Next Sunday, I and a group of activists will be counterprotesting a pro-abortion event marking the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
It’s hosted by a local pro-choice group called the New Suffragettes, who claim the prestigious history of America’s feminist movement as their own.
We plan to be present at this event as a peaceful but loud reminder that preborn human beings deserve the full, equal protection of the law. More importantly, however, I personally hope to demonstrate that being both pro-life and a feminist are critical.
The name “New Suffragettes” reminds us of the first wave feminist movement, and this is exactly what the pro-abortion feminists want us to believe: that in order to be a true feminist, we must support the taking of innocent human lives.
As pro-life feminists, we often find ourselves unwelcome in traditionally feminist spaces. In fact, we’re often accused of being fake feminists - all because we’re pro-life.
So that brings us to the question: what is a pro-life feminist? A pro-life feminist believes in the fundamental principle of feminism: we embrace the rights of all human beings without exception. And that of course means without regards to race, religion, sex, age, location, ability, size, parentage. Feminism is a philosophy that rejects the use of force to dominate or control one another and we look for holistic solutions to the issues that women, children and families face.
Fundamentally, feminism is pro-life, pro-family, pro-woman. And yet, what may be called third wave feminism’s “Big Lie” permeates feminist activism, literature and speech: that without the right to abortion, women can’t be free; that abortion is essential to the success and liberation of women. And so, the abortion industry, who profits off of the plight of millions of women every year across the world, is delighted with the blunder that pro-abortion feminists make.
As pro-life feminists, we proudly and unapologetically stand against abortion. We hold that abortion violates the fundamental principles of feminism. We declare that abortion is a tool of the patriarchy, that it is classist eugenics and that abortion hurts women.
We dare to dream big dreams for women in crisis pregnancies. We dare to proclaim that women deserve better than abortion violence. We dare to work for a world where abortion violence is illegal, unnecessary and unthinkable. We dare to say that women don’t need abortion in order to be successful in her life, her career, her family.
Abortion is fundamentally the antithesis of feminism: it is violent, it tramples on the human rights of preborn children and it traumatizes and hurts women, families and children. To claim to hold to the principles of feminism is to stand against the murder of innocent human beings, to help support women in crisis in their families, relationships and their communities. That is true feminism, and that (perhaps not surprisingly) is what a pro-life feminist does.
Next Sunday, as I stand with my amazing group of activists in Coolidge Park, I’ll be proclaiming loudly, proudly and unapologetically: this is what a pro-life feminist looks like.
William Reynolds
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Mh. Reynolds,
Many women and men today have bought into the lie that feminism will empower and free them. However rallying for abortion, dispensing with God-given roles, and working to dismantle the family unit will bring neither power nor freedom. Protection of the innocent, obedience to God’s Word, and fortification of the family are much more empowering and freeing. “I will walk in freedom,” says the psalmist, “for I have devoted myself to your commandments.” (Psalm 119:45)
Feminism was originally a positive movement, focused on giving women the basic rights God intends for every human being to have. Tragically, feminism now focuses on destroying distinctions in the roles of men and women.
The only one who is good, God Himself, offers the free gift of salvation to all who believe (Ephesians 2:8-9) and invites everyone to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).
Perhaps during your visit to Coolidge Park, proclaim loudly, proudly and unapologetically the Gospel of Jesus Christ because all other ground is sinking sand.
Michael Burns
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Most people know that life, liberty and pursuit of happiness are the three unalienable rights our Declaration of Independence asserts we are endowed with by our Creator. Thomas Jefferson was wise to use the term Creator without specifying exactly who that creator is.
The dictionary defines unalienable as “Impossible to take away or give up.” We have other rights that are specified in the Constitution that are not unalienable, like the right to own a gun or the right to remain silent when asked a question in a legal setting. Those rights are optional. We can exercise or assert those rights if and when we choose.
Perhaps you’re one of the millions who hold the belief that a fetus should be recognized as a living person with an unalienable right to life. As you know, millions of other people disagree. Those people believe a fetus is not a person with unalienable rights. Each side is entitled to whichever belief they hold. The two sides are forever conflicted.
All people know and agree a woman in the United States definitely has “unalienable” rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There is not one person who would question that. Agreement is 100 percent.
And, we all know an unwanted pregnancy, or a wanted pregnancy gone awry, can adversely affect a woman’s life, liberty and/or her pursuit of happiness. That’s another undeniable fact.
Yet, there are people that conclude a state government is correct to dictate that a fetus be endowed with an unalienable right to life that negates or overrides the unalienable rights of a pregnant woman.
How would you respond to a pregnant woman of any age who didn’t want the child, for whatever reason, when she says: “This fetus is threatening my rights to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness and I want to abort it”? That’s a fair question for everyone because her rights are supposed to be impossible to take away or give up.
I’ll make it easy because there are only two conclusive responses. Choose one:
1. Work it out with your doctor, it’s up to you. Your rights are unalienable.
2. Your rights are no longer unalienable. The fetus’s rights outweigh yours.
David Saluk
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Mr. Saluk riddle me this,
What would you call something that fully resembles a human with fully formed appendages, working organs and circulatory system, capable of feeling pain and reacting to it, able to yawn, hic-cup, kick, punch and urinate?
At 16 weeks of development the only the only thing this baby lacks is a voice.
Jay Reed