Start Conversations with this New EHD Video!

Share this new EHD video (our featured resource for July 2019) with a friend.

One helpful thing about EHD is that it’s aimed at better education for pregnant moms. This is a priority that has broad support among most people. You don’t even have to bring up abortion in order to tell a friend that you think this video is worth checking out! We suggest sharing it and asking your friend, “What was most interesting to you in this video?” You can also move the conversation directly to the topic of abortion by asking, “With all of the references to abortion today in the news, how do you think it would change the discussion if people watched this video and kept it in mind?” Or, you might ask, “How does this video affect your view of abortion, if at all?”

Start Conversations with Our New K-4 Lesson Plan

**Yes, this is the same resource we’ve been proud to highlight for the past two months! It’s that important!**

JFA developed our new K-4 Lesson Plan (click here to read a brief description) partly to “drive interest” in discussions about unborn children within churches and other communities. Here’s how we envision that working: You download the lesson plan and teach any group of K-4 kids (or you can teach just one!). During the lesson, students practice sharing what they’ve learned with their parents, and then take home a bracelet and a “Student and Parent Handout” to facilitate those conversations about the unborn child. We anticipate this will not only create conversations among parents and students but also among parents and teachers and others in the community! Help us test this idea to see if it will work.

Start Conversations with Our New K-4 Lesson Plan

JFA developed our new K-4 Lesson Plan (click here to read a brief description) partly to “drive interest” in discussions about unborn children within churches and other communities. Here’s how we envision that working: You download the lesson plan and teach any group of K-4 kids (or you can teach just one!). During the lesson, students practice sharing what they’ve learned with their parents, and then take home a bracelet and a “Student and Parent Handout” to facilitate those conversations about the unborn child. We anticipate this will not only create conversations among parents and students but also among parents and teachers and others in the community! Help us test this idea to see if it will work.

Over 20 Conversation Starters on the Blog!

Since the advent of JFA’s Loving Every Human Being with JFA monthly resource bulletin, we’ve posted over 20 unique conversation starters to the JFA Blog and our @7conversations Twitter page, including video of our dialogue artists in action, trending news stories, and more. The goal of every JFA conversation starter is to help an average pro-life advocate to create a conversation about abortion in a natural, less awkward way. If you haven’t yet done so, choose one and open up a dialogue with a friend or co-worker. We’d love to hear how it goes!

Conversation Starter for February - Video: Dialogue with Julia

Use the outreach video recently posted at the JFA blog in order to start your own conversation in a natural way. In it, JFA trainer Rebecca Hotovy talks with a pro-choice student named Julia at Colorado State University. (See the description of the video in the image caption below. The four video clips containing the dialogue play automatically via a playlist at the links below.) Why not share this footage with a friend and ask, “Have you ever been a part of a conversation about unintended pregnancy and abortion like this one?”

Prepare for your own conversations by watching Rebecca share the Equal Rights Argument (Part 1), graciously challenge the idea that legalized abortion aligns with feminism (Part 2), ask key clarification questions related to women’s rights and bodily autonomy (Part 3), and offer evidence for the biological humanity of the unborn (Part 4).

Conversation Starter for January - Video: Outreach Clip

Use a video we just posted to create a conversation about whether unborn children have equal rights. In the video, Rebecca Hotovy interacts with a student at Colorado State University. She skillfully uses questions to explain how we can be confident unborn children deserve equal treatment to the rest of us. You can find the video here or at the links below. After watching, share it with a friend and ask your friend, “I’m interested in better conversations about abortion, and this seems like an example. I’m curious: What do you think of this woman’s reasoning?”

Featured Conversation Starter for December - "The Miraculous Journey" Re-Unveiled in Doha, Qatar

Use the recent re-unveiling of “The Miraculous Journey” in Doha, Qatar to create a conversation about unborn children in a natural way. To help, we’ve posted a link to the photo essay by Penny Yi Wang which she published in 2013 at the original unveiling. Note in our post that we aim to begin the conversation with common ground:

Whatever your views on human development and abortion, can we all agree these amazing pictures show sculptures that are an amazing human feat illuminating an amazing human journey? (Damien Hirst's "The Miraculous Journey" was just re-unveiled last month.)

Featured Conversation Starter for November - New "Invitation to Dialogue" Brochure

Use JFA’s new “Invitation to Dialogue” Brochure to start a conversation with a friend in a natural way. (Click here to download the brochure to your phone or request a paper version.) The brochure begins with an invitation to understand and show concern for women experiencing unintended pregnancy: “Unintended pregnancy is not simple, and it’s not easy.” Then it invites the viewer to consider the question, “Is the unborn a human being with equal rights?” After being warned, the viewer can lift a page to view accurate, graphic images of early abortions, and the brochure asks if the pictures depict a medical procedure or the killing of a human being. Finally, the brochure invites the viewer to explore solutions for unintended pregnancies.

Featured Conversation Starter for October - "Opposite Poles?"

Use Joanna Bai’s recent post, “Opposite Poles?” to start a conversation in a natural way. This post refers to a recent article by Conor Friedersdorf in which he argues that many people are more similar in their beliefs than at first they appear to be. You can start a conversation with a friend or acquaintance by retweeting or posting to Facebook and asking, “Do you think this writer is correct that many people are not as far apart as the media many times portrays them? I’m interested in seeing if we can agree and work together on some solutions to unintended pregnancy in order to help women and children.”

Featured Conversation Starter for September

Use the recent post, “Liz Harman’s Interview: A Lesson I Didn’t Expect to Learn” to start a conversation about unintended pregnancy and abortion in a natural way. This post features a reflection from JFA Trainer Joanna Bai after a video of a pro-choice philosopher defending abortion was mocked by many viewers when it was posted last year. Note Joanna’s
willingness to say she learned something through the process. Note also the questions she poses at the end of the post to get a conversation started. You can share her experience with a friend to help your friend see that you are interested in different viewpoints and aim to be intellectually honest.

Featured Conversation Starter for August

Use the recent post, “I Don’t Have the Money,” to start a conversation about unintended pregnancy in a natural way.  This post features a picture and quotation from an Exposures Project on-the-street interview.  You can easily begin your conversation with common ground by expressing sympathy for this woman’s situation.  Most share that sympathy.  Indeed, not having enough money is one of the most common reasons women give for having an abortion.  (For tips on moving the conversation forward from there, see www.jfaweb.org/tott.)

Featured Conversation Starter for July

Use the recent JFA blog post, “Her Experience Matters,” to start a conversation with common ground.  This post features a JFA exhibit panel that uses Paul Simon song lyrics to give expression to the feelings of many women facing unplanned pregnancy.  In every conversation about abortion, you can find common ground on the importance of women and their bodies, and this post will help you do this in a natural way.  It will also help you to develop empathy for women facing unplanned pregnancies, and it will help you gently pose thought-provoking questions about those difficult experiences.

Conversation Starter - “Can She Embrace Both?”

Featured Conversation Starter (June):

Use the recent JFA blog post, “Can She Embrace Both?” to start a conversation with a friend on social media.  The post features a panel from JFA’s Art of Life Exhibit which suggests that “embracing child and career” is “better than abortion.”  The image on the panel, though, is a painting which appears to be only loosely related to the title...until one looks a little closer.  The post also features free speech board comments about the panel and asks the viewer to add his or her own comments to begin a conversation.  The post ends with the question, “How can we help an underprivileged woman to embrace both her unborn child and her career?”

Conversation Starter - “What _s M_ss_ng?”

Featured Conversation Starter (May):

Use the recent JFA blog post, “What _s M_ss_ng?” to start a conversation in a natural way this month.  The post shows a JFA kiosk sign, presenting a quotation from an article by author and newspaper editor Verlyn Klinkenborg in a mysterious way that invites the viewer to think more deeply about unintended pregnancy and the unborn.  You can use the post to ask a friend, family member, or co-worker, “What do you think is missing after an abortion?” and, “Is the unborn something very similar to you and me, or is the unborn something very different?”

Conversation Starter - "Should We Step In?"

Featured Conversation Starter (April):

Use the recent post, “Should We Step In?” to start a conversation in a natural way this month.  This post features a true story from Exposures, a Voices for the Voiceless project.  The post uses the story as a springboard to ask pro-life advocates, “Do you think abortion should ever be legally available?” and asks pro-choice advocates, “Are there any circumstances in which you would try to stop someone from getting an abortion?”