Pro-Woman = Pro-Life

This week, Feminists for Life is launching a new Q & A e-mail series, Pro-Woman Answers to Pro-Choice Questions.

To receive the series, all you need to do is sign up.

The first installment hit inboxes today. In it, FFL President Serrin Foster writes:

For over a decade, I have been fielding hard questions. Even before I joined Feminists for Life, people couldn’t accept that I was both pro-woman and pro-life.

It is so easy to get caught up in unproductive arguments that pit women against children. This week at the University of Delaware I was asked how we can work with people who disagree with us about abortion. How can we not?

We must see the humanity of every person who challenges us. Look at the question from the perspective of a person who embraces “choice.” See the pain of the woman who was abandoned by those she counted on the most and was driven to abortion. Understand the well-meaning friend who offers a quick fix, not realizing that pain cannot be diminished through abortion. Grasp the embarrassment of a parent who wants to protect a daughter from a grandchild who might “ruin her life.” Feel the fear of a young man who is suddenly faced with fatherhood, and realizes that he is totally unprepared. Recognize the betrayal behind questions from those under age 33 who have never known a day without legalized abortion.

This looks to be the beginning of a valuable series.

I was particularly drawn to these two sentences:

Look at the question from the perspective of a person who embraces “choice.” See the pain of the woman who was abandoned by those she counted on the most and was driven to abortion.

We as pro-lifers cannot remind ourselves often enough that children are not the only victims of abortion; so, too, are women.

As we’ve noted frequently on this blog (see here, for example), no woman wants to have an abortion; hence, the cruel irony of the term “pro-choice”, considering how often those of us who have done sidewalk counseling have heard from abortion-bound women remarks to the effect of, “I have no choice.”

Yet despite the fact that women do not want to have abortions, millions do.

We cannot possibly hope to encourage women to choose life if we don’t understand the reasons why, as Foster rightly states, they are “driven to abortion”.

It happens that Vicki Thorn, founder of the post-abortion outreach Project Rachel, will be giving a talk along these very lines at our Pro-Life Youth Conference later this month.

“What Are You Thinking?!” is the theme of this year’s conference.

Vicki’s presentation, in turn, is titled, “What Are Teens Thinking?” and will explore the psychology behind abortion. She’s done extensive research on the reasons that compel women to have abortions, and much of her research has focused on young women in particular.

Other conference presentations will examine the spirituality, ideology and prejudices that inform the conflict over the life issues. (More previews of the conference will appear on the blog throughout the next week or so.)

If you haven’t already registered to attend, I encourage you to do so.

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