Can a TRUE FEMINIST be Pro Life?

 With all the talk about Sarah Palin,  I wanted to state my take on it.  There is no question that I am a conservative, woman business owner, a Christian, a mother, grandmother, wife, sister, daughter and TRUE FEMINIST.  I love being a woman (most days!) and believe that women can do any job that a man can do based on their minds.  Obviously, physical strength plays a major role on the type of job, but I believe that gender should make absolutely NO DIFFRENCE in pay grade.  Experience and job performance should be the only criteria for pay scales and advancement in ANY workplace.

Since I am PRO-LIFE, Hillary Clinton was not my  presidential pick, and John McCain, while not my original first choice, is the only choice for me this time around.  While I am NOT a one issue voter, the McCain-Palin ticket closer aligns with my belief in governmental affairs.

As for the woman who said that “Jesus was a community organizer and Pilate was a governor.”  I can only speak for myself, but when I heard that, I felt it made her look totally ignorant!  For one thing, Jesus was a carpenter and a teacher (definitely NOT A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER!), and Sarah Palin is NO Pilate.  How purely evil and ignorant to compare her to Pilate, and even worse to compare OBAMA to JESUS!!

I believe that Sarah’s political  record  has it’s own merit, considering she has been in Alaskan Politics since 1992.  It is a very large state, the 6th richest state in America with a very large budget, and even though she has only been the governor since 2006, the lady has a better than 80% approval rating by her Alaskan voters  and to me, that says SOMETHING about her and her ability to govern.  The fact that she is a mother of 5 children, tells me that she understands things that matter to regular families and has the support from her husband to be both a parent,  V. President and if the need arises, President. Remember, all presidents have cabinets of competent people to help them with their job of president, (even if OBAMA gets elected!) and all of them need them to call on them to do the best for the USA.

This info was taken from Wikipedia and I feel strongly supports the fact that women can be both feminist and pro-life:

Pro-life feminism is the opposition to abortion, based on feminism. 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. Further, proponents state that abortion does not empower women, but creates a dis-empowered body of women who are seen by society to only profit off a violent act against their bodies and their offspring.

The most prominent pro-life feminist organization is Feminists for Life. Their spokesperson is Emmy award-winning actress Patricia Heaton of the U.S. television show “Everybody Loves Raymond”.

Overview

The Feminism and Non-Violence Studies Association, founded by Rachel MacNair, is the literary branch of the movement, publishing an interdisciplinary journal on pro-life feminism from a wide spectrum of views.

The Susan B. Anthony List serves as the central political action committee of the movement. The SBA-List is to the pro-life feminist movement, what the National Right to Life Committee is to the pro-life movement on whole.The group works to elect pro-life women to Congress.

Some early feminists, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, considered abortion to be an evil forced upon women by men.[1] Feminist pro-life groups claim to continue the tradition of Anthony and see abortion as a tool used by patriarchal culture to keep women in submission: a feminist culture, in contrast, would adapt its structure to encompass mothers and reward mothering.[citation needed] Pro-life feminists believe the opposite has happened since abortion has become a right claiming to grant women the choice to become mothers. Feminists who are pro-life often state that by making a motherhood solely the right of the mother, society forces a woman to solely be responsible for making provisions for her child(ren). Businesses, schools, government agencies, and other social organizations are able to refuse or offer minimal aid to those women who opt to have children because the action was their “choice”. Many also point to the fact that some of the most prominent proponents of the initial abortion movement were men who acted as catalysts shifting the feminist movement from one that sought to empower all women to one that now supports actions that they claim disempower them. Moreover, some feminists who have adopted a pro-life stance believe abortion unfairly places minority women and poor women at a disadvantage, while being seen as the only way they may achieve success in a society that values the status quo.[citation needed] Since women of color[who?] and low-income women are more likely to face[clarify] an abortion than women who are white or middle class,[2] some pro-life feminists argue that it is not equitable for any woman to argue that abortion is a true choice for these women in this view.[citation needed]

Some pro-life feminist organizations (i.e. organizations that work to advance the rights and dignity of women) maintain that abortion can never be a right.[citation needed] These groups posit that when a society considers abortion as a solution for a pregnant woman, that society has let the woman down by offering her only the violent choice of abortion - thereby conspiring in a systemic act of violence that terminates a fetus and they claim harms the woman physically and psychologically.[citation needed] The act of abortion is not only seen as a violent act against the woman receiving it but the possible fetus that is being terminated. Feminists who are anti-abortion often make the claim that abortion kills “women”, at least in the womb. Pro-life feminism shares much of this philosophy with “traditional” pro-life groups.[citation needed]

Norma McCorvey, the Jane Roe who was the winning plaintiff in the court case Roe v. Wade that established the right to abortion in the US, is now a pro-life feminist and explains:

“ One of my most important activities is . . . . to work for the reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision. . . . The approach we are taking is to show that the lives and rights of women have not been advanced or enhanced, but rather destroyed, by abortion-on-demand. We are collecting affidavits from women who have been harmed by abortion, from women who are convinced that authentic feminism is pro-life, and from professionals who know that Roe has weakened the moral fabric of the legal and medical professions. ”

[citation needed]

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 “special needs” children to campaigning for global access to antiretrovirals and for women’s economic justice worldwide.

The Catholic Church promotes what it calls “New Feminism”, a theology summarized in the encyclical letter “Mulieris Dignitatum” (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.[3] Some who identify as pro-life feminists are Catholics who advocate this theology. Some are Catholics who dissent from official doctrine on such matters as contraception and same-sex relationships. Still others 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.

Criticism

Some, particularly on the left have criticized pro-life feminists as ’stealth’ feminists who are actually working to advance an overall conservative agenda.[4][5]

Famous Pro-life Feminists

Famous pro-life feminists include:[6] [1]


References

 

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States - Alan Guttmacher Institute
  3. ^ Mulieris Dignitatem ‘On the Dignity of Women’
  4. ^ Alternet.org reprint of ‘The stealth “Feminists” who Oppose Abortion’ from the American Prospect October 24, 2006
  5. ^ Feminists for ‘Fetal’ Life; Katha Pollitt, The Nation, 2005
  6. ^ Feminists for Life (.org) “History”

Further reading

  • Prolife Feminism Yesterday & Today. Second & greatly expanded edition. Edited by Derr, Naranjo-Huebl, & MacNair (2005, ISBN 1-4134-9576-1)
  • The Cost of ‘Choice’: Women Evaluate the Impact of Abortion edited by Erika Bachiochi (2004, ISBN 1-59403-051-0)
  • Prolife Feminism Yesterday and 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)



In conclusion,

“I believe in true equality, compassion and human rights for ALL people, and that includes the UNBORN.  Liberal Feminist say it’s their choice to take their child’s life.  I disagree! 

As a woman, there isn’t a more feminist action or reward than to deliver, raise and love your child!”

Debbie Mormino

Posted in Uncategorized on September 15th, 2008 |

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