FOUND: A Truly Civil Conversation About Abortion

Carolyn Silveira

This respectful and deeply intelligent conversation about abortion feels like a miracle. If you want to change the way we handle our differences in this country, watch even one minute of this video and share it now. Start watching at 7:40, and check below the video for my recommended highlights (and lots of them).

Soak in this healing, and listen to however much feels good to you. Here are some suggestions for where to plug in:

10:50 Did you know there’s an evangelical “consistent ethic of life”? David Gushee says it’s not just about abortion, it’s about issues like torture and gun control that touch us “from womb to tomb.”

16:00 Here, Frances Kissling, the pro-choice former Catholic nun, talks about the ways in which David’s work resonates with her.

18:45-22:00 Why we should drop the pro-life/pro-choice language. Do Frances and David agree?

24:00-30:00 The referee steps out of the way, and Frances and David talk face to face. Frances asks, "Does God want me to have sex or not?"

31:00 How is Buddhism like the Sexual Revolution?

34:00-39:00 David and Frances say what they like about the other side and don’t like about their own movements. Vulnerability! Honesty! Amazing!

43:00 What do women really know about fetuses? Are pro-choice people disrespectful to fetuses? Are pro-life people disrespectful to women?

45:00 On “betraying your side” and why Frances doesn’t want to compromise.

48:00-53:00 Why do women have abortions in the first place? And are men just “off the hook”?

54:00 Can you force someone to accept the gift of life?

56:00 The audience Q&A!

1:00:00 On giving the crocodile your arm to save yourself.

1:04:00 A social safety net policy from David that everyone is going to love.

1:06:00 Why the anti-abortion guy is terrified that Roe v. Wade might be overturned.

1:09:00 Would you adopt a pregnant teenager? David and Frances hope you would!

1:10:50 How the heck do you support your side’s policy and have an ongoing conversation with your opponents? Listen for David and Frances’s beautiful answer.

1:18:45 This isn’t the first time that abortion opponents have dialogued. You won’t believe what came out of their experience.

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