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COMMENTARY: 5 Lies About the Pro-Life Agenda

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COMMENTARY

America is waking up to the horror that is abortion -- and her anger is manifested in state legislation banning abortions well beyond the precedent set in Roe v. Wade. The pro-life generation (and more experience-in-age generations) are attempting to rescind the 1973 legal decision. 

Pro-choice advocates are not happy, and they're coming up with some extremely "creative" false narratives in attempts to undermine the virtue of the pro-life community. Consider the following:  

We're Pro-Life Up to Birth, But After That, We Don't Care

When I first started in professional journalism in the summer of 2017, the headlining story was about a baby in the UK who was suffering from a muscular deterioration condition that was just as aggressive as it was rare, and the only experimental treatments existed outside of the UK. The baby's name was Charlie Gard. Gard's parents desperately wanted the opportunity for experimental treatment for their son, but the UK high court would not allow the young boy to be released from the hospital. 

If it isn't yet obvious, baby Charlie had already been born. If the pro-life community was merely pro-birth, they wouldn't have concern for Charlie Gard. Yet leaders in the pro-life movement were fiercely advocating for Charlie's release and treatment. Catherine Glenn Foster, president of Americans United for Life, was corresponding with me while she was literally in the courtroom in the UK as an advocate for Charlie.

Foster wasn't the only advocate for Charlie. Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life; Penny Nance, president of Concerned Women for America; Lila Rose, president of Live Action, and Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, all advocated for Charlie and his parents.

The Pro-Life Community is Anti-Woman

Noting the last half of the above paragraph will show you today's pro-life leaders, who lead large and impactful pro-life organizations, are women. So, unless we have women leading anti-women agendas, this lie is rather silly.  Along with this false narrative is the idea that white men are the influencers behind this pro-life agenda. While men are certainly involved and should be, women are still at the helm. 

Pro-choice advocates were quick to point out that 25 white men voted in support of the recent pro-life law in Alabama, but they're conveniently silent on the fact that the bill was sponsored by two women serving in the state house and signed into law by a woman who is serving as the governor of the state. 

Pro-Life Folks Don't Care About the Mother

Similar to the first falsehood, pro-lifers are accused of only caring about the baby and not the mother. But this too is a fabrication. Crisis pregnancy centers across the country, which far outnumbers Planned Parenthood and other abortive facilities, provides medical, financial, and counseling support for women who would otherwise choose to have an abortion. 

Pro-life leaders and educators routinely raise awareness about the emotional and physical trauma that haunt post-abortive mothers. We care about the mother so much so that we take proactive measures to protect her from the horrific post-abortive nightmares that many women have shared about. We care about the mother so much that we speak the truth of empowerment to her that she can have a coexisting career and motherhood – such as the likes of Judge Amy Cony Barrett, which leads to my next point. 

Pro-Life People Are Anti-Career

A common argument for abortion is it provides the opportunity for women to advance in their careers since many believe that they cannot participate in motherhood while pursuing professional success. Thus, to force women to have their children is to force them out of a favorable career. Truth is, the pro-life community supports both motherhood and professional careers for women, and both are attainable simultaneously. 

For example, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett currently sits on the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and is on President Trump's list of potential Supreme Court nominees. Barrett is also a mother of 7, two of whom are adopted. She has seemingly mastered motherhood and the challenges of the judicial community. She's also pro-life. 

Pro-Lifers Don't Care About Women Who Have Been Raped

At this point, the bottom of the barrel has been scratched clean, but I'll take the bait. This falsity comes from the fact that pro-life advocates do not see rape as an exception to abortion. As horrific as rape is, we only give evil a victory lap when we follow through with the ending of innocent life. 

Crisis pregnancy centers and other pro-life organizations are quick to render care or point victims of rape in the direction of professional care. Caring for rape victims means doing whatever we can to regulate their pain– not add to it, and time and time again women have expressed the pain of following through their rape with abortion. Rape is never the victim's fault, nor is it the baby's fault. Care, assistance, and love must exist for both the survivor and her child. 

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About The Author

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John Wesley
Reid

John Wesley Reid is a senior fellow with the Hungary Foundation. Before moving to Budapest, John worked in Washington, D.C. for over six years covering politics, the Supreme Court, and church relations within the political sphere. John studied political science at Biola University and is an alumnus of Hillsdale College’s James Madison Fellowship. During his tenure in D.C., John was the editor-in-chief of Liberty University's Freedom Center, a producer with CBN News, digital media director for the Family Research Council, and he is a contributing author for various publications. John is a