Live Action founder and president Lila Rose was the keynote speaker last weekend at the 26th annual Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life, the largest student-run pro-life conference in the nation. In her speech, Rose evaluated where the pro-life movement is at today, and what needs to be done to achieve the ultimate goal of changing hearts and minds about abortion.
“It’s a media war, and we must change hearts and minds”
Rose began by explaining that the pro-life battle to protect the preborn is a battle for hearts and minds, which can be difficult when the pro-abortion side, with the help of the media, is relentlessly dehumanizing the baby.
She shared that Live Action is countering the false narrative through its Face to Face video series, which brings together real people impacted by abortion to tell their stories. She also noted that the very existence of abortion survivors, some of whom appear in Face to Face, dismantles so many of the lies told by the abortion industry.
“It’s a media war, and it’s a message war. And you have to be willing to tell the stories of the child that is killed by abortion,” Rose said. “It’s also important to tell the stories of the women that may feel pressured or coerced, or the women who regret their abortions, the men, the lost fatherhood of a whole generation of men whose children were aborted. We have to tell these stories.”
She encouraged attendees to share the message of the truth about abortion lovingly and prayerfully.
“We can change hearts and minds… if we’re willing to speak the truth in love.”
“What’s the end game?
Rose noted that while it was good that so many politicians were able to attend the March for Life, she asked, “Where’s the action? What’s the end game?”
“The end game is that we need complete legal protection for every human being’s right to live in this country. In other words, we need to abolish abortion,” she said. “A child in the womb in this country has no legal rights, virtually none at the federal level, and in many states, none. They can be killed up until the moment of birth for any reason.”
She reiterated that abortion should never be a “state’s issue” because there is no right to vote for the killing of an innocent human being. Many states are now working towards ballot measures that enshrine abortion as a constitutional “right” — something that is entirely illegitimate, because each life is protected under the 14th amendment of the United States Constitution.
In a message of encouragement, she said the minds of people are being changed when they are told what abortion actually does to the preborn child. On that note, she called on lawmakers to do more to protect innocent preborn children by identifying the reality of what abortion actually is — the brutal starvation, dismemberment, or poisoning of the preborn child. Clear, truthful messaging changes minds.
‘We need a new revolution’
Lastly, Rose advocated for a “new revolution around sex” which she called “a revolution of love.” She talked about how the sexual revolution of the twentieth century completely upended the family with the false message that sex is not about love, family, children, and commitment. This has resulted in a “litany of hurts,” including broken marriages, porn addiction, loneliness, the harm of birth control, the emotional and physical toll on women, and much more.
“We need to assert a new revolution, a revolution of love, a revolution of commitment, a revolution of saying I want what’s best for you,” Rose said.
“The revolution of love says, ‘I love your whole self, body and soul. I want your best for both your body and soul, and I’m willing to even sacrifice myself for you body and soul.’ That is the message of our Creator our Lord and Savior. That’s what He modeled for us.”
“The ultimate end game of the pro-life movement, the ultimate solution to the human rights tragedy that we are facing of abortion has to be this revolution of love,” she said, explaining that revolution includes keeping sex inside a marriage that is open to creating new life. “If we can do that, if we can establish a revolution of love in this country and we first do that by living that ourselves, we will end abortion almost overnight.”
