It’s January, which means that there is a lot of buzz about the upcoming March for Life here at CUA. For three years, I have witnessed the March for Life from afar. The sentiment of the march just never seemed right to me, but it wasn’t until I dug into my own readings about abortion politics and women’s reproductive rights that I realized that the march doesn’t just feel wrong- it is wrong. If you’re reading this and you disagree, I want to encourage you to read with an open mind! I’m not a monster, but rather a young woman who cares about the lives of other women.
Anti-choice people from all over the country come to DC to march every January on the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. Though many supposed of them want to repeal Roe and make abortion illegal again, what they don’t realize is criminalizing abortion doesn’t decrease abortion rates. Abortion always has existed, and always will. In a society that criminalizes abortion, all that’s done is create people desperate to terminate their pregnancies via unsafe, back alley abortions. Botched abortions- via ingestion of chemicals, insertion of sharp objects, punching or kicking the abdomen, and even suicide- is a major cause of death in developing countries where a safe, legal abortion is outlawed. Wanting to outlaw abortion is not pro life. Pregnant people will die due to the complications and infections of these unsafe abortions. More deaths, and the same amount of abortions? That doesn’t sound very “pro-life” to me.
The amount of abortions has actually been steadily decreasing over the past decade. This is not because of the anti-choice community using manipulative, derisive strategies and harassing women outside of clinics. Abortions rates are scientifically proven to decrease when birth control is readily available and comprehensive sex education is implemented in schools. The states with the lowest amount of science and fact-based sex ed (not Bible-based and abstinence only sex ed) have the highest rates of teen pregnancy- and the highest rates of abortions. Luckily, clinics like Planned Parenthood are around to provide sex education and birth control to the people who need it most, but Planned Parenthood does so much more- birth control, therapy, STD tests, counseling, and breast and ovarian cancer screenings. There is nothing pro-life about wanting to defund Planned Parenthood, an organization that keeps needy people safe and gives them the opportunity to project themselves against cancer. For poor, minority women and low-income communities in particular, Planned Parenthood is a lifeline for healthcare. People would die if it were to be federally defunded.
Likewise, in the United States, bodily autonomy is a law we preserve no matter what. When someone dies unexpectedly here in America, we cannot utilize their organs for life-saving medical transplants unless that person gave consent while they were alive. If a person did not consent to becoming an organ donor, we cannot use their body. For a pregnant person who doesn’t wish to be pregnant, we as a nation have to uphold their right to their own body too. If you are anti-choice, you at least have to recognize that a pregnant woman should have the same rights to her body as a corpse does.
I think the most important thing you can do is become educated about feminism and women’s rights. I’m a pro-choice Catholic because I like logic and facts, and because I recognize how vital bodily autonomy and separation of church and state are. I think everyone should be pro-choice because even if you personally would not have an abortion, stripping women of their legally guaranteed right to an abortion is fundamentally wrong. If you are pro death by infection, cancer, and lack of bodily rights- then you might be pro life. If not, consider seeing things from my point of view- and sitting out the march for life this and every other year.