Feminists for Life

Feminists for Life of America (FFL) is the largest and most visible pro-life feminist organization. Established in 1972 and now based in Alexandria, Virginia, the organization describes itself as "shaped by the core feminist values of justice, nondiscrimination, and nonviolence." FFL asserts they continue the tradition of early American feminists such as Susan B. Anthony, who opposed abortion. FFL is a non-profit dedicated to "systematically eliminating the root causes that drive women to abortion — primarily lack of practical resources and support — through holistic, woman-centered solutions."

Feminists for Life maintains that being pro-life is compatible with feminism, and, further, that it is the natural conclusion of feminist values. Members and supporters of the organization claim that being a pro-life feminist is not an oxymoron, it's redundant. Critics accuse FFL of having little to do with feminism, claiming their efforts seldom extend beyond anti-abortion activities, and that they are attempting to gain support for the pro-life movement with women. Critics also counter that to be calling oneself a feminist a woman has to have control of her own body including decisions regarding reproductive health.

Statement of purpose
The president of the "non-sectarian, non-partisan" Feminists For Life, Serrin Foster, describes the organization as opposed to all forms of abortion, including cases of rape, incest, birth defects, or to preserve the mother's health or life as broadly defined in the Supreme Court's Doe v. Bolton decision. FFL believes that basic human rights, including the right to life, start at conception (FFL defined as the first formation of a human zygote).

On its website and in its in-house publication American Feminist, FFL describes its broader vision as opposition to all forms of violence, considered as "inconsistent with the core feminist principles of justice, nonviolence and nondiscrimination" including the death penalty, assisted suicide, euthanasia, infanticide, and child abuse. FFL does not take an official stance on contraception but they do seek a traditional feminist goal of equality in the workplace.

The American Feminist
Feminists for Life produces a professionally edited quarterly 28-page magazine that is included with membership in the organization. Each issue is centrally focussed on a theme like Remarkable Pro-Life Women - Part III, Pro-Woman Answers to Pro-Choice Questions and Our Pro-Woman, Pro-Life Legacy. Using original and reprinted articles The American Feminist shows a "reliance on factual data, experiential testimony, and well-phrased analysis of abortion-related issues that can't be dismissed as expressions of inherited, unexamined religious beliefs." Regular features include Herstory - a profile of an abortion opponent, news items and legislative update.

College outreach program
FFL's College Outreach program began in 1994, when Serrin Foster, began to visit college campuses to deliver her speech, "The Feminist Case Against Abortion,". Originally designed to educate students about the history of pro-life feminism, the speech evolved to identify difficulties faced by pregnant and parenting women in the workplace and higher education, proposing "creative, life-affirming, women-centered solutions." Feminists for Life identified college women as the group at greatest risk of abortion, and determined to address their unmet needs, including the coercive factors that drive them to choose between their education and bearing children.

Then, FFL designed an ad series for a college audience, which challenged traditional abortion views and provided practical information for pregnant women. A kit for university health clinics was created, to help staff advise pregnant students on how to seek and access existing support and resources. The first Pregnancy Resources Forum at Georgetown University brought together students and administrators, both pro-life and pro-choice, in a non-confrontational gathering to discuss, identify, create, improve and publicize resources for pregnant and parenting students on campus. "Question Abortion" became a popular slogan in FFL college activism. In 1997, Planned Parenthood's INsider called FFL's growing College Outreach Program the "newest and most challenging concept in anti-choice [sic] organizing" and predicted it could "have a profound impact" on college campuses.

Feminists for Life members also created several kits for student activists, a kit for residential advisors and psychological counselors, a feminist history kit for libraries, and more challenging ads for college audiences. They continued to deliver speeches, and to moderate Pregnancy Resource Forums on college and university campuses across the United States. More resources became available to students domestically and internationally through the FFL website. "The Feminist Case Against Abortion" was included in the Women's Rights anthology of the Great Speeches in History book series (2001, ISBN 0-7377-0773-9). FFL reports that its College Outreach Program has reached more than 5 million students since 1994, and the rate of abortion among college educated women has dropped by 30%.
 * (Primary source: The American Feminist vol. 11 nos. 2-3.)

Women Deserve Better campaign
Feminists for Life's "Women Deserve Better" campaign was launched on the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. FFL describes it as "a long-term public education effort examining the failure of abortion. The campaign aims to refocus the nation on the reasons women feel pressured into abortion and to promote women-centered solutions" (smf.htm "Women Deserve Better than Abortion"). The basic message of the campaign, featured on ads, billboards, posters, and placards, is "Abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women. Women deserve better than abortion."

"Abortion is not a measure of society's success in meeting the needs of women," explained FFL president Serrin Foster, "it's a measure of its failure. Why celebrate failure? Abortion is a symptom of -— never a solution to -- the problems faced by women... abortion has completely failed as a social policy designed to aid women... women have had to settle for far less than they need and deserve..." ("Women Deserve Better than Abortion").

The "Women Deserve Better" and the "Refuse to Choose" slogans reflected what they saw is integrated aspects of their philosophy. Foster explained: "We refuse to choose between women and children. We refuse to choose between sacrificing our education and career plans or sacrificing our children."

The major legislative goal of Feminists for Life's "Women Deserve Better" campaign has been the passage of the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Pregnant and Parenting Student Services Act by Congress. The Elizabeth Cady Stanton Act was first introduced into Congress by Senator Elizabeth Dole on November 8, 2005, and by Congresswoman Melissa Hart on November 9, 2005. The first Capitol Hill briefing on the legislation took place on Susan B. Anthony's birthday, February 15, 2006.

In 2006, Feminists for Life President Serrin Foster announced a new Web-based campaign to educate the general public about pro-life feminism, with their slogan, "Women Deserve Better".

March for Life
Feminists for Life has been a participant in the annual March for Life commemorating the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade for many years. Their part of the procession is often joined by the non-traditional, non-sectarian pro-life groups such as Atheists for Life, and the Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians.

The Susan B. Anthony House


Susan B. Anthony is as much a symbol to pro-life feminists today as she was to suffragettes a hundred years ago. In addition to women's suffrage, Anthony was a vocal opponent of abortion considering it a form of oppression and exploitation. From her newspaper, The Revolution: "Guilty? Yes. No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; But oh, thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime!"

Along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton, they fought for women's rights rights which, in Stanton's case, included the right to use contraceptives, but also fought against anything that took away from a woman's dignity.

"'Let woman assert herself in all her native purity, dignity, and strength, and end this wholesale suffering and murder of helpless children. With centuries of degradation, we have so little of true womanhood, that the world has but the faintest glimmering of what a woman is or should be.'"
 * Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Revolution 1(4):57-59, January 29, 1868

Feminists for Life will not own the Susan B. Anthony birthplace, but will maintain the property, concurrently developing a plan to perpetuate the legacy of Susan B. Anthony. On the property is a yellow rosebush that was originally planted by Anthony's mother. The yellow rose eventually became a symbol of the suffragettes, in their fight for women's suffrage.

Actresses
Two-time Emmy Award winning actress Patricia Heaton is honorary chair of Feminists for Life. Heaton said she believes in "supporting people and stepping out and affirming that life is good," and she "wanted to find a group that had compassionate, intelligent, reasonable people who are fun and life-affirming" when she joined FFL. Heaton's activist motto is, "Women who are experiencing an unplanned pregnancy also deserve unplanned joy."

Actress Margaret Colin is honorary co-chair of Feminists for Life. In an address to a Congressional briefing on July 14, 2002, Colin said, "[Abortion] is violence against women. This is the failure of medicine to help and heal. We need to address the reasons that women seek abortions, to help them find the resources that are available to ease their situations, and coordinate the resources nationwide. Politically, women have always sought to address the root causes. This isn't news. The early American feminists, who fought for our right to vote, fought for the rights of pregnant women—-for society to change to accept them, not for them to change to be accepted by society.... remember the woman. Become her voice. And help us redirect this debate by focusing on solutions—-because women deserve better."

Both women's mothers were active in the early pro-life movement during the sixties and seventies. Heaton's mother was a Catholic political activist who, in addition to working to promote racial integration in their area, was also a staunch abortion opponent. Ms. Colin's mother helped found the New York State Right to Life Party, after the State of New York legalized abortion in 1970. Both celebrities credit their mothers' influence as part of their right-to-life stance (Ms. Heaton took the opportunity to publicly thank her late mother at the Emmy's for giving her a chance at life) and both women have spoken on behalf of Feminists for Life on Capitol Hill, at the White House, and in the national media.

Jane Sullivan Roberts
Jane Sullivan Roberts, wife of U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts, is counsel to the organization and a former Vice-President. The controversy this engendered during Roberts' confirmation hearings, when his positions on abortion were challenged, led to great focus on the group; according FFL's president, "[we've had our share of media attention, but I've never seen anything like what is happening in the mainstream press right now."

Background
Feminists for Life professes to "stand on more than two hundred years of pro-life feminist history," continuing the tradition of early feminists such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary Wollstonecraft, Alice Paul, as well as others who opposed abortion. "Without known exception," FFL president Serrin Foster stated "the early feminists condemned abortion in the strongest possible terms."

One quote by Mattie Brinkerhoff from a letter to the editor in The Revolution in particular appears on the inside front cover of almost every issue of FFL's magazine, The American Feminist: "When a man steals to satisfy hunger, we may safely conclude that there is something wrong in society—-so when a woman destroys the life of her unborn child, it is an evidence that either by education or circumstances she has been greatly wronged."

Early years
Feminists for Life was founded in Ohio in 1972. Goltz and Callaghan met in a judo club on the campus of Ohio State University, where Callaghan was a tenured professor of linguistics. Goltz was expelled from the Columbus, Ohio, Chapter of the National Organization for Women ("NOW") in 1974, for arguing that abortion violated feminist principles, although they were never expelled from national NOW membership. Callaghan would later voluntarily opt out of NOW, as the organization added planks that she did not consider to be women's issues.

Goltz and Callaghan met many other pro-life feminists who were similarly were or felt excluded from women's organizations during the Women's Liberation Movement's second wave. In protest, Goltz and dozens of other pro-life feminists picketed the National NOW convention, hoping to draw attention to the controversy. The plan backfired when most media sources failed to pick up the story, and the few that did only mentioned that the pickets were by a pro-life group, failing to convey the full meaning of the protest.

Goltz later drew attention to the what she saw as the growing trend of pro-life feminism and hostility by the feminist establishment. While testifying before a Congressional panel in 1975, Ms Goltz stated "The National Organization for Women suppresses any woman who is pro-life. It does not matter how sincere her feminism on the basic issues." (Senate Testimony, 1975)

The newsletter, Sisterlife, was first published during Goltz' tenure as national president. Originally the Feminists for Life Journal, the newsletter got its unique name from a letter to Goltz by a member of the Canadian chapter of Feminists for Life, who instead of closing her letter with the customary "In Sisterhood," wrote "In Sisterlife." Editors conferred the title on the newsletter, feeling that it reflected what they saw as a dedication to life from conception to natural death.

Mid-1970s
Feminists for Life was active in the ten-year battle to ratify the ill-fated Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). The organization's commitment to the E.R.A. formed with the organization, during Goltz's presidency. Unlike Goltz, Callaghan was not immediately convinced of the need for the amendment, having achieved success as a professor at Ohio State University. Callaghan soon changed her mind, however, and began to support the amendment. In 1973, Goltz published an article (included in the anthology, Pro-Life Feminism: Yesterday and Today) disparaging the fact that the widespread fear of abortion on-demand had blocked the ratification of E.R.A. in Ohio at the time, and that it would eventually kill the amendment's ratification.

Like many other feminist groups of the women's liberation movement, the personal experiences of members of Feminists for Life were what informed their drive for equality and social justice. Many pro-life feminists had experiences with pregnancy discrimination, abortion, rape, child molestation. Their stories were published in various journals, newsletters, and other publications. Many of these stories were included in the anthology, Pro-Life Feminism: Different Voices.

After five years as President of Feminists for Life, Goltz retired. In 1977, organizational management was moved to Wisconsin. The group's activities focused on being a presence at both pro-life and feminist events, distributing literature, and writing letters to various publications. A national workshop that became an annual conference for pro-life feminists was launched during this time. Many members supported both the Equal Rights Amendment and a Human Life Amendment as "complementary in their concern for human life."

Feminists for Life's work for the Equal Rights Amendment was met with a great deal of resistance, including strong resistance at pro-E.R.A. demonstrations, when Feminists for Life members attempted to distribute Pro-Life/Pro-E.R.A. tracts. In the late 1970s, Goltz spoke with the legendary suffragist Alice Paul, who authored the original Equal Rights Amendment. Paul conveyed to Goltz her belief that abortion was inconsistent with feminism, and that many of the founding mothers of feminism disapproved. She also related her fear that the increased attempts to link abortion to E.R.A. would prevent the amendment's ratification, and eventually end feminism as well.

1980s
In 1984, FFL's headquarters was moved to Kansas City, Missouri. Feminists for Life began to receive more national exposure during this time, through media interviews, involvement in a broad spectrum of pro-life issues, and invitations to speak at pro-life events.

1990s
In 1994, the organization relocated its national office to Washington, D.C., where Feminists for Life reorganized its structure, and updated its image: the Sisterlife newsletter was renamed as The American Feminist magazine, a website was created, and new outreach programs were developed, including the College Outreach Program. FFL also became more involved in political advocacy, working to ensure the passage of the Violence Against Women Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, and enhanced enforcement for child support. Child exclusion provisions in the Welfare Reform Act were opposed by FFL.

2000s
At the 2002 March for Life, which observes the anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, several members of the Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians were arrested for attempting to march under the PLAGAL banner, on the orders of Nellie Gray, holder of the permit for the march, Feminists for Life Executive Director Serrin Foster came out publicly in support of PLAGAL, saying she also had had similar run-ins with Gray in the past.

In mid-2005, the organization's building closed without warning, Feminists for Life moved their headquarters to Alexandria, Virginia. Feminists for Life's recent work has involved advocating laws protecting pregnant women from being coerced into an abortion, laws that provide pregnant and parenting students with services (most notably the Federal Elizabeth Cady Stanton Pregnant and Parenting Services Act, which is presently under consideration in Congress), and monitoring cases of pregnancy discrimination.

On February 15, 2006, Susan B. Anthony's birthday, the first major Congressional discussions on the Elizabeth Cady Stanton Pregnant and Parenting Students Act began. On October 2, 2006 FFL President Serrin Foster announced the launch of a national web campaign to promote their message. The campaign includes a pro-life feminist response to the traditional pro-choice arguments for abortion.


 * (Primary source: Rosemary Oelrich Bottcher, "The Conception and Life of FFL", The American Feminist vol. 9 no. 2, pp. 3-6.)

FFL of New York
The state chapter, Feminists for Life of New York is located in Rochester, New York. Mary Dwelley, the president of Feminists for Life of New York, was killed in a car wreck on April 11, 2006.

Carol Crossed, a board member of Feminists for Life of New York, purchased the Massachusetts birth place of Susan B. Anthony on August 5, 2006.

In 2007 the Feminists for Life of America dissolved ties with its last chapter Feminsists for Life of New York which is now the new pro-life organization Feminists Choosing Life of New York.

International outreach program
In 2004, Feminists for Life launched an International Outreach Program, reflecting that abortion is a global issue. According to FFL's "Global Vision":


 * Feminists for Life advocates for
 * increased education standards and opportunities for the poor, especially for girls
 * increased employment opportunities for all women, especially poor women and others who have been excluded
 * micro-loans and other business assistance for low-income women to start businesses and purchase land
 * health care for mother and child, before and after birth, including prenatal care, assisted delivery, postpartum care, emergency services, immunizations, disease prevention and treatment, especially for the HIV/AIDS pandemic
 * sustainable development that provides clean water, sanitation, housing and food
 * child care for the working poor and regulations to protect vulnerable women and children from forced labor
 * protection for women and children from violence, including sex trafficking
 * measures to rescue women trapped in domestic violence
 * (The American Feminist vol. 12 no. 1, p. 20)

"Abortion doesn't put food on the table, or provide clean water. After an abortion, a woman returns to the same situation that drove her there. One abortion is too many. It means we have failed women," argued FFL's international outreach director Marie Smith. "What women want and need is full participation as citizens, equal access to resources and opportunities, and enforced legal protection against discrimination, violence, and oppression... Education is the most empowering choice for any woman's future." Feminists for Life refers to early American feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who said, "There must be a remedy for such a crying evil as [abortion]. But where shall it be found, at least where begin, if not the complete enfranchisement and elevation of women?"

In 2005, FFL was granted special consultative status as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) by the United Nations' Economic and Social Council.

FFL International
Feminists for Life International is the international organization beyond its national groups Feminists for Life of America, and Feminists for Life of Ireland, which focus's on international scale violation of women's rights, particularly poverty, sex trafficking, domestic violence and abortion.

The Spring/Summer Edition 2002 of "The American Feminist" was devoted to monitoring crimes against women around the world including abortion, sex trafficking, bride burning, female genital mutiliation, forced illiteracy, sweat shop labor, ect. . . Three other editions of the organizations newsletter where specifically devoted to monitoring sex trafficking.

Feminists for Life International also supported the United Nations Millennium Development goals publishing a statement saying, "Feminists for Life believes that the Millennium Development Goals are life-affirming targets that if achieved will greatly improve billions of lives around the globe. Women and children will be freed from lives of poverty, hunger, death, disease, and despair. We support the promotion of these goals and work to ensure that all members of society, including the unborn, benefit from their promotion and achievement."

The organizations international director and UN representative Marie Smith however has cautioned, "Women's advocates must unite and direct our full attention to addressing the unmet needs of women—life-saving health care and nutrition, eliminating poverty through education and work opportunities, protecting women and children from violence and exploitation. Abortion is a sign that women's needs have not been met, and women deserve better."

"While Feminists for Life was gratified that the concluding document of the Summit was not compromised by the insertion of 'sexual or reproductive rights' (code for abortion), we believe caution must be taken with language that was adopted into the document. The inclusion, 'Ensuring equal access to reproductive health' is problematic. While 'reproductive health' has never been defined by the members of the United Nations to include abortion, proponents of abortion often use a broad definition of this term that includes abortion as a part of fertility regulation."

"Political word games do not serve women. Word games distract us and delay our efforts to help those in greatest need."

Additionally Ms. Smith published an editorial in 2005, in the Washington Times on the growing problem of sex trafficking of young Americans in the United States as a result of homelessness, child abuse, and poverty.

FFL of Ireland
Feminists for Life also has an international branch in Ireland, known as Feminists for Life of Ireland. The group was once headed by Irish feminist Breda O'Brien, who was profiled by The American Feminist's project "Herstory Worth Repeating".

Feminists for Life of Ireland one of many pro-life feminist organization in the area, and works with other groups such as Feminists Against Eugenics.

FFL New Zealand (1978-1983)
Originally founded in response to correspondence with American founder Goltz, Feminists for Life New Zealand (1978-1983) was founded by Connie Purdue (who also founded the New Zealand National Organization for Women) and romance writer Daphne Clair de Jong, who, like their American counterparts Goltz and Callaghan, found themselves at odds with the feminist establishment's endorsement of abortion.

During this period, de Jong authored "Abortion and Feminism; the Great Inconsistency" and "The Feminist Sell-Out" for the New Zealand Listener. The articles attacked pro-choice ideology as inconsistent with feminist principles and as a pandering to a male system devised by men, for men.

Feminists for Life of New Zealand is no longer associated with Feminists for Life of America. It has been known since 1984 as "Women for Life." Although it began as a pro-life feminist organization, the organization gradually changed from a secular liberal organization to a Christian conservative organization, reflecting the changing views of its founder Connie Purdue (1912-2000). It now focuses solely on fetal life, in contrast to FFL's pro-woman, pro-life approach.

Official

 * Feminists for Life
 * Feminists for Life of New York

Support

 * Feminism & Nonviolence Studies (not a publication of FFL, but some authors have contributed to both)
 * "Suffragette City" by Emily Bazelon, Mother Jones Magazine Jan/Feb 2007
 * Consistent Life (formerly Seamless Garment Network)
 * Pat Goltz pro-life feminism page
 * Homepage of Feminists for Life of New Zealand co-founder Daphne Clair de Jong
 * The Feminist Sell-Out, Daphne Clair de Jong, New Zealand Listener

Media

 * Feminists for (Fetal) Life, Katha Pollitt, The Nation
 * Who Are the Feminists for Life? In a word, dangerous., Lynn Harris, Nerve.com
 * Nominee's Wife Is A Feminist After Her Own Heart, Hanna Rosin, Washington Post
 * Abortion Foes See Validation For New Tactic, Robin Toner, New York Times