At the start of the summer, I enrolled in an online course to fulfill a general education requirement. The class focused on different religions and their anthropological context in modern society. During the last part of the course, I had to read a book by Christel Manning titled God Gave Us the Right. I was dreading it, because up until that point, I nearly fell asleep trying to get through the rest of the readings and power points, but I was pleasantly surprised and intrigued by Manning's study.
Manning's study focused on women from conservative Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Jewish denominations. She interviewed several women and researched each denomination to learn about feminism's place in religion, and how feminist views clash or line-up with traditionalist views within religion. Several women displayed a few discrepancies in their beliefs, but one mentioned something that stuck with me. While discussing her abortion views with Manning, the woman mentioned how there is nothing wrong with advocating pro-life views (she was pro-life, but not as fiercely as some of the other interviewees) so long as pro-life extends to every human being, not just fetuses.
Before I go any further, I want to make it extremely clear that my viewpoints in no way represent all on the pro-life side. They are just my views that I have formed based on encounters I've personally experienced.
I support a woman's right to choose, and believe that life begins at birth. As such, I can't pretend to be expert on how pro-life women think. However, the woman in Manning's study made me think more about what it means to be pro-life. From my experience, pro-life women range from those who simply state they believe abortion is wrong all the way to those who fiercely defend unborn fetuses, and to be honest, they can get pretty nasty sometimes. While I was reading the study, I wondered how many pro-life women I've encountered have ever considered how pro-life they actually are.
Most pro-life women I've met think of pro-life as opposing abortion, which is exactly what it is. However, many pro-life women also hold religious views where other lifestyles aren't so desirable. The most prominent and relevant being anything related to LGBT+ issues. But those less than desirable lifestyles don't just consist of LGBT+ members and allies. They include people who have fallen to drug and alcohol addiction, who suffer from mental illness, who have premarital sex, who may have vastly contradicting religious views, who have been divorced, and even those who are unmarried. These women are pro-life when pro-life means protecting the unborn or those who align with their religious views, and I just don't understand why.
Pro-life, drawing from the woman Manning interviewed, means supporting all life, even if those lives include people who don't necessarily encompass the religious ideal of a person. Everyone is flawed, and everyone is different. To me, religion means accepting those who live those "unsavory" lifestyles, regardless of whether it goes against Christian teachings (many of the pro-life women I know are usually Catholic, to be more specific). While pro-life should maintain its main definition of defending the unborn, it should extend to helping and accepting the living. And yes, that includes not viciously attacking (verbally) pro-choice people.
It's common sense, really, and you don't need to be religious to accept that people are simply different and come from all walks of life. I ask, however, that if you are pro-life, take a moment. Take a moment to consider what pro-life is, and how you can advocate for life beyond the womb. Take a moment to consider extending your definition of pro-life, without compromising what it already means to you. Be pro-ALL-life, not just pro-unborn-life.
