What’s the Best Way to Change Someone’s Heart on Abortion?

By Daring Greatly!

In the month of October, weDignify students at ISU and UIUC took their education in small group to the next step by Daring Greatly!

Daring Greatly is a WeDignify initiative where students engage in respectful conversations about abortion with their peers, focusing on compassion.

Keep reading to hear from students and their Daring Greatly Experiences!

“I encountered a young man who was pro choice. I felt very sorry for him because he said that due to his experience in a drug-filled household and then the foster system, he thought it would be better if his parents aborted him. Luckily, he is much better now, and we were able to communicate sympathy for his situation, and we actually surprised him when he found out we agreed with him that we also need to put more programs in place to provide for women and their children.”

- Adam

“I encountered a young woman who was seemingly unaware of what abortion is. The group I joined helped her to dig deeper to understand what abortion is and the fact that there is a living human being inside the mother’s body. It was amazing to be able to witness someone’s perspective changing and see her willingness to learn more.”

- Lydia

“I met a man who agreed with me on the premise that life scientifically begins at conception, but he believed that our rights didn't begin until we were born. He said that he would trust parents who parents decided to abort the child to ‘minimize the child's suffering’. While we disagreed starkly about the restrictions that should exist on abortion and whether mothers should have that option, at the end of the conversation I asked him if he supported free pregnancy resources for women and men in need of help. He replied, ‘Of course!’ and I gave him a weDignify flyer with local pregnancy resources, and we parted ways on friendly terms.”

- Cavan

“I encountered a young man who thought it was interesting that we were pro-life, but he wanted to know if we cared for the children after they were born. He was born in a broken home with parents who were addicted to drugs, so he eventually ended up in the foster system. He even said that in the past he had wished that his mom had aborted him. He was very interested when we told him that we do care for the dignity of all life and that we also try to direct women to pregnancy and childcare resources. He was quite adamant that he thought abortion was alright up to 4 months, and while he acknowledged that it was an arbitrary time to set, in his opinion, having a painful life was worse than abortion. We found a lot that we agreed with him on in human dignity and we left at the end letting him know that his life had value. Though in the moment we didn’t flip his opinion, I do think that we did change his view of those in the pro life movement as more compassionate.”

- Brandon

“My conversation was with someone that considers himself pro-choice. I was able to ask insightful questions and gain his input. I believe I was able to plant a seed of truth. He agreed with me that life begins at conception, now the hope is that the Holy Spirit will grow in him and he will recognize the benefits of life.”

- Victoria

“I had a conversation with two graduate students who were initially hesitant to share their views on abortion. Eventually they opened up and even thanked us afterward for talking with them. They said they respected what we were doing by opening up a dialogue on such an important issue. They especially loved how we dialogue with dignity, which really stood out to them.”

- Joe

“I spoke with one girl who was very adamantly pro choice, she even told me I wouldn't want to hear what she had to say. After speaking with her, I realized she was a lot less pro-choice than many people. She believed that abortion was only permissible before the heartbeat. After some discussion she was very open to looking at the pregnancy resource list I gave her, and she greatly appreciated it.”

- Sam

“I was pleasantly surprised by how willing most people were to talk once we started dialoging with dignity. We encountered people on either end and in the middle of the pro-life/ pro-choice spectrum, and interestingly their perspectives were conducive to the beliefs they grew up with. Thus, we had a transformative experience challenging them to think more about their perspectives.”

- Alexander