March is Women’s History Month. As we honor the brave women who marched before us, let us keep in mind that their messages provide us with a clear vision of where we need to go. Perhaps on no other issue is that more important than abortion. Because modern feminism is so closely associated with abortion rights that few know that the founders of the women’s movement believed in the worth of all human life and strongly opposed abortion.
The same women who fought for the rights of slaves to be free and for the rights of women to vote also fought for the unborn to be born and for their mothers to be supported.
Our foremothers didn’t oppose abortion merely because the procedure was less safe at the time. While they were certainly concerned with maternal health, the terminology they used for abortion — “child murder,” “infanticide,” “a degrading and disgusting crime” — indicates a concern for the safety of the other individual involved as well. They did not retract their opposition even after the introduction of sterile techniques made the procedure much safer.
Nor were they slaves to the prudish notions of sex in their Victorian era. Many were advocates of the concept of “free love.” Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote that “a healthy woman has as much passion as a man.”
The early feminists were pioneers in expanding women’s roles in society, but they didn’t believe it should come at the expense of their unborn children. They believed abortion was a symptom of women’s oppression, not a solution to it. Mattie Brinkerhoff wrote in 1869, “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.”
Like Susan B. Anthony and the other early American suffragists, today’s pro-life feminists envision a better world in which no woman would be driven by desperation to abortion. As Anthony once stated, “Sweeter even than to have had the joy of caring for children of my own has it been to me to help bring about a better state of things for mothers generally, so their unborn little ones could not be willed away from them.”
Groups such as Feminists for Life are dedicated to systematically eliminating the root causes that drive women to abortion, primarily the lack of practical resources and support, through holistic, women-centered solutions. For non-violent, empowering, and life-affirming alternatives to abortion, go to FFL’s website or contact your local pregnancy care center for assistance.
FFL believes we must continue working toward a world in which pregnancy, motherhood, and birth motherhood are accepted and supported. We need college campuses and workplaces that support mothers in practical ways and do not force them to choose between their education or career plans and their own children. Let’s foster a society that supports the role of mothers, values the role of fathers, and helps parents provide both financial and emotional support for their children.
Instead of advocating for unrestricted abortion-on-demand throughout all nine months of pregnancy and beyond, such as we’re seeing in legislation out of the state of New York and several other states, pro-life feminists are working on ways to make it easier for pregnant women to choose life for themselves and their unborn children. We can do that by fighting pregnancy discrimination in the workplace, advocating for more quality and affordable child care, better maternity leaves, flex time, job sharing, telecommuting, shared parental responsibility, and enforceable child support.
On college campuses, FFL is working for affordable housing for students and their babies, financial aid and scholarship security, maternity coverage in student healthcare plans, flexible class scheduling, and counseling services for parenting and adoption.
Let us work to fulfill our foremothers’ dream of a just society, free from violence and oppression, where women can reach their greatest potential and where the lives and rights of all are honored and valued. Abortion will never fulfill that dream, but by working together, we can make abortion unthinkable.
Marilyn Kopp is past president of the Ohio chapter of Feminists for Life.
