I Decided To Engage An Anti-Abortion Activist – Here’s What I Learned

See, “Blame the System Not the Victim” had nothing to do with abortion.  It was intended to create a space for victims of sexual violence to share their stories, and to expose an issue which suffers from a disturbing lack of attention.

Many of the marchers, however, were understandably triggered by Vladimir’s disgusting sign, which I had asked him to cover up out of respect.  He refused.  Our second interaction came at the endpoint of the march, when I went to speak to him again after noticing that people were becoming upset at his presence.

I knew nobody’s mind was going to be changed about abortion, despite the valiant attempts of a few of the other attendees who tried to make it an issue of choice and legality instead of morality.  This argument is destined to fail, because Vladimir truly believes that he is standing up against murder, not a legal medical procedure.

So I tried a different line of attack.  People were crying and shouting now, and the half-dozen police officers keeping an eye on the situation were becoming tense.  It was time now not for argument and debate, but de-escalation.

So I tried my best to appeal to Vladimir’s sense of compassion.  “Vladimir,” I told him.  “The people here are victims of abuse and violence.  Those signs can be truly hurtful to them.  Do you really think this is what Jesus would do?  Scare people into supporting him?”

But Vladimir remained undaunted.  “Not scaring,” he said.  “I am not trying to scare people.  I am trying to warn people.  Jesus will throw you all into hell if I cannot save you.”

You see, that’s why no amount of exegesis or philosophy or theology will ever work, why even respectful pleas for compassion cannot save people from Vladimir’s perverse brand of Christianity.  Vladimir and those like him believe, down to their very core, that they are just and righteous and just trying to help.

What can men do against such reckless hate?  For as much as Vladimir protests that he is acting out of “love,” the truth is that his actions cause nothing but pain.  He brought people to tears and instigated a confrontation that had to be broken up by police.

It is not enough to “agree to disagree” about matters like this.  I admit I have struggled with the moral implications of abortion, but I have never tried to infringe on a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, and I have never stooped so low as to call it “murder.”

Because if abortion is murder, then people who have abortions are murderers.  People who may have been sexually abused, people who are going through one of the most painful, difficult experiences there is.  These are the types of people who should be most comforted by Jesus, and yet people like Vladimir have turned him into a symbol of terror and misery.

We must fight Vladimir’s Christianity of hatred with all of our power, all of our strength, and all of our love.  Some minds may be impervious to change, but the organizations that either promote this disgusting rhetoric, or implicitly condone it through apathy, must be opposed.

People must be shown the real Jesus, the Jesus of love, of distributive justice and restorative righteousness, the Jesus who is a champion of the oppressed, so that when they see people like Vladimir, they can shrug and know that he and his ilk will be relegated to the dustbins of history before too long.

And until that day comes, let us all have the strength of this heroine, who declined to give me her name, but allowed me to take this picture of her blocking Vladimir’s signs to spare anyone else having to see them.  She knelt there like that for well over twenty minutes.