rheall:
I realize on posting this link that I’m preaching to the choir. That’s why I love you guys! And even if I wasn’t, I understand that anyone who was adamantly pro-life probably wouldn’t take the time to read and really think about this stuff anyway.
But the conclusion of this article still stands: If you truly believe that personhood begins at conception and that abortion kills babies and counts as murder, then what you really should be doing is supporting progressive birth control initiatives, sexual education, and healthcare as well as government mandates that make birth control free and provide government assistance to people who are struggling to raise the children they already have. This will lower the amount of abortions that women will seek. Limiting or outright outlawing abortion and access to birth control and any similar progressive healthcare initiatives only do more harm and cause more “deaths” of the supposed unborn children you’re trying so hard to save.
If you still staunchly agree with pro-life organizations and their policies after reading this article and thinking about the information it provides, then you’re not in it to “save the babies”. You’re in it to punish and demean women and make it more dangerous to bring children into this world.
A small piece of the article:
Obamacare stands to cut abortion rates by 75%. And yet, the pro-life movement has been leveraged in opposition to Obamacare, and most especially in opposition to the birth control mandate. They don’t believe women should be guaranteed access to free contraception even though this access is the number one proven best way to decrease the number of abortions. That access would, to use the rhetoric of the pro-life movement, prevent the murders of 900,000 unborn babies every year.
This is such a great article.
Right, stepping off my soapbox now. :)
cultureshift:
I agree that the pro-life movement must embrace birth control, especially layered birth control (see my post ‘Let it Rain Birth Control‘). I also agree that sex education should be on par with any of the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) courses provided by our education system. Ultimately, sex education is a parent’s responsibility, but unfortunately, many parents are woefully inadequate at providing this education.
But this article completely fails to mention all of the charity groups and resources made available by the pro-life community. Many of which can be accessed by visiting Crisis Pregnancy Centers, which of course, abortion advocates demonize. It only calls for more government assistance and attempts to twist Obama into a pro-life leader, a ludicrous assertion.
It also completely fails to mention adoption. The author only focuses on the choice of killing prenatal children. How is this fair and balanced?
Miscarriage is a natural act of human development. Advocates for the right to life have always stated that human life begins at conception and ends at natural death. A miscarriage is a natural death. Interrupting the successful development of a human being by manually ripping them apart in order to remove them from the womb is not a natural death.
This article further retreads the tired old argument that if abortion is made illegal, the rate of abortion will not change. So let’s repeal our murder laws. No sense in having to deal with all of those investigations and court costs. Maybe the rate won’t even change. Worth a try, isn’t it?
I agree that the simple act of passing a law making abortion illegal is not going to solve the problem. The human tragedy of abortion can only be stopped through a shift in culture. To a common agreement among our human community that life begins at conception and that, by default, personhood begins at conception. That we all must work together to ensure that the weakest and most vulnerable among us enjoy the heartfelt protection required for them to fill their lungs with air, take their first steps, and speak their first words. We were them and they are us.
How I Lost Faith in the Pro-Life Movement
