Election season has a way of resurrecting old arguments and slogans. I was thinking about one of these this morning -- one of the most popular pro-choice formulas -- and it struck me that we pro-lifers have been handling it all wrong. All we have to do is reverse it.

The formula goes something like this:

"If you pro-lifers really cared about children, you wouldn't stop caring as soon as they were born. We won't believe you really care until you have adopted/fed/clothed/cared for every needy child in the entire world."

The genius of that formula is that it contains a seed of truth. We pro-lifers, particularly those who have come to the pro-life position by way of our faith, know that of course we have a moral obligation to help every needy child we can, and so we allow ourselves to get put on the defensive. But the fatal flaw of that formula is that, if we tried, we could so very easily turn it upside down. Like this:

"If you pro-choicers really cared about children, you would start caring before they were born. You wouldn't hold them hostage to our promise to care for them, and you wouldn't even dream of letting them be killed. We won't believe you really care until you have sworn to help every unborn child come to birth so that we CAN care for them."

As I said, I just came up with this, so it may need some tweaking. Anyone have any corrections or modifications to suggest?