Wow, Sandra! That is a thought-provoking conversation!
I once read that people who are kidnapped should let their captor know their name, personality and other things that will effectively increase empathy in their captor. The problem with abortion is that the mother doesn't have enough empathy for her child that she would choose to kill that child prior to birth. It ultimately haunts them -- despite attempts to ignore of justify it.
I read some testimony from guards at Nazi concentration camps who said that this was known to their superiors. So, the concentration camps attempted to "dehumanize" the victims through various means. They were numbers instead of names. They were shaved and dressed in like clothing. They were prevented from initiating conversations with the guards.
Yet, some of the guards still were haunted. Some learned names of the victims. Some could recognize faces or were struck by acts of kindness from the victims.
Empathy is key in this matter. I often find that it is effective to try and get the pro-abortion individuals to see the baby as alive and human. The consideration of a name is also effective in developing that sense of love and empathy for the child. I also have found it helpful to try and get the mother to put herself in the place of that child.
In one instance, I explained to a woman that I never knew my biological father because he and my mother divorced prior to my birth. He was trying to force my mother to have an abortion. She refused. So, he tried to "induce" one of his own (in a violent rage). I was my father's unwanted child -- born to a young mother who didn't have much money. I explain that I am grateful that my mother loved me enough to let me live despite having a "legal" right to kill me.
When people see others around them as the other side of such a "choice," then I've noticed that it humanizes that child in their eyes. I think that your conversation may have had a similar effect.
