Women deserve better than abortion, Feminists for Life PRO-WOMAN ANSWERS TO PRO-CHOICE QUESTIONS Continued...

PRO-WOMAN ANSWERS TO PRO-CHOICE QUESTIONS™

From: "Serrin M. Foster"

Question #5

What if she just doesn’t want it?

It’s more complicated than that. We can address each of her concerns working together for peaceful solutions.

Guttmacher Institute statistics show that there are reasons, often financial or emotional, why a woman feels she must have an abortion. We must work toward the systematic elimination of the reasons that coerce women into an abortion.

We oppose abortion in all cases because violence is a violation of basic feminist principles.

Adoption is one way to affirm the early feminists' position on voluntary motherhood. If a woman chooses not to parent, there are a variety of adoption options that she can explore (open or closed, direct or indirect updates with photos). She should know, for example, that agencies in some states offer more comprehensive benefits (for example, compensation for lost scholarships, housing and other living expenses, health care, moving expenses, etc.) to birth mothers.

What if she has every resource and all the support and still doesn't want it?

We don't always know at the beginning how things will turn out. Many women report that their feelings change throughout the pregnancy.

Two-time Emmy award winner and FFL's Honorary Chair Patricia Heaton said, “Women experiencing an unplanned pregnancy also deserve unplanned joy.”

Feminism demands justice for all, especially those most vulnerable.

Women are capable of overcoming the unexpected, and making nonviolent choices. We need to support their life-affirming choices—including adoption options as well as marital or single parenthood.

Because women deserve better,

Serrin M. Foster
President
Feminists for Life
www.feministsforlife.org

P.S. Next week's question: If you don’t trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a child?

"Abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women. Women deserve better than abortion."
REFUSE TO CHOOSE® WOMEN DESERVE BETTER®
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Remember to Vote: One man, Henry Burn, cast the critical vote in the Tennessee legislature that ratified the 19th Amendment, giving women the right to vote. The statesman had walked into the Tennessee legislature that day prepared to vote against women’s suffrage, but changed his mind after reading a pro-suffrage letter sent by his most important constituent—his mother.

Feminists for Life is a 501(c)3 organization.
All donations and membership contributions are tax deductible to the extent according to law.
Refuse to Choose and Women Deserve Better are registered trademarks of Feminists for Life of America.

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Go to http://www.feministsforlife.org/support/index.htm and join online or donate today!
Feminists for Life - PO Box 20685 - Alexandria, VA 22320

Questions #6

Don't you respect women enough to allow them to make a choice?

Most women do not have abortions as a matter of "choice," but because they feel they have no resources to support a different choice. A coerced decision is not a free choice—it's a last resort.

We support nonviolent choices—single motherhood, fatherhood, grandparenthood, marriage and various adoption options—along with practical resources and support.

A society that promotes abortion as a “necessity” or “necessary evil” underestimates women and the violence of abortion and disregards what women really want.

If you don't trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a child?

If by “choice” you mean abortion, say it.

All choices aren't equal, but all people are. We reject violence against women and children through abortion, and promote peaceful alternatives that benefit both woman and child.

Feminism has long championed the strength and dignity of women and equality. Women are capable of making the decision to parent or place a baby for adoption.

It's not about trust—it's about condemning violence.

Don't women need to control their own lives?

No one has complete control over his or her life. Once a woman is pregnant, the question is, “What is the best possible nonviolent outcome for her?”

Because women deserve better,

Serrin M. Foster
President
Feminists for Life
www.feministsforlife.org

Question #7

So you believe that a tiny speck—a zygote, blastocyst, embryo or fetus—has rights over a woman?

Women aren’t stupid. We know it’s a baby that is growing just like we did in our mother’s wombs. That is why most women who feel they have emotional and financial support don’t have abortions.

I don’t believe in discrimination based on size, age or location. Do you believe that a child has less of a right to exist because he or she is small? Are large or tall people more valuable than small or short people? By that logic, most women would have fewer rights than men!

For years, abortion advocates have been pitting women against their unborn children, dehumanizing the growing child with misleading phrases like “blobs of cells” and “products of conception.”

Fetus is a Latin word meaning “young child” or “young one.” But in practice, fetus has become a clinical, dehumanized term for an unborn child.

Imagine if some group tried to deny medical care for gravidas. Once someone figured out that was the Latin word for pregnant women, the bewilderment would quickly shift to outrage.

Because women deserve better,

Serrin M. Foster
President
Feminists for Life
www.feministsforlife.org

Question #8

Isn't feminism about a woman having rights equal to those of a man?

Feminism is much more than that.

As a teen, I remember the electrifying call for equality during the '70's women's movement, and how it challenged and changed the nation. The idea was so compelling it still circles the world.

By definition, equality is a principle extended to all. When one group of people gets their rights at the expense of another, there is nothing equal about it.

The foundation of feminism is built on the basic tenets of nonviolence, nondiscrimination, and justice for all. Abortion is discrimination based on age, size, location, and sometimes gender, disability, or parentage. And it is often the result of a more insidious form of discrimination: the lack of resources and support that pregnant women need and deserve.

As I entered college, the women's movement continued to gain momentum. Cries for equality in the workplace were muffled by the even louder call for "abortion rights" and "pro-choice." You were either pro-woman or pro-baby. As a pro-life feminist, I felt very much alone.

When I found Feminists for Life I knew that I was "home." Then I learned that during the past two centuries, visionary women like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Alice Paul had worked for justice and women’s rights—without choosing between women and children.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton is perhaps the best example of the in-your-face, you-will accept-women-on-our-terms-and-we-are-not-accepting-less suffrage leaders. Stanton, the first champion of women’s suffrage and a mother of seven, said, "When you consider that women have been treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit." [Click here for more early American feminist wisdom.]

http://www.feministsforlife.org/history/index.htm

The early American feminists did not work to replace a patriarchy with a matriarchy. Women have a right to be women in the workplace and in school. Women shouldn't have to pass as men.

When women think they have to lay their bodies down or swallow a bitter pill for an abortion in order to compete in the workplace or make their way in the world—that is not feminism. In addition, abortion has hurt women by diverting feminist attention from other issues, particularly those that help mothers, such as affordable child care, comprehensive health care, and a living wage.

Finally, once a woman is pregnant, she is forever changed, no matter what the outcome—marital, partnered or single parenthood, adoption, abortion, miscarriage or stillbirth.

At Feminists for Life, we refuse to choose between women and children. We refuse to choose between our education and career plans and our families.

As pro-life feminists, our values are woman-centered and inclusive of both parents and children. And like the early American feminists, we are not accepting less.

We say "no" to the status quo. Let's aim for the best by advocating resources and support for women, and protecting both mothers and children from violence. Women deserve better.

Because women deserve better,

Serrin M. Foster
President
Feminists for Life
www.feministsforlife.org

P.S. Next week's question: What about all those kids in foster care that nobody wants?

Help us systematically eliminate the root causes that drive women to abortion. Join our free e-list. Become a member. Support our work. Thank you!

Feminists for Life is a 501(c)3 organization.
All donations and membership contributions are tax deductible to the extent according to law.

Refuse to Choose and Women Deserve Better are registered trademarks of Feminists for Life of America.

___________________________________________________
This is the information list for Feminists for Life.
Are you a member and is your membership current?
Go to http://www.feministsforlife.org/support/index.htm and join online or donate today!
Feminists for Life - PO Box 20685 - Alexandria, VA 22320