I so dislike the term "pro-life" because most of us are "pro-life," in that we want all lives to be nurtured and respected. But what the Pro-Life movement actually is saying is with their insidiously crafted moniker is that they are "Anti-Abortion."
Guess what. You can be Anti-Abortion and also be Pro-Choice, in that you might not think abortion is the right choice for yourself, but you still think it should be another woman's option.
Choice is the issue.
Women should have the right to make personal and private decisions about their own pregnancies. I won't go into the many instances ... you've likely heard them on the evening news. Ten year olds who were raped by a relative. Women who might die if they give birth. Single women who don't want to raise a child alone. Teens who got "knocked up" the first time they had sex. The situations and circumstances are myriad.
However, in each case, the woman/girl must bear the responsibility for and the outcome of their decision whether to have the child. And in Pseudo-Christian-Right-Wing-Crazy states like Texas, has become under nut jobs like Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton, Ted Cruz, and John Cornyn, pursuing an abortion out of state could mean jail time. Is the pregnant woman or girl supposed to have the baby in jail? Or, if her trial is after the birth, is she supposed to leave the baby in foster care?
Is that pro-life?
True to form, the latest Pseudo-Christian-Right-Wing-Crazy effort to ban abortion nationwide is not led by women, but men who never gave birth and seem confused about the difference between a fetus that could not live outside the womb and a viable fetus that could live if aborted late term. Let's be clear: I'm definitely not "for" late-term abortions, and blessedly, the data show that these are rare occurrences. But of course, Pseudo-Christian-Right-Wing-Crazies bring up horrid tales of babies being killed after birth. I agree, that's not pro-life. And it's always been against the law.
Even more wrongly, the people leading the charge to ban abortion know nothing about the lives of the women or girls they are forcing to give birth. To me, this speaks of dominance issues, similar to the roles played by men and women on the TV series, "The Handmaid's Tale." Margaret Atwood, the author of the novel that the film and TV series are based on, was prophetic when she crafted that work in 1985. In that story and subsequent versions, the males and, more insidiously, the women who enable them will do whatever they can to subvert other women to their dominance and control.
Outside the USA, we see this in other cultures where laws suppress women's rights to the point of denying them an education or the right to drive a car. Is this where America's Pseudo-Christian-Right-Wing-Crazies want us to go? Have they forgotten the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who would never punish a woman for getting pregnant?
Sadly, the recent overturn of Roe v. Wade and the Pseudo-Christian-Right-Wing-Crazy states who are enacting Draconian anti-abortion laws will severely impact the lives of far too many girls and women. Women who suddenly find themselves pregnant but are fighting cancer, women who are headed off to college, women who just accepted a new job because her husband lost his, or even a girl who was raped. Must they stop living their lives, go into seclusion for nine months, give birth to an unwanted child, and somehow find a way to support the child alone without a father's or government's support?
Why would anyone demand this? Is this "pro-life"?
NOTE: The above "pro-life" cartoon is used without permission. I cannot make out the artist's name, or else I would have asked him/her for permission. Since this is solely for my personal blog, I'm using under the "fair use" rules. However, I'm happy to delete it if the artist prefers. If you can figure out the artist's first name, please let me know. I Googled versions but did not find him/her.
Also, the novel image is from the first edition of Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale. I downloaded this image from Wikipedia.