Warped Feminism

Details: 22 February 2013

I have written numerous times about modern feminism’s linkage of abortion to women’s rights. To exemplify this linkage I often provide this old quote from Kate Michelman, former president of NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League): "Abortion is the guarantor of a woman’s ability to participate fully in the social and economic life of society."

This quote has been around long enough that I no longer have a citation for it. This may cause some to be skeptical of its veracity. Well, Ms. Michelman has come to my rescue by renewing this outrageous and offensive sentiment in an editorial in USA Today on January 22, 2013, the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

In the editorial (co-written by Carol Tracy, executive director of the Women’s Law Project), Michelman says the following:

"Today marks the 40th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, a milestone for women in America because this right to control our capacity to reproduce enhances our ability to participate fully in society. It helps ensure our privacy, our dignity and our health."

Elsewhere in the editorial she says, [t]he goal of Roe v. Wade was to ensure a woman’s right to control the most intimate aspect of her life. Without this right, women are unable to participate equally with men in the nation’s social, political and economic life."

Not to be outdone by her predecessor, the new president of NARAL, Ilyse Hogue, said the following in a video message to supporters: "The past century has seen steady momentum behind women achieving more equality and more freedom, from winning the right to vote in 1920, to affirming our right to safe and legal abortion in 1973…That freedom to decide is foundational to everything we want to achieve for ourselves, our family, and our country."

Wow! So these supposed feminist icons say that a woman’s privacy, dignity, health, equality and freedom are inextricably linked to her ability to have her unborn child destroyed. And without this ability to destroy innocent human life, women would be unable to be equal participants with men in society.

It is beyond my comprehension how any thoughtful, rational person (male or female) would not find these sentiments to be degrading and offensive to women. After all, they’re asserting that the unique and extraordinary female capacity to bear and nurture children—which is essential to the continuance of the human race—is a flaw and a handicap that prevents women from fully participating in society.

And according to these supposed champions of women’s equality and dignity, the solution to this "problem" is to insist that women should be more like men—unburdened with childbearing—if they wish to equally participate with men in society.

Now granted I’m just a guy, but it seems to me that authentic feminism would celebrate and defend every aspect of femininity. Rather than insist that women be more like men to fit into a "man’s world" authentic feminism would insist that society and its institutions (e.g. schools and businesses) accommodate the unique and essential capacity of women to bear children.

I’m glad to know that there are some feminists—old and new—who agree with me! Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a pioneer of the early feminist movement said in a letter to Julia Ward Howe (October 16, 1873): "When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit."

Feminists for Life is a modern group inspired by Ms. Stanton and other pioneers of the feminist movement such as Susan B. Anthony, Mattie Brinkerhoff and Sarah Norton who opposed abortion. Feminists for Life (FFL) "recognizes that abortion is a reflection that our society has failed to meet the needs of women" and it believes that "no woman should be forced to choose between sacrificing her education and career plans and sacrificing her child."

I’ve long been impressed with FFL’s dedication to "systematically eliminating the root causes that drive women to abortion—primarily lack of practical resources and support—through holistic, woman-centered solutions." Check them out at www.feministsforlife.org.

You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.