Boston Prolife and Prochoice Leaders Dialogue
Background
On January 28, 2001 the Boston Sunday Globe published an article jointly authored by three prochoice and three prolife leaders in Boston that describes their experience in a five-and-a-half year confidential dialogue. They began meeting in 1995, in the aftermath of John Salvi’s fatal shootings of two women who worked in abortion-providing clinics in Brookline, MA. Their dialogue was initiated by the Public Conversations Project in collaboration with Susan Podziba, a public policy mediator in Brookline, MA.
The leaders’ story provides an honest and personal glimpse into an unusual dialogue about a polarizing public issue. The activists hope that their testimony will further improve the public conversation about abortion in the wider Boston community and beyond.
We anticipate that their story clarifies what dialogue is and shows that dialogue and passionate, effective advocacy can complement rather than dilute each other. We hope it will inspire advocates on both sides of other polarized public conflicts to refrain from using rhetoric that is demonizing or inflammatory and to establish direct, constructive communication with those whom they regard as their political adversaries.
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