Pro-life feminism

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 disempowered 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 interdiscplinary 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.

Early feminists, such as Susan B. Anthony, considered abortion to be an evil forced upon women by men. 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. 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 clearly 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. Since women of color and low-income women are more likely to face an abortion than women who are white or middle class , it is not equitable for any woman to argue that abortion is a true choice for these women in this view.

Some feminist organizations (i.e. organizations that work to advance the rights and dignity of women) maintain that abortion can never be a right. 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 kills an innocent human person and harms the woman physically and psychologically. The act of abortion is not only seen as a violent act against the woman receiving it but the possible female whose life is being ended. Feminists who are anti-abortion often state that abortion kills women, at least in the womb. Pro-life feminism shares much of this philosophy with "traditional" pro-life groups.

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."

At the same time, there are prolife 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 & 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. Some who identify as prolife 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. Prolife 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 have accused Feminists for Life and other such pro-life feminist groups of having little to do with feminism, claiming their efforts seldom extend beyond opposition to abortion, and claiming they merely represent an effort by the pro-life movement to gain support with women. These groups may also oppose women or men who are pro-life from referring to themselves as feminists. They argue that for a woman to be her own moral agent, she must have the control to make decisions regarding whether to keep or abort her unborn child.

Support

 * Feminists for Life
 * Feminism & Nonviolence Studies Association
 * Susan B. Anthony List
 * Quotes from Modern Pro-Life Feminists
 * Pat Goltz's pro-life feminism page
 * Quotes from modern pro-life feminists
 * Jeannine Parvati Baker's articles on abortion, feminism, female spirituality, and the Goddess
 * Links to pro-life feminist pages
 * Lynnes pro-life feminist page
 * Pro-Life Feminism Ribbon Campaign
 * The Feminist Sell-Out - an article by Daphne Clair de Jong on pro-life feminism, first printed in the New Zealand Listener
 * Friends Witness for a Prolife Peace Testimony

Criticism

 * Feminists for (Fetal) Life; Katha Pollitt, The Nation: criticism of Feminists for Life and pro-life feminism