it in law.  To say that a woman can decide for herself whether to kill an unborn is the same as saying that she could also decide to kill her two week-old infant.  What’s the difference?  Both are human lives.  There is only a matter of location.  One is outside the womb; the other is in the womb.  Since when does location matter in deciding whether to kill a human life? 

There are many more arguments that can be used but I wanted to keep this list short.  Using these tactics will serve you well.