February 22, 2023
Guest post by SFLA Student Sofia Nagy
GUEST POST: When I found out that Representative Judy Chu (D-CA– 28) was going to be speaking at the high school I had just graduated from, I knew that I had to be there. As a Southern California resident and former abortion supporter myself, I wanted to talk with Rep. Chu to have productive, thought-provoking dialogue about the issue, which is a rare thing to encounter in today’s political climate.
Rep. Chu supports something I now unequivocally oppose — the deliberate killing of preborn children — but I do believe that she deeply cares about women and humanity as a whole in her heart, although we sharply disagree on the actions to take. I believe this is the case with many of the abortion supporters I have encountered, and in my desire to talk with Rep. Chu, I was coming from a place which acknowledged both sides can think they are being caring.
Many of those who organized and attended the event at Arcadia High School immediately recognized me as “the pro-life girl” who founded a Students for Life of America (SFLA) group on campus while I was a student. I experienced first-hand the overall ideological hostility that permeates Arcadia High School towards anyone who breaks away from the mainstream American liberal narrative.
During my time as a high schooler — and especially during my senior year — I was persistently cyberbullied and socially scorned for believing that all human beings, including those in the womb, have the human right to life. Given this, it was admittedly nerve-wracking to step foot on campus once again. Yet, there I was.
I knew that I would only have one shot at dialogue with Rep. Chu because the possibility of having an ongoing conversation would be slim to none due to the event’s nature. She’s a widely known politician who was invited to briefly talk to a packed auditorium; she would give a speedy Q&A session, and it would be over in the blink of an eye.
After considering all this, with the help of the SFLA regional coordinator in my area, Mary-Logan Miske, I decided to ask Rep. Chu what she thought of sex-selective abortion and abortion after a prenatal diagnosis — like Down Syndrome — as a representative who prioritizes women’s issues and issues of people with disabilities.
For the most part, she weaved around my question by going on the “my body, my choice” safe route and omitting the prenatal diagnosis part altogether. However, she did say something that particularly caught my attention:
“Of course, I would not want to see somebody having an abortion just based on the sex of her child, but what I will always respect is the right for a woman to make the decision that is best for her.”
Why exactly would you not want to see that, Rep. Chu?
There either is or is not a human being in a pregnant woman’s womb, and if abortion is taking out a non-human “clump of cells” from a woman’s womb, there is no reason to object to the procedure. However, if abortion kills a human being while in a mother’s womb, the situation abruptly turns.
How could one essentially claim, “I disagree, but I respect the choice and it’s not my business” if the choice involves a child being deliberately and violently killed?
How could one claim to believe in equal human rights for all human beings when there is this glaring exception?
And if one chose to take the “They are subhuman/not fully human/potentially human” route, they would have to explain what that exactly means and why that is. When are we human beings with human rights if not when human life begins? What factors would one use to discriminate against preborn children as not fully human — location, level of development, age, size, ability to feel pain, dependency? It quickly goes down the rabbit hole.
Rep. Chu, I would like to genuinely and respectfully ask that you reflect upon your response to my question, and I would like to tell you the following:
Abortion is like a band-aid on a bullet wound in American society. There are so many issues we need to address for women, children, and families to have better lives in the United States, but when has violence, the killing of innocents, discrimination, and dehumanization ever been effective in achieving this throughout history?
We need to take an approach where we affirm that every human being matters. It is never too late to get started — trust me; I used to be an abortion supporter, but now I advocate for life. You can, too.