Pro-life narratives

After reading American pro-life books, articles, blogs, and news sites for a while, one starts to notice recurring narratives: assertions, stories, themes, and ideas that are worked into whatever is being discussed. Taken as a whole, these narratives draw a picture of the world view of pro-life activist.

I started working on a list, and I thought I'd share it with you. Items are in no particular order. Take a look and let me know what you think. 

Pro-life narratives:

1. Abortion causes breast cancer. This is an example of how abortion does not empower women, but harms them. 
2. Many women who have had an abortion deeply regret it. Women are fooled into thinking that an abortion is what 'they' want, when in fact they will come to realize that they have been exploited. 
3. There has been an increase in the abortion rate since, say, the 1950s, and that is due to the 'sexual revolution,' including the invention of birth control pills and the promotion of a culture of sexual permissiveness. 
4. Many contraceptives are actually "abortifacients," in other words, methods that sometimes or often 'work' by killing a conceived child rather than preventing conception. Inter-uterine devices (IUDs) and birth control pills fall into this category. 
5. There is not a population problem in the world. In fact, declining birth rates in developed countries, leading to populations demographically dominated by the elderly, are going to cause widespread problems. And in the third world, family planning organizations push 'population control' in coercive ways that undermine traditional cultures and families. Population control is a form of imperialism. 
6. Abortion 'mills' are cold, profit-obsessed businesses. The drive for profits in the 'abortion industry' leads to all sorts of abuses of pregnant women. Some clinic employees are well meaning feminists, but they are themselves fooled by the rhetoric of the pro-choice movement and unaware of their own exploitation by the abortion industry. 
7. Women are generally not empowered by the right of abortion. Instead, a pregnant woman who 'seeks' an abortion is often the misinformed victim of a man-- a boyfriend, husband, father, or abortion doctor. Her situation is made worse by the rapacious abortion industry that wishes to exploit her for profit. Legal regulations that promote 'informed consent' attempt to help women make their own choices about abortion or carrying a pregnancy to term. 
8. When laws that make abortion illegal have exceptions, especially 'life' and 'health' exceptions, the exceptions become giant loopholes that swallow the general prohibition. 
9. Fetuses feel pain and are tortured during the abortion process. 
10. Abortion doctors as a whole are the worst doctors. No good, respectable doctor would work in the abortion 'industry,' especially because of the stigma. Therefore, dangerous, unscrupulous doctors become abortionists (for example doctors that have been cited for malpractice or had their licenses suspended). 
11. Abortions are not as safe as advertised. There are many stories of vulnerable women being permanently maimed or killed by an incompetent abortionist. 
12. The pro-choice movement is racist, rooted in a eugenicist past. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, is often cited as someone who had ties to the eugenics movement of the early 20th century. The current pro-choice movement targets African-American women for abortions. Pro-lifers often compare their movement to the civil rights movement. 
13. If people can see what goes on inside the womb, they would recognize that the unborn are human beings from the moment of conception. If people learn what truly happens during an abortion procedure, they will be morally repulsed by abortion and become pro-life. The pro-choice movement does its best to hide the humanity of the unborn and paper over the gruesome cruelty of abortion. 
14. Increased access to and use of contraception does not lower abortion rates; it raises them. Because contraception has relatively high failure rates, people who have bought into the sexual revolution will have more sex (especially outside of stable married relationships) and therefore more unwanted pregnancies. This will in turn increase the number of abortions.
15. Planned Parenthood and other pro-choice organizations promote sexual behavior among young people in order to get them 'hooked' on sex. They do this knowing that contraception will fail, thus creating more unintended pregnancies for the abortion industry to abort. They are like drug pushers-- once people are addicted to sex, they will come back for more. This produces a steady stream of abortion clients for the abortion industry. 
16. Abortion promotes a 'culture of death.' The 'culture of death' is a culture that promotes desensitization to life and an elevation of utilitarian values of convenience for selfish individuals. In the culture of death, lives, including those of the unborn, infants, the old, and the infirm, are to be shoved aside if they prove inconvenient to others. Abortion, therefore, is not just harmful in itself, but will lead eventually to the acceptance and legality of assisted suicide, euthanasia, and infanticide. The ultimate stage of evolution in a culture of death is government promotion and enforcement of these things-- in other words, they will go from being 'choices' to 'mandates.' Pro-lifers often compare their work to that of the Allies fighting the Holocaust. 

Feel free to suggest some more! You are also welcome to send me items for a similar American pro-choice list.