Is Pro-Life Anti-Woman?

The false narrative that being pro-woman means you have to support abortion rights, right? Wrong!

It seems nearly impossible to turn on the news and not see images of violent protests taking place somewhere in America. Whether they’re fueled by election results, Supreme Court nominees, or an unwelcome right-wing personality speaking at a university, the recent uptick in protests taking place across America is remarkable.

People are angry and fearful, so they take to the streets to demonstrate against opposing voices. I fully support their First Amendment right as Americans to do this, providing they do it without violence.

However, in stark contrast to some of the rude and vile marches that have occurred recently, more than 100,000 pro-life individuals attended the March for Life on the Washington Mall in January. Although there was more mainstream media coverage of the March for Life this year than in years past, the press was fairly silent about this gathering of dedicated people. While the news outlets that predominantly express and espouse pro-abortion views predictably call this annual march an “anti-abortion protest,” a quick scan of the signs among the crowd and a brief listen to the speakers – including President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence – tell a different story.

The March for Life is a demonstration for life – From the Womb to the Tomb, as one sign read. And though we do focus on the life of the preborn child, our care and compassion are not exclusive to the baby.

What sets the March for Life apart from the other protests we’ve witnessed over the past few months is that while we are unequivocally against the killing of children in the womb, we are also passionately for something: the health and well-being of the women and families who face a crisis pregnancy.

Pro-abortion supporters and their allies in both mainstream and other like-minded media outlets promote a false dichotomy: You cannot be pro-life and pro-woman. It’s a common and prevalent charge made by the likes of Planned Parenthood and NARAL. We saw evidence of this at the Women’s March, where pro-life organizations such as New Wave Feminists of Texas were uninvited by the march’s organizers. But the reality is, being pro-life and pro-woman is not an either-or proposition. On the contrary, to live out your pro-life conviction to its logical conclusion is to be pro-woman.

The first and most obvious reason why this is true is because 50% of aborted babies are female. To be pro-woman requires us to serve and protect females of any age. If you are pro-woman but support abortion rights, then you fatally discriminate against an entire segment of the gender you claim to support. It is a nonsensical position. The Women’s March, by supporting abortion and rejecting pro-life women, was terribly misnamed. It should have been called the “Women Who Support Only Females of a Certain Age and Political Persuasion and Who Are Comfortable Killing Younger Members of Their Gender March.”

Second, we live in an age of “gender sausage.” Modern feminists are trying to become men, and they want men to become feminized. The transgender movement furthers the intentional confusion. Anyone can claim any gender they want, whenever they want. It is relativism and sexual deviancy gone mad, and it reduces the wonder and majesty of women to rubble.

To say you are pro-woman and yet promote abortion is to demean and denigrate one of the unbelievable privileges of being a woman – the honor of carrying a human life inside her body.

Third, being pro-woman and pro-life is not just a female stance.

In my book, Abortion: The Ultimate Exploitation of Women, I state that if men are truly pro-woman and pro-life, then we have an obligation to join the effort alongside women, and we must do so in very material ways to help end legalized abortion. I continually call on men to partner with women in the effort to end abortion, the worst holocaust in American history.

I started Human Coalition in 2009 with a male friend of mine. When the organization matured to full-time status in 2012, the first three employees were all men. As we grew, I was amazed at how many men were being called by God to be involved in leadership roles here.

I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been criticized for having “too many men” serving in leadership roles at Human Coalition, for claiming that men should be involved in ending abortion, and for promoting the factual claim that men are primarily responsible for the abortion culture in America. And most of this criticism doesn’t come from abortion advocates either (although they agree with it); it comes from people within the pro-life community.

For every time that I’ve sat with a male donor who shrugs about abortion and claims it’s his wife’s “issue,” I’ve also received emails and messages from women demanding to know why I’m involved at all, claiming I can’t possibly understand how an abortion-determined woman feels.

For the record, this criticism is unfounded. We have tremendous female executives on our leadership team, and more than half of our 115+ employees are female. That being the case, I will – without reservation or hesitation – continue to recruit, train, provoke, urge, and even shame men into being directly and passionately engaged to end abortion in this country. And I make absolutely no apology for rallying men to be deeply involved in the effort to end abortion. None.

To be pro-woman and pro-life is not a position exclusive to females. It is a deeply held belief to be embraced by women and men. And, candidly speaking, for those who are committed to Christ and His divine works of art known as human beings, it is not an optional belief.