Nope, this is a huge misconception because there are many feminists in this world who do not believe abortions are ever justified. Instead they believe woman deserve better than accepting abortion as a means by which to ‘fix’ their problems.

This lie is the very opposite of the meaning of feminism. If you type feminism into Google, it comes up with this definition: “the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes.”¹ Yet, for some reason, “modern” feminists seem to care about equal pay and working conditions, but most of all the right to access abortion. It is interesting because if a woman who is in support of all of these feminist ideals besides the right to access abortion, then she will be vilified by her sister feminists and accused of not being a feminist at all. Supposedly, being anti-abortion is not compatible with feminism.

WRONG, they actually fit together perfectly because feminists against abortion see having a right to abortion as destructive for women and they believe women deserve better. Here is a synopsis, compiled from a number of sources on pro-woman feminism:

When did this wave of feminism start?

According to Laury Oaks: “During the second-wave era of the late 1960’s and 1970’s the tenets of the emerging group of anti-abortion feminists were rejected by mainstream feminists who held that for full participation in society, a woman’s ‘moral and legal right to control her fertility’ needed to be a fundamental principle.”² From their minority position, anti-abortion feminists said “that mainstream feminists did not speak for all women.”³

Again Ms Oaks states that: “Since the early 1970s, self-identified pro-life feminists in the US have argued that a feminist movement in support of abortion rights in not in the best interest of woman because abortion condones violence against woman and fetuses, causes emotional and physical suffering for woman, and contributes to the social devaluation of motherhood.”⁴

So what do anti-abortion feminists believe?

One anti-abortion activist states: “Pro-life feminists want REAL choice for women. A REAL choice where women have the option to *choose* effective birth control, effective being the key word. A REAL choice when it comes to having a career and a child – women should not be in the situation where they either have an abortion or risk losing their job. What kind of choice is that? And this sort of thing does happen. What does this say to women? That a pregnant woman isn’t as valuable in the workplace? How is that showing a respect for women? How does that type of attitude ‘liberate’ women?”⁵

The writer went on to say: “True feminism, as I believe, condemns those who support oppression – whether the oppression be against women, men, minorities, or the unborn. Modern feminism has lost sight of the true meaning of feminism in the regards that modern feminism does not acknowledge the value of women who choose to stay home rather than work in the ‘business’ world, or the value of a child if it is in the mother’s womb.”⁶

The New Zealand feminist author Daphne de Jong states: “If women must submit to abortion to preserve their lifestyle or career, their economic or social status, they are pandering to a system devised and run by men for male convenience.”⁷  This does not seem like the equality pro-choice feminist fight for.

Another thing anti-abortion feminist value is truth, and dehumanising abortion to the point when abortion providers are not informing woman about what is actually done to the mother and baby is dishonest.

If the abortion lobby believed its own rhetoric about giving women choice, women would receive clear, unbiased information about the nature of the abortion procedure they were contemplating, which includes their baby’s stage of development. Women should be fully informed of all the alternatives without such  information  it is impossible to talk about choice without talking first about informed choice.

Why are pro-abortion feminists anti-woman?

This answer is clear. Pro-choice feminists support the woman’s choice to abort, regardless of reason. But what if that reason is to get ride of an unwanted baby girl? Well then that is called gendercide, or the mass killing of a specific sex, which has cost the world the loss of over 160 million woman to abortion, killing, and negligence to the point of death.⁹ For some reason though, the “right to choose” is held in high regard for mainstream feminists, than protecting and looking after the interests of  all women.

Hot debate has taken place in the UK surrounding a Bill that would criminalise sex-selective abortions. “The amendment intends to clarify that The Abortion Act 1967 does not permit a pregnancy to be terminated on the grounds of the sex of the unborn child. Proponents of the bill argue that sex-selective abortion is a serious issue in UK South Asian communities, where many families have a preference for sons”¹⁰ the Vice says. Though not all pro-choice activist feel comfortable with sex-selective abortions and may criticise the Bill, others openly advocate for it.

 

 

One skeptic pro-abortion activist writes her concerns:

 

“If we accept sex-selection on the grounds that the woman’s wellbeing is at risk if the pregnancy continues, are we also indirectly colluding with unacceptable discrimination? And therefore, allowing it to go on unchallenged for generations to come.

Conversely if we know that women are facing an indescribable pressure not to bear a girl, are we further oppressing and isolating those women (or possibly putting their lives at risk) by not affording them access to safe, legal abortion? I don’t think there are simple answers to dilemmas of this complexity and I’m not afraid to say I certainly don’t have them. But I do know that if a woman is pregnant and doesn’t feel confident that the future child will be fully supported, or that her physical or mental health would be at risk, they must have the choice not to continue with the pregnancy.”¹¹

 

Another pro-choice activist Professor Wendy Savage supports the woman’s right to choose entirely and strongly rejects the UK Bill criminalising sex-selective abortions. She told Daily Mail:

 

“Because of this sort of anxiety, some places won’t tell the woman the sex of the foetus, which is outrageous….It’s her body and her foetus, so she should have that information … if a woman does not want to have a foetus who is one sex or the other, forcing her (to go through with the pregnancy) is not going to be good for the eventual child, and it’s not going to be good for (the mother’s) mental health.”¹²

Vice Chair of Abortion Rights, Kate Smurthwaite has said:

“Ultimately, you can be pro-choice or you can be anti-choice, and if we’re going to support a woman’s right to choose, awful as it may sound, you have to just support a woman’s right to choose… making laws about what somebody’s reasoning should be is not the way to make laws.”¹³

 

 

There has been much skepticism on whether the UK does have a problem of sex-selective abortions, which could explain the push to criminalise them. Dr Vincent Argent, who use to work for the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and now works as a GP and a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist is one who believes that there is a widespread issue of sex-selective abortions in the UK. The Daily Telegraph writes:

 

 

“He had ‘no doubt’ that women were terminating pregnancies because of the sex of the baby and that he believed the practice was ‘fairly widespread’. This week The Daily Telegraph disclosed that women were being offered illegal abortions by doctors on the basis of the gender of the foetus.”¹⁴

On the other hand, organisations such as BPAS and pro-choice activists state:

 

“Official statistics show there is no evidence sex-selective abortion was a problem in the UK.”¹⁵

 

It is hard to judge what the statistics actually are, but regardless, the pro-choice stance is clear: “My body, my choice”. However, what does that say about their stance as feminist? It would show most people that the right to abortion and to have legalised abortions are more important than the little girl who is being selectively killed. 

In India, over 50 million girls have vanished from its population due to gendercide.¹⁶ The circumstances leading woman to abort baby girls are reasons we in the West may think are “ancient” or “outdated” but nonetheless they are reasons enough that woman feel abortions are necessary. Abortions actively targeting the destruction of a female life, are happening by the thousands a day.¹⁸ This is feminism for the pro-choice campaign, woman choosing, for what ever reason (heartbreaking or not), to kill another woman.

 

 

Pro-abortion groups in America have defended the right to choose and in response one pro-life activist states: “Rather than show solidarity with their daughters and sisters in life, they swear allegiance to unrestricted access to abortion—even when it decimates females.”¹⁹ Is this really feminism at it finest?

Being a ‘real’ feminist today must follow the mainstream mindset that: “Pro-choice means recognising that women’s rights take primacy in matters of reproduction…According foetuses rights on the basis of sex inherently means removing rights from pregnant women.”²⁰

In short, the mother first, not the woman inside the womb. Instead of equality for woman, we are left with acceptance of discrimination against woman. And to think that, “Feminists told us abortion would empower women. Instead, in some places around the globe, abortion disproportionately is used against women.”²¹