pro-life feminists
There's been some scuttle this week in my forum over the fact that the women's march was a lot of pro-choice groups and pro-lifers felt left out. As a pro-choice person I see no problem with this but I will admit there was a time, mostly before I'd had two pregnancies of my own, when I too wondered if you could be pro-life and a feminist.
What changed me? Well, I moved to a city where anti-abortion protesters uses stolen images of bombed babies to plaster on trucks and drive around town, that definitely made me want to be on the opposite side. I also realized that regardless of how I felt about abortion there was one important question: do I want it to be illegal. Plenty of pro-choice people want abortion to be more rare. Some of the biggest pro-choice organizations out there are also increasing access to birth control, which is not a pro-abortion thing to do. Abortion rates decreased during the Obama administration. So when it comes to picking a side, there is pro-choice and anti-choice. Saying "I want abortion to be legal I just want everyone to feel bad about it" doesn't mean anything.
So let's say you want it to be illegal, but you're still a feminist... I guess I just have some questions.
Do you truly believe that a zygote is a human? What about an embryo? If you don't, then you believe abortion should be legal for almost the whole first trimester... genuine pro-lifers are not on your side here you realize.
Do you think we should make exceptions for rape victims? Does the victim have to get her attacker convicted, do we have to wait until the sentence is given out so she's got "proof"? That usually takes longer than a pregnancy, and a lot of victims don't want to come forward because we do such a nice job of raking their names through the mud, will you just trust women in this situation?
Given the fact that miscarriages are so common, especially in early weeks, how will you test whether a woman had an abortion or a miscarriage? Or is it okay with you when a woman is sent to jail for a miscarriage? Does that seem "feminist" to you?
Do you think families should be allowed to terminate a pregnancy if a fetal abnormality is detected, or should a court should force a family to carry a child to term only to have it face a hard, short life? I personally think that's really cruel, are you going to force that on people?
Do you know that families learn about these situations at their 20-week anatomy scans? So all-out bans on abortion after 20 weeks limits their choices at the worst possible time?
Should abortion be legal at any time if the health of the mother is at risk? Will you set up a court to hear these cases or just trust women and their doctors? When a woman finds out late in pregnancy that she's in danger, time is very short. Will you let a few die so we don't err on the side of too many abortions?
Did you know that there aren't doctors who provide late-term abortions for no reasons, so your concerns about women skipping down to the abortion clinic in month 8 because they're bored are totally unfounded?
Where, pro-life person, are you wanting to draw this line? How do you think this will play out in a way that doesn't traumatize, hurt, or kill women?
I guess if you can answer those questions you can be a pro-life feminist.
What changed me? Well, I moved to a city where anti-abortion protesters uses stolen images of bombed babies to plaster on trucks and drive around town, that definitely made me want to be on the opposite side. I also realized that regardless of how I felt about abortion there was one important question: do I want it to be illegal. Plenty of pro-choice people want abortion to be more rare. Some of the biggest pro-choice organizations out there are also increasing access to birth control, which is not a pro-abortion thing to do. Abortion rates decreased during the Obama administration. So when it comes to picking a side, there is pro-choice and anti-choice. Saying "I want abortion to be legal I just want everyone to feel bad about it" doesn't mean anything.
So let's say you want it to be illegal, but you're still a feminist... I guess I just have some questions.
Do you truly believe that a zygote is a human? What about an embryo? If you don't, then you believe abortion should be legal for almost the whole first trimester... genuine pro-lifers are not on your side here you realize.
Do you think we should make exceptions for rape victims? Does the victim have to get her attacker convicted, do we have to wait until the sentence is given out so she's got "proof"? That usually takes longer than a pregnancy, and a lot of victims don't want to come forward because we do such a nice job of raking their names through the mud, will you just trust women in this situation?
Given the fact that miscarriages are so common, especially in early weeks, how will you test whether a woman had an abortion or a miscarriage? Or is it okay with you when a woman is sent to jail for a miscarriage? Does that seem "feminist" to you?
Do you think families should be allowed to terminate a pregnancy if a fetal abnormality is detected, or should a court should force a family to carry a child to term only to have it face a hard, short life? I personally think that's really cruel, are you going to force that on people?
Do you know that families learn about these situations at their 20-week anatomy scans? So all-out bans on abortion after 20 weeks limits their choices at the worst possible time?
Should abortion be legal at any time if the health of the mother is at risk? Will you set up a court to hear these cases or just trust women and their doctors? When a woman finds out late in pregnancy that she's in danger, time is very short. Will you let a few die so we don't err on the side of too many abortions?
Did you know that there aren't doctors who provide late-term abortions for no reasons, so your concerns about women skipping down to the abortion clinic in month 8 because they're bored are totally unfounded?
Where, pro-life person, are you wanting to draw this line? How do you think this will play out in a way that doesn't traumatize, hurt, or kill women?
I guess if you can answer those questions you can be a pro-life feminist.