A few years ago I participated, with some friends and family, in a peaceful, pro-life demonstration. At the beginning of the demonstration we were handed a stack of signs, which we split up amongst us. My sign read "Abortion Hurts Women."Huh? In my mind the pro-choice movement had monopolized the issue of women's rights, but as I stood holding that sign, I began to really think about which side has women's best interests in mind.
Since then I've come across a group called Feminists for Life. This group teaches that a true defense of women's right would protect a woman's right to have an education and a child, or a career and a child, and not this either/or mentality that the pro-choice movement pushes.
Thanks to Jane Sullivan Roberts (John Roberts' wife) involvement with Feminists for Life, it's been getting some great media coverage and I hope everyone will take the time to visit FFL and read what they are all about.
Where does Feminists for Life fit in the Pro-Life Community, Rob Moll, Christianity Today
Feminists for Life is where the policy meets the pavement, Foster told Christianity Today. By addressing the forces that push women toward abortion, Feminists for Life tries to make abortion "unthinkable," not just illegal. Whether lack of support from a father, the need to work full-time, or a lack of resources on a college campus to care for a child, their feminist concern for the vulnerable motivates their concern for both the baby and the woman. Major legal pushes recently have included passage of the Violence Against Women Act, fighting the family cap on welfare, and supporting laws enforcing child support.
The Bible and feminists.
Feminists for Life builds upon the work of the early American feminists who found their feminist moorings in the Bible, says Haddad. "Secular feminists often place their feminist convictions above the authority of Scripture. The early feminists were suffragists because they believed their Christian voice had an important place in the public square."
More articles:
Feminists for Life Refuse to Choose, Dallas Morning News
Changing the Tone, Kathryn Jean Lopez, National Review
When Heaton won her first "Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series" Emmy in 2000 for Everybody Loves Raymond, she thanked her mother for "letting me out because life is really amazing." That's the kind of honest, happy enthusiasm FFL brings to the "pro-life" cause and the abortion debate in America. Just a genuine love for life and desire to get us all protecting it. One of Heaton's FFL sound bites is: "women who experience an unplanned pregnancy also deserve unplanned joy." FFL's attitude is that women — especially frightened, anxious women — deserve to know that. The ad I see most from Feminists for Life reads: "Abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women. Women deserve better than abortion." Every life involved in an abortion, including the baby, the mother and the father, is precious — and Feminists for Life is working toward a more complete conversation about abortion and its inhumanity.
Pro-life Feminism is No Oxymoron, Crispen Sartwell, Christian Science Monitor
7 comments:
Hi Lauren, you may have a short-nerve on this issue, but you expressed yourself very courteously and that is the first step toward having a really meaningful conversation on such a heated topic. So thanks!
First of all, I apoligize if I acted like there is anything cut and dry about the reasons women get abortions. The way I feel is the opposite, that it is complex and heart breaking. What I love about FFL is that they aren't about condemning the action they are about preventing it in a way that adds to the quality of life of the mother and child.
I used to be pro-choice because I sympathized so much with the women who had to choose. I never stopped sympathizing with those women but, as you can see, now I'm pro-life. The reason I switched positions is that I did some research and decided that an unborn child is a human being. That's what clarified the issue for me. I don't have a right to take any human's life no matter how closely they are related to me or how much they depend on me. It's not a matter of privacy, it's a matter of basic civil rights.
Because our independence as a nation was founded on the principle that all persons are created equal and endowed by their creator with certain fundamental rights, I believe it is a civil rights violation rival only to slavery that the government would stand by and not protect the equality of the unborn.
My position is that all Americans, regardless of the stage of life or sexual orientation or faith or health or race, ought to receive equal protection under the law.
I love you too, Lauren. You have a heart for justice and you've seen how discrimination and injustice has hurt gays in this country, and it grieves you. I hope you will apply your heart for justice and equality to all Americans, including the ones with no voices.
p.s.
Just for the record, my position on the rights of gay Americans is that the government has no grounds to discriminate against anyone based on their sexual orientation.
People who follow the the teachings of the Bible are taught not to engage in homosexual relationships, or pre-marital relationships, or extra-marital relationships, but whether a person does or not is between that person and their faith, NOT that person and their government.
Government ought to protect people's rights, not legislate morality.
Thanks pops, interesting stuff!
Hi Lauren, never say never!
Anyway, if we're talking about law, I have a couple of things to add. First: our laws actually do state that unborn children have rights. See below:
"The Unborn Victims of Violence Act is also known as "Laci and Conner's Law" after Laci Peterson and her unborn son, Conner, whose disappearance and death drew national attention. The California woman was nearly eight months pregnant when she disappeared in December 2002; Laci and Conner's bodies were found the following April.
"Under the law, anyone who harms a woman's unborn child while committing a federal crime commits a distinct federal crime against the child in addition to the crime against the woman."
The second thing is that American law doesn't always get it right. For generations we enslaved black americans. Just because people could find legal justification to enslave other humans didn't make it right, similarly roe v. wade might make it legal, but it doesn't make it right. The law needs to change.
Finally, I don't believe that an unborn child is a human because of my religion. I believe it because of science and logic. What determines someone's humanity? Is it their iq? Is it their mobility? Is it their size? Is it their autonomy? If it were these things than huge chunks of the population would be excluded from "humanity." No, it's none of those things. If someone is alive (and they are alive, ask any biolgist) and is a human being (check their DNA, they are all human from the moment of conception)then they deserve the basic rights afforded to all living human beings.
I hope this doesn't qualify as giving you "shit!" I'm glad you are not on the sidelines and folks like you and I shouldn't be afraid to speak our minds just because some folks might get bent out of shape. Even though I don't talk about controversial subjects very often I hope that when I do this blog will be a safe place for the people who disagree with me as well as those who agree with me.
Hi guys, I'm such a slow blogger that I didn't even see those last two posts before I posted mine, sorry for the redundancy!
I know this thread is over and done with, but I wanted to butt in anyway. Then it kept getting longer, and longer, and finally I moved it to my own page, so as not to make yours a'splode.
This thread is open as long as anyone wants to say his or her peace. I won't be around much this weekend, got the much anticipated art fair, but I'll see y'all next week!
"Just for the record, my position on the rights of gay Americans is that the government has no grounds to discriminate against anyone based on their sexual orientation.
People who follow the the teachings of the Bible are taught not to engage in homosexual relationships, or pre-marital relationships, or extra-marital relationships, but whether a person does or not is between that person and their faith, NOT that person and their government.
Government ought to protect people's rights, not legislate morality."
Kim I haven't read through all of the comments yet for this post but right after I read the above comment I just had to comment now. I could not agree with any more about this subject. I feel EXACTLY the same way.
=oD
OK back to reading the LONG comments. I may not comment on this subject tonight because I am very tired from my party. But for the record in case anyone who reads this is curious or cares I am 100% pro-life. YEP!
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