Pro-life, Pro-choice

[marydell]

I'm pro-choice, very very much so.  In case that's not apparent to anyone who knows me, and in case anyone is wondering where I stand in the wake of Dr. Tiller's murder, I figured I should mention it.

Even when I was a young pro-life teenager (I grew up at Notre Dame, in a very very VERY Catholic family), neither I nor anyone I knew would ever support killing a person in the cause of stopping abortion.  I was raised to believe that "pro life" meant opposing capital punishment, abortion, poverty, and wars of aggression, and supporting services for unwed mothers, adoption, the rule of law, the St. Vincent de Paul society, and the Democratic party.

I don't know what the fuck people who think it's ok to kill doctors believe in, but I'm very very VERY glad I don't know any of them.

Just, you know, for the record.

Comments

[sanguinity]

:: I was raised to believe that "pro life" meant opposing capital punishment, abortion, poverty, and wars of aggression, and supporting services for unwed mothers, adoption... ::

Huh. Now, see, that's what I thought pro-life woulda-shoulda meant, and was always surprised that it didn't seem to. Mr. Bush could get me screaming at the TV set every time he declared his respect for the sanctity of life (or whatever his pet phrase was), because his actions re the Iraq war and capital punishment are NOT the actions of a man who's all about the sanctity of life.

(End of quoted section chosen judiciously, but not because I disagree about the final three items, because I haven't had time yet to consider the possibility of them following naturally from a pro-life stance.)

[marydell.livejournal.com]

the possibility of them following naturally from a pro-life stance

In the lefty-liberation-theological Catholic circles I grew up in, if you revere life you have to work to build a just society--to build the Kingdom of God on Earth. So you can't just try to save unborn babies; you have to try to save already-born people who die or suffer because of poverty, racism, war, and/or the actions of corrupt power wielders.

Once I left my hometown I started to discover that this isn't a particularly mainstream form of pro-life-ism, which set me to questioning the whole enterprise. Nowadays I still believe strongly in the "just society" parts, but I believe women's ownership of their own bodies is an integral part of that.

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

I can readily believe that most pro-life people are appalled by murder being done in the name of their cause.

I'm pro choice, but it's a very difficult choice and I have sympathy for those who would choose differently than I.

[ashnistrike.livejournal.com]

Fred at Slacktivist has an interesting post (http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/2009/06/killing-in-the-name-of.html) about how "pro-life" came to mean "anti-abortion".

[a-d-medievalist.livejournal.com]

This is one of the reasons why I prefer to think of this not as pro-choice vs. pro-life, but Pro-choice and Anti-choice. I don't know anybody who is pro-abortion. And I've met a lot of people whose views on abortion were based on a belief that some lives were worth more than others.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

I tend to think of it as "feminist" and "feudal," but when talking about it I'm ok with the standard labels. Because if I'm not willing to say "pro-life" then I can't complain when they label me "pro-murder."

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

I cannot get my head around the idea that the best way to affirm respect for life is to commit murder.