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Pro-Life vs. Pro-Birth: What’s the Difference?

The pro-life movement has quickly spread across the USA in the past decade or so in effort to prevent and ban abortion. Notorious for their protests and prayer services outside of abortion clinics, “pro-life” activists are nothing if not busy. From local pro-life clubs to the March For Life in Washington, DC, the movement has definitely left an impact on our society. Although the pro-life movement does, in fact, fight against women’s reproductive rights, the purpose of this article is not to attack the pro-life movement for their belief. Rather, the purpose of this article is to point out that “pro-life” may not be a necessarily appropriate title for the mindset of the members.

 

When a myriad of my peers claim to be “pro-life,” they really mean that they are “pro-birth” or “anti-abortion.” Pro-life is a term that reaches faaaaaaaaar beyond reproductive rights. I mean, how can someone claim to be pro-life yet be anti-immigration and borderline racist? (it sounds ridiculous, but I know way too many people like this) They are neglecting to recognize what that title truly means. So I composed a list of what beliefs being pro-life TRULY includes:

 

  1. Support the conservation of the environment
  2. Support adoption
  3. Defend victims of sexual assault
  4. Defend victims of bullying
  5. Work to prevent bullying
  6. Be pro-immigration
  7. Support the LGBT+ community
  8. Support all races
  9. Support all genders
  10. Support all religions
  11. Work against systematic oppression
  12. Stand against police brutality
  13. Basically be against any injustice

 

And the list goes on. In short, basically be decent person. We need to reclaim the term pro-life so we can make sure it’s used in the right context. Pro-life shouldn’t be about restricting women’s reproductive rights but rather about supporting all living beings, no matter who they are and no matter how different they are from you. To be authentically pro-life is, at its core, to be a feminist. Pro-life is the belief in equality of all living beings, while pro-birth is not. So here is a list of what being pro-birth truly entails:

 

  1. Believe that abortion should be made illegal

 

That’s it. That’s literally all. See the difference?

 

In summation, those who currently claim to be pro-life, really aren’t pro-life. Not only because they don’t support women being able to make choices about their bodies, but also because they don’t support the other beliefs listed above. It’s sad to see that the term pro-life has been claimed by people who are hardly that. Thankfully though, if you want to be authentically pro-life, feminism is the movement for you. Supporting all living beings by believing in equality and justice is how to become authentically “pro-life.”

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