For years the pro-life movement has been predominantly spearheaded by women. These women have poured literal blood, sweat, and tears into defending the unborn and we should all be incredibly grateful for the work they have done.
It is no secret, however, that we need men as well. Purely as a matter of logistics if men are not involved that means the pro-life cause is missing out on half of the world’s population. Specifically, I believe, we need young men.
Young men are an incredible untapped resource in this fight, but we are not mobilizing them in the way that we would like. As a young man myself, I believe I have a great deal of credibility in my understanding of why this is.
*As a disclaimer heading into this article, I am speaking in generalities. Yes, there will be exceptions and outliers, but broadly speaking, we know these things to be true.*
Polls show that young men are returning to conservative, traditional, family values at a nearly unprecedented rate. Many of these men are on fire for truth. They want to stand for what is good, true, and beautiful. So why have they not surged into the ranks of the pro-life movement and begun storming the gates before us?
Though the truth may be offensive to some, men and women are in fact different. God has wired us in different ways. While it is certainly true that men and women complement each other, it is also true that the things which attract young men to fight for a cause are different than the things that attract young women to a cause.
There have certainly been many noteworthy and honorable men who have poured their lives into the fight for life, but we know that overall men have been underrepresented in our ranks.
Due to this lack of male representation inside of the pro-life movement, we have often pursued messaging and strategy that orients toward women. Again, this is not a bad thing. Many women respond best to other women which has been proven through the fruit of the pro-life movement.
The loving, caring, and nurturing feminine influence is an essential part of our work to protect life.
It is not however, what will attract young men to lace up their boots and join the fight. Soft, warm, and caring messaging works well for women. It turns men away.
Young men want a hill to charge, they want gates to storm, and they want a righteous fight.
Unfortunately, when a young man publicly declares that abortion is child sacrifice; that it is murder and must be banned, he may be told by those in the pro-life movement that he should “tone down his messaging” or “we do not want to hurt those who are in the process of finding healing after aborting their child.”
That young man will likely pack his bags and go somewhere else. He wants to slay the dragon, he wants to defend truth, he wants to unapologetically do what must be done to end the murder of a million babies each year. He does not want to be tone-policed while he fights the dragon.
That’s not to say we should be reckless or leave a path of hurting people in our wake. We should always be prudent in how we fight for life. It does however help to explain and understand the thinking of the young men who we wish to reach.
Many young men see abortion through the lens of this analogy:
There is a troll standing on a bridge throwing babies over the edge and into the rushing water below. Downstream there are good women who are fighting tirelessly to save the babies as they float down river. The young man sees this issue and decides that the best thing to do is to go upstream, find the troll, and cut his head off so he can’t throw any more babies off the bridge. While some men many be excited to help fish babies out of the river downstream, most we be far more motivated to go upstream and kill the metaphorical troll.
Contrary to what young men are looking for, our messaging in the pro-life movement has been very soft and female oriented. Again, this was done with the best intentions and had great success when reaching women, but it is not optimized for reaching men.
Men need different messaging and the pro-life movement needs the participation and influence of more men.
If we want young men to get involved, we must let them cut the head off the troll. We must encourage them to use the gifts that God has given them to fight and save the lives of the unborn babies.
Men and women are different, but complementary. I do not write this article to belittle the amazing work of women in this movement. I write it in hopes of helping bring much needed reinforcements, so women are not fighting alone.
Incorporating masculine messaging and influence does not have to be at odds with messaging that works for women. The two can work together for a common goal. Much like how a mother and a father bring different strengths and strategies when raising their children.
My encouragement to all in the pro-life movement is that when those men do show up, we let them fight like men. We don’t need our men to become women. We need our men to be bold, unapologetic warriors for the unborn who will storm the gates of hell and help finally end abortion once and for all.
If we understand this, we can bring in a new wave of young men and tip the balance toward LIFE.
In Defense of Life,
Victor Nieves
President, Life Issues Institute
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