The pro-life cause is being given powerful, almost irresistible testimonies in defence of life and against abortion
Imagine one of the most powerful forces on earth. It has almost unlimited money. Many of the world's strongest rulers bow to its will. Millions of people across the globe are too frightened even to question its dogma.
And then imagine its dark heart being struck with fear ... by a TV ad for crisps!
Well, that's what happened on 7 February when US television channels broadcast a commercial for Doritos during the Superbowl. The advert featured a computer-manipulated image of an unborn baby and his or her desire to eat Doritos. Yes, yes, I know ... Americans have notoriously bad taste. But this baby's comic turn was enough to send NARAL, the country's main abortion lobby into apoplexy.
Why?
Humanity
The immediate answer from NARAL was because the commercial "humanized fetuses". I also suspect that NARAL was spooked by the fact that the advert was watched by an estimated 119 million people. We need, however, to go a bit deeper to understand the power of that advert.
One of the most famous of the ancient Greek myths is that of Pygmalion. A sculptor, he fell in love with a beautiful statue he had made of a woman out of ivory. He prayed to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, beauty and procreation, that the statue would come to life, and his prayer was answered.
Fast-forward to the modern age and we have the children's story of Pinocchio, in which a carpenter's wish is granted for a wooden marionette he had made to turn into a real boy.
Unique gift to the world
What we find in these tales is the natural human desire to go beyond thinking about other human beings or contemplating their images, to experiencing them in real life. No amount of abstract discussions or internet conversations can substitute for meeting the ones we love in the flesh.
In the case of the love of adults for children, this desire becomes more poignant and more pressing. For parents, their child is the long-awaited manifestation of their love for one another and their unique gift to the world. For the world at large, children represent a fresh beginning and hope for the future. For the individual, he or she is touched by the child's beautiful vulnerability and infectious joy.
Resonance
So the scene in the Doritos advert - pregnant mother, waiting father, and their unborn child at the centre - has both instant and deep resonance within the psyche of almost every person. NARAL's humourless, paranoid response was inhuman, not just because it was made in aid of the inhuman act of abortion, but because it displayed a cognitive dissonance about fundamental human realities.
What does this mean for the pro-life movement? Well, the growing number of visual records of children who have died before or shortly after birth is providing the pro-life cause with powerful, almost irresistible testimonies in defence of life and against abortion.
Meet some of the tiny people striking fear into the abortion industry: