Seven Things

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By
OwletJessa555
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via Secular ProLife

7 things pro-lifers wish our pro-choice friends understood about us.

Here's the article's "table of contents":

1. We're so much more than a bunch of old straight religious white Republican men.

I actually think that anyone who is (a) intellectually honest and (b) paying enough attention probably already realizes this, so I am going to go through these misconceptions kind of quickly and move on to the less known issues. [See the blog for more information.]

2. We're not anti-woman.
This accusation actually comes in two forms.

2a. Anti-woman motivations. The first and more common form is that pro-lifers are against abortion because we don’t respect or like women. That is, our misogyny motivates us to try to control women’s bodies, choices, and lives. [See the blog for more information.]

3. We're pro-contraception.
I can understand why people would get the impression that if I am anti-abortion I must be anti-contraception. There are plenty of pro-life organizations and leaders who are openly anti-contraception, and if you aren’t very involved in a given political movement, it’s easy to assume after a cursory glance that the most prominent activists represent the majority of the movement. [See the blog for more information.]

4. We like sex.
4a. The “anti-sex” accusation stems mostly from our different views of fetal life, not our different views of sex.

There are a lot of different reasons people are pro-choice.  I think most pro-choicers empathize with the very difficult position an unplanned pregnancy can put a woman in, and many are concerned about protecting bodily rights.

But it also seems some people advocate for abortion primarily based on sex. That is, they think people ought to be able to have sex lives unhindered by potential procreation. [See the blog for more information.]

5. We experience unplanned pregnancies too.
…but no, that doesn’t automatically mean we turn pro-choice.

Some pro-choicers seem to think we are only anti-abortion because we just don’t understand how frightening and life-changing an unplanned pregnancy can be, and that if we were to be put in that difficult position, we’d choose abortion too. [See the blog for more information.]

6. Many of us are post-abortive.
…and converted to the pro-life side for that very reason.

This is really an extension of the previous point. Pro-choicers seem to think the pro-life movement is made up of people with no experience: no relationship problems, health issues, financial hardships, postponed education, complicated careers, and, above all, crisis pregnancies. They seem to think someone would only be against abortion if they were out of touch with life’s hardships and naively idealistic about how people should handle crises. [See the blog for more information.]

7. We care about what happens to the child after birth.
7a. But first, this accusation is nonsensical.

We’re against abortion because we think it should generally be illegal to kill people. By “people” we mean morally relevant human beings, which of course is how we see the fetus. We get you don’t agree, and that’s really the crux of the debate.

But understand that, from our perspective, saying we can’t be anti-abortion until we’ve solved problems like child poverty or a messed up foster care system is as ridiculous to our ears as if you said we can’t speak out against child abuse unless we are going to adopt all abused children. Does anyone actually believe that? Would you argue people can’t condemn child marriage unless they will personally pay off the child’s family debts? People can’t say slaves should be freed unless they’re prepared to personally house and employ all the newly emancipated? Suggesting people can’t call out human rights violations unless they personally have the resources to absorb all impact is just a terrible precedent. [See the blog for more information.]

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InspireliriumArchive's avatar
InspireliriumArchive
LopsidedFrosty345 STOP FLOODING THE SYSTEM. COMMENT ONCE. If you want to add something, EDIT THE COMMENT. At least have some respect towards others.


Random Note: I do understand pro-lifers and I respect them but I'm still pro-choice.