Can you be both pro-life and a feminist?

[eveglass]

Yes, that's right! It's time for another round of "debate Julie"! In today's Gazette, there was a letter to the editor by Mary Ann Davis, who says that "you cannot be pro-life and call yourself a feminist." She's referencing this article, in which Janet Bagnall states, "Feminism is about equality, about a woman's right to make her own choices in life, including whether to continue a pregnancy. Without that right, women lose control over their lives."

I'm conflicted about this one. Personally, I'm pro-choice and totally against the idea of telling a woman that she must carry a pregnancy to term. However, if you truly believe that life begins at conception (as I think most pro-lifers do), and that abortions at any stage of a pregnancy are equivalent to murder, I imagine that you could still be pro-life and a feminist. I imagine that there are still ways of supporting women both before the pregnancies have started (comprehensive sex ed, free birth control pills and condoms, etc.) and after their pregnancies have ended (easy adoption services for women who would otherwise have aborted, affordable daycare and support networks for those who choose to keep the children, etc.).

So I'm not sure I agree that being pro-life necessarily excludes you from the feminist camp. Anyone want to take a side in the debate and tell me where I'm going wrong?

Comments

[blazingmoogle.livejournal.com]

When I look at the "Pro-Life" movement, I don't see people who actually care about the unborn children. I see people who care about limiting and controlling the freedom that women have over their own choices and bodies. It's how I explain the fact that many pro-life groups are also anti-comprehensive-sex-ed lobbies.

[eveglass.livejournal.com]

Right, absolutely. The question I had was whether it was possible in principle to be both pro-life and feminist. Just because many current pro-life groups also happen to be anti-comprehensive-sex-ed doesn't meant that it must necessarily be so.

Of course, there I go idealizing again...

[blazingmoogle.livejournal.com]

The issue with "pro-life" is that they don't want to mandate the choice, they want to close the option of abortion *entirely*.

"Pro-Choice" usually means that, even if you *personally* are against abortion in most (or all) cases, you do not want to see the procedure banned outright.

[blazingmoogle.livejournal.com]

Not to mention pro-choice lobbies in these parts are hypocrits. They care about the children only as long as it's still in the womb, at which point it's the mothers problem, and if she didn't want it well TO BAD THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR BEING THE INFERIOR SEX