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Pro-life feminism is the opposition to abortion, based on feminism, which simultaneously upholds the rights of women and fetuses. Those who take this viewpoint assert that abortion is not a necessary right, but has instead served to hurt women more than it has benefited them.
The most prominent pro-life feminist organization is Feminists for Life, an international group established in 1972 in the United States.
Contents |
Overview
Pro-life feminists believe that abortion rejects a fundamental aspect of womanhood, maternity, which from a feminist point of view should be embraced.
At the same time, there are pro-life feminists who focus not so much on changing the legal status of abortion, but on making it obsolete by relieving its root causes at every level of society from the individual to the global—for example, from personally providing direct aid to pregnant women and adopting children with disabilities to campaigning for global access to antiretrovirals and for women's economic justice worldwide.
Religion
The Catholic Church promotes what it calls "New feminism", a theology summarized in the encyclical letter Mulieris Dignitatem][1] (Latin for "On the Dignity of Woman") that promotes equal dignity for men and women while asserting there are biological differences that need to be taken into account. Some who identify as pro-life feminists are Catholics who advocate this theology. Some are dissenters from official Catholic doctrine on such matters as contraception and same-sex relationships.
Other pro-life feminists belong to the full spectrum of world religions, or identify as freethinkers, agnostics, or atheists. Pro-life feminists claim that pro-life feminism is a stance grounded in values of nonviolence and reverence for life, born and unborn, that can be and often are shared by people of all faiths and none.
19th century feminists
Feminist pro-life groups claim to continue the tradition of 19th century women's rights activists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton who considered abortion to be an evil forced upon women by men.[2] In her newspaper, The Revolution, Anthony wrote in 1869 about the subject, arguing that instead of merely attempting to pass a law against abortion, the root cause must also be addressed. Simply passing an anti-abortion law would, she wrote, "be only mowing off the top of the noxious weed, while the root remains."[3]
The Susan B. Anthony List serves as a central political action committee for pro-life feminism. The group works to elect pro-life women to Congress.
References
- ^ Vatican. John Paul II, 1988. Mulieris Dignitatem, 'On the Dignity of Woman'
- ^ Kate O'Beirne, excerpt from 'Women Who Make the World Worse: and How Their Radical Feminist Assault Is Ruining Our Schools, Families, Military, and Sports' National Review January 23, 2006
- ^ "Marriage and Maternity". The Revolution. Susan B. Anthony. July 8, 1869. http://www.prolifequakers.org/susanb.htm. Retrieved 2009-04-21.
Further reading
- The Cost of 'Choice': Women Evaluate the Impact of Abortion edited by Erika Bachiochi (2004, ISBN 1-59403-051-0)
- Prolife Feminism Yesterday & Today. Second & greatly expanded edition. Edited by Derr, Naranjo-Huebl, & MacNair (2005, ISBN 1-4134-9576-1)
- Prolife Feminism Yesterday & Today. edited by Derr, Naranjo-Huebl, and MacNair (1995, ISBN 0-945819-62-5)
- Pro-Life Feminism: Different Voices edited by Gail Grenier-Sweet (1985, ISBN 0-919225-22-5)
- Swimming Against the Tide: Feminist Dissent on the Issue of Abortion edited by Angela Kennedy (1997, ISBN 1-85182-267-4)
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