A pro-life activist walks into Google’s headquarters and delivers a speech so compelling that within 24 hours, the online video of it surpassed a similar speech given by the head of Planned Parenthood.
It may sound like the start to a far-fetched joke, but on April 20th, pro-life speaker and activist Stephanie Gray did just that.
Gray was the co-founder of the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform and served as its executive director for several year before starting the ministry which she now runs, Love Unleashes Life.
She spoke in April as a part of the Talks at Google series, a program that brings a variety of speakers to the company’s headquarters to discuss their work. Gray has participated in more than 800 talks and debates on abortion.
Gray’s talk centered around the idea that there are three qualities that lead us to call someone “inspiring:” They place others ahead of themselves, have “perspective” on their sufferings and situation in life, and do the right thing even in difficult situations. She linked these criteria to the process of dialoguing with others about abortion, emphasizing question asking.
She began by contrasting two stories, that of the shipwreck of the Costa Concordia in Italy in 2012 and the “Miracle on the Hudson” emergency plane landing in 2009. In the first story, she explained, the captain had jumped ship along with the rest of the crew. In the second, the pilot, Captain Chesley Sullenberger, had been the last off the flooding vessel, ensuring his passengers all exited safely.
In comparing the two stories, she noted that Sullenberger was lauded as a hero, and the captain of the Concordia internationally shamed.
However, she noted that the comparison was only valid “depending on, indeed, whether embryos and fetuses are human beings, like the passengers on the airplane.”
To determine whether or not a fetus is a human being, Gray displayed an image of a human fetus and posed the question, “What are her parents?” It would logically follow that two human parents’ offspring must be the same species, she said.
Taking a look at what qualifies as “personhood,” Gray considered the terms used by pro-infanticide philosopher Peter Singer, that a person is a being which is “rational, conscious, and self-aware.” She contrasted a human embryo with an amoeba: the embryo lacks these qualities “because of how old she is,” where the amoeba lacks them “because of what it is.”
“Should personhood be grounded in how old we are, or should personhood be grounded in what we are?” she asked.
Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards also gave a Talk at Google, in a video published March 7. Gray’s talk, published June 19, had surpassed Richards in views within 24 hours of being uploaded. [Editor’s note: As of June 23, the pro-life video had 12 times as many views as the pro-abortion video]
Full story at Catholic News Agency.
Check out the Kanuck Ad advocating Birth Control – because Children are Annoying to ‘adults’. Ahem
Ontario releases offensive, anti-child ad: Kids are annoying, use birth control
https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/a-message-from-the-ontario-govt-kids-are-annoying-use-birth-control
This talk was fantastic! Can’t recommend it enough! Thoughtful and well presented, I dare say she probably made some pro-life converts at Google. It’s an hour well spent, and if you have friends or family who are not pro-life, send them the link.
To Michael McDermott, above.– I, too, saw the offensive ad. Children should NEVER be portrayed by their society, in a negative light, as “unwanted!” Such practices should be BANNED!! Instead– a good society, should always favor its children, and let them know, that they are LOVED, WANTED, VALUED, and PROTECTED!!! And NO CHILD ABUSE WILL BE TOLERATED!! It is very important, for a vibrant culture, to always praise and encourage Traditional Marriage and Family– the very heart of all civilization! And a society must always be eager to pass on its culture, to the children of the future — or it will die!
Wonderful that the pro-life activist, Stephanie Gray, was so successful at Google! What is truly sad– is the lack of Christian moral teachings by all the churches, especially our Church! — to form people in Christian virtues! We need more REAL MEN, of fine character, like the heroic Captain Sullenberger, of the “Miracle on the Hudson!” BRAVO to Stephanie Gray, and her fine pro-life work!
don’t miss the terrific wikipedia write-up on stephanie.. she’s the kind of speaker catholic campuses should be inviiting for graduation and commencement times, not to mention pro-life course offerings on ‘catholic campuses’
A fantastic talk, and I am sure her books is as fantastic. I liked what she said about offering up suffering, too, as when we get older more suffering usually comes with age. God bless her!