This Saturday, Feb. 15, marks the birthday of Susan B. Anthony. Many know that Anthony fought for social reform and women's suffrage, but few know that she was radically opposed to abortion and the social structures that led women to seek abortions. In fact, the vast majority of early feminists were vehemently outspoken against abortion. Today, feminist organizations claiming to represent all women have lost sight of the violence and injustice to women involved in abortion and have fought vigorously to expand the abortion license rather than focus on and attack the root injustices that lead women to choose abortion.
Contrary to popular opinion, pro-life feminism is not an anomaly. Feminists for Life of America (FFLA) is an organization that recognizes that being consistently pro-woman means being pro-life. FFLA seeks to eliminate abortion by fighting for social changes that support justice and equality of all people, including the unborn. The incredibly high abortion rate is a symptom of women being treated unjustly rather than a solution to the problem of gender inequality. Early feminist Mattie Brinkerhoff noted, "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."
Access to abortion as a financially prudent, economically beneficial, and morally appropriate choice has contributed to the consideration of abortion by some contemporary feminist organizations (e.g. NOW) to be a fundamental individual right, at the expense of failing to adequately focus on the social structures within which choices are presented and made. If a woman does not have access to flex time and job sharing, no comprehensive health care, no maternity benefits and parental leave, no affordable, quality child care, no shared parental responsibility and no guarantee of child support, then what real choices does she have?
Consider a hypothetical example on the Dartmouth campus. A man and woman in college conceive a child. The father tells the pregnant woman that he will not pay child support but he will pay for an abortion. If the woman were covered by Dartmouth's student health insurance, the man would not have to pay anything since the student health plan pays in full for termination of pregnancy. The attempted coercion by the male in this situation may be illegal, but it happens every day all across this nation. The availability of abortion has made it easier for men to become irresponsible for the outcome of their actions. Daniel Callahan correctly identifies the destructive logic that leads to male sexual irresponsibility: "since the man was willing to pay for an abortion, and since the woman had a constitutional right to get one even if he wished to prevent it, by her failure to obtain an abortion she took sole responsibility for the child."
Perhaps, in the case of our hypothetical Dartmouth students, male coercion would not even be necessary since the woman would opt to abort on the grounds that having a child would make it very difficult for the woman to achieve her life goals. Think about that for a moment, and ask yourself whether the so-called choice to abort is really a free choice. On its web page (www.serve.com/fem4life) FFLA declares, "Since both sides of the abortion issue agree that no woman wants to have an abortion, it is a cruel hoax to call abortion a woman's 'choice.' No woman should be forced to choose between relinquishing life and career plans or suffering through a humiliating, invasive procedure and sacrificing her child."
The abortion license has gone too far. Only by creating a society in which no woman is forced to 'choose' to destroy the individual life within her can the cycle of violence, injustice and inequality be broken. This truth has been recognized for a long time. Over a century ago, in 1869, Susan B. Anthony wrote, "We must reach the root of the evil and destroy it." The struggle for full equality and true justice continues today.
