Abortion Role Play
Scenario #1: Facing Fatherhood
You’re in a locker room and one of your teammates looks distracted....
How can you respond?
1) Show empathy and concern.
You: Hey, are you okay?
Peer: My girlfriend is pregnant. I guess I’ll have to pay for an abortion; I’m not ready to be a dad.
2) Share the truth with a caring tone of voice and offer accompaniment.
You: You already are a dad. What kind of a dad do you want to be? Paying for an abortion would be like hiring a hit man to kill your child.
Peer: [looks sober, then hangs down his head]
You: You can be a good dad to this baby. Do you want help gathering information about options that are good for your girlfriend and your baby? I can drive you to pregnancy resource center that offers information not only about how to raise children but also about how to place a child for adoption with a family that would love to raise your child. It’s not far.
Peer: Really, you have time?
You: Yes. One day your child will grow up and understand and be proud of you.
Scenario #2: Steering a New Mom to Safety
A friend calls you and tells you that she is pregnant and doesn’t know what to do. Then she asks, “Do you know where I can get an abortion?”
How can you respond?
1) Show empathy.
You: You sound scared.
Friend: I’m not ready to be a mom.
You: You want to be ready for motherhood.
Friend: Yes. I’m in the middle of school, and what will people think?
2) Share the truth with gentleness and confidence and offer accompaniment.
You: You already are a mom. I want to help you be a good mom. Let’s go learn about the options that will be good for both you and your baby. Places like Planned Parenthood which provide abortions are known to give inaccurate information and not offer help with any life affirming options. I can take you to a safe pregnancy center, where we can get information both on how to raise a child and on how to place your child with a family that would love to raise your baby. Let’s start with getting more information. You can be a good mom to this baby.
Scenario #3: Do Looks Matter?
After History class you comment to a peer how bad the Dred Scott decision was. You can’t believe that in 1857, the Supreme Court affirmed that slaves were property and the descendants of slaves from Africa were not counted as full citizens in this country. Your classmate agrees and adds, “We’ve come a long way.”
How can you respond?
1) Seize the moment to expose a hidden reality.
You: Well actually, we have a really similar situation today with abortion.
Peer: What do you mean?
You: Well, the slave Dred Scott was a human person, yet the federal government decided that he was just part of his master’s household with no civil rights. And similarly, Roe v. Wade, in 1973 decided that the unborn child, who is a person, has no civil right to life. With Dobbs the court sent the issue of an unborn baby’s right to life back to individual states to decide. That’s why we have all these legislative battles about abortion in each state.
Peer: But Dred Scott was a grown man, so obviously he’s a human person; it’s not so obvious when you’re talking about a fetus.
2) Define terms.
You: The child in the mother’s womb is hidden, but at the moment of conception, in ONE cell, he already has the unique chromosomes that make him distinct from every other human being on earth. The color of his eyes, the shape of his hands, and where he will gain weight is already programmed into that one tiny cell.
Peer: The genes might be there, but it’s not acting like a human person yet.
You: Actually, with modern technology the heartbeat of the baby can be detected as early as 18 days after fertilization and brain waves detected as early as 6 weeks. And by 8 weeks all the body systems are present including little fingers and toes.
Peer: Wow, really? That’s amazing. A heartbeat at 18 days? But I’ve seen pictures of human embryos, and they don’t look like people yet.
3) Draw an analogy.
You: Do we want to grant people the right to life based on their looks? That sounds like Dred Scott and even Nazi Germany. All people have an inalienable right to life simply because they are members of the human family from conception to natural death.
Scenario #4: Sharing a Service Project Idea
It’s lunch time at school, and you’ve been thinking about what might be within your circle of influence to help mothers choose life for their babies. You sit next to a peer whom you’d like to get to know better and strike up a conversation with, “Hey, I’d like to organize a fundraiser selling cupcakes to benefit the local Pregnancy Resource Center. Do you want to help me?” She asks you, “Why should we try to help the Pregnancy Resource Center?”
How can you respond?
1) Seize the moment to expose a hidden reality.
You: They help mothers chose life instead of abortion. Most women feel trapped into their abortions. Over 80% of the women who have had abortions admit that they would have chosen life if just one person had encouraged them. I want to be part of that encouragement.
Peer: But how can it be an encouragement to make an unmarried girl go through the embarrassment of carrying her pregnancy to term and maybe dropping out of school and ruining her career plans?
2) Define terms.
You: She has profound decisions to make that will change her life, but there’s also another life involved. The child in her womb is not a “problem” to be eliminated by abortion but a person to be loved.
Peer: Okay, but how loving is it to give her baby up for adoption? And it’s still embarrassing to go to school pregnant or to drop out.
You: According to an article I read on adoption “two million infertile couples in the United States are actively trying to adopt a child. Each of those hopeful couples would give their right arm for the privilege of parenting children.”1 It’s loving to both the baby and the infertile couple. And it is loving to the young mother who can then know that she has placed her baby with a mom and dad rather than killing him.
Peer: Hmm... and about the embarrassment?
3) Draw an analogy.
You: If you got in a car accident with your grandma and need to miss some school and extracurriculars to help her recover, it might be embarrassing if you were the bad driver but wouldn’t it also be responsible and loving?
Peer: Yes, of course. I’m there if my grandma needs my help.
You: Speaking of help, that’s is where the pregnancy center comes in. They can help moms work out housing and school issues and more. And the help is all free, thanks to their benefactors and volunteers.
Peer: Wow! That’s awesome! I didn’t know people cared so much! I want to be part of that. When do you want to make the cupcakes?