With Dobbs v. Jackson and the end of Roe v. Wade on everyone’s mind, we’ve had people coming to us in droves for help. Their friends, relatives, and coworkers are challenging them constantly on abortion, the Church’s teachings, and the dignity of human life, with pro-abortion talking points coming in fast and furious.
The good news is that it’s our job to provide answers. Here you’ll find five powerful resources to keep you frosty as you navigate the minefield of Catholic apologetics on abortion.
5 Non-Religious Arguments Against Abortion
We all know that the Church says abortion is a grave evil, and there are plenty of good religious arguments to back that up. But it’s not as though the pro-life position is solely religious. Here, from Catholic Answers Magazine, apologist and veteran pro-life debater Trent Horn lays out “a robust case for the pro-life position that withstands philosophical scrutiny.”
Contrary to the popular secular narrative, you don’t have to be Christian to be pro-life. You don’t even have to be religious. If you’re in a dialogue with your secular friends about the dignity of the unborn, this might be the best place to start.
Catholics Can’t Be Pro-Choice
Trent searches for the “Catholic case for abortion” and finds that . . . there just isn’t one. Whereas the previous article will get you traction with your secular friends, this one will help you talk to Catholics who think they have found loopholes in the pro-life worldview.
Trent sets his sights on the usual suspects here, from “I’m personally opposed to abortion but wouldn’t force that choice on others” to “the Church’s position on abortion has changed over the centuries,” and he hits a bullseye with all of them. No ifs, ands, or buts about it: Catholics cannot be “pro-choice.”
Abortion: Cut Through the Noise with This Simple Argument
In this episode of Catholic Answers Focus, Joe Heschmeyer teams up with Cy Kellett to set aside the lesser arguments from the pro-abortion side and hit the central one: the question of when life begins is just too complicated for us to figure out.
With apologetical machete in hand, Joe slashes through the pro-abortion brush here with a quick, easy, and devastating counterargument. You will not want to miss this one.
Is Childbirth “Too Dangerous” to Ban Abortion?
Whenever the abortion issue comes up in conversation, you can bet it won’t be long before the “danger” issue comes up. Don’t statistics show that abortion is safer than childbirth? In that case, how can you call yourself “pro-life”?
Well, Trent has an answer to that contention—and an answer for the follow-up contentions that will inevitably arise. If we take it for granted that the unborn child is a threat to his mother, then what should we compare him to? An enemy soldier? An inadvertently dangerous mentally ill person? Trent expertly brings this argument back down to earth, countering those pro-abortion statistics with numbers that bring out the proper context and serving up a devastating logical counterattack to the false idea that pregnancy is just too dangerous to let us protect every innocent unborn child.
But what about ectopic pregnancies? Even the Church allows for abortion in those cases, right? Well . . .
Ectopic Pregnancy and Double Effect
This classic Catholic Answers Q&A is the go-to for questions about abortion and ectopic pregnancies. Before getting worked up about this rare and dangerous condition, it’s crucial to know the answers to a few basic questions: what is an ectopic pregnancy, what does the Church actually say about it, and how is it dealt with in a moral way?
Fr. Charles Grondin delivers here, in a bite-sized, easy-to-memorize package. For such a short piece, this Q&A is a powerful resource not only to tackle the “ectopic pregnancy” objection, but also to get the long and short of the Church’s smart, practical, and time-tested approach to balancing love for the mother and love for the baby in her womb.
As you use these arguments and others from our archive, remember what’s most important: charity, charity, charity. Multiple generations now have been born and grown up under the shadow of Roe v. Wade, and the pro-abortion indoctrination runs deep. There’s a lot of confusion out there, a lot of misguided distress, and tempers are running high. Our job as Catholics is to shine a light for God—patiently, kindly, and charitably.
Don’t forget that we’re out to save not just the innocent unborn, but also our neighbors. Even the most viciously pro-abortion partisan out there is a child of God, whom Jesus bled and died to save. So make your case with vigor, all the while working also to win the heart of everyone who comes to you.