Pro-lifers are rare indeed

During my undergrad, us students had an office to ourselves for studying and working on honours projects. I don't even know how many hours I spent in that windowless, unkept, uncared-for room, struggling to finish assignments and lab reports alongside my fellow students. Spending all that time together meant we learnt quite a bit about each other, even without ever having a face-to-face conversation.

One time, I was studying for a midterm when I happened to overhear a conversation between a couple of guys on the other side of the room. I missed most of it, but I did hear one line that resonated with me:

"Well, I actually know people who are pro-life. No really. There are actually people who are pro-life. Girls even. I know some girls who are pro-life."

This was said in a matter-of-fact way, but the people involved with the conversation looked at the speaker in mild surprise or disbelief. I froze, thinking that this conversation was rather odd considering that they had a valid pro-lifer sitting with them in the room, who was also a girl. But none of them knew that I was pro-life, and apparently they had defaulted to the assumption that I was pro-choice.

How many other people had my fellow students come into contact with who were actually pro-life? From their words, one would think not many, or none at all. But they were having this conversation when they all knew me, and yet they still thought they had never met a pro-lifer, and specifically they thought they had never met a pro-life woman. A couple of the students even went so far to voice the opinion that a girl couldn't be pro-life.

I was surprised and confused by their opinions. Sure, I didn't talk about abortion with many people so I didn't know what most of my friends' views on the subject were - but I still knew several people who were pro-life, and all of these people were women.

So why the disconnect? If these students knew me, and thought I must be pro-choice, then how many other "closet" pro-lifers did they know and mistake for pro-choicers? Obviously there is a problem when a group of people have never met one single pro-lifer. When a group of people actually think that no women are pro-life. How are their views on abortion ever going to change if they never find them challenged by their peers ... in fact, when they believe that everyone in their life thinks the same way they do?

Looking back on the conversation I overheard, I wish I had said something. Even if I had simply said "I am pro-life" and left it at that. Instead I stayed silent, and wondered how they could have never met a pro-lifer ... all the while not realizing that my actions provided an answer to my own question.

I don't believe that pro-lifers are rare. But I do think that active pro-lifers are rare indeed. And that has to change, or no one will ever believe in the pro-life cause. After all, if we aren't even willing to say that we're pro-life, how is anyone ever going to think that we're in the right?