5 Women Who Prove That Being “Pro-Life” Is Not “Anti-Woman”

Image Credits: Aaron Wong for Bound4LIFE International

“Isn’t being a pro-life woman an oxymoron?” “Do pro-life women hate themselves?” “Why do they want to deny themselves rights?” While these questions alone could take several separate articles to address, there are prominent women today and in history whose defenses for life speak for themselves to answer these questions. In fact, their vehement stances against abortion are a testament to the fact that women can be pro-life without fear of contradictory behavior. Let’s take a look at five women who are pro-life, some of whom are alive today and some who now appear in our history books.

1) Mia Love

Mia Love made headlines on March 27th when she gave a compelling defense for the unborn at the annual March for Life. She shared her story with the crowd, stating that her immigrant parents from Haiti could have chosen the convenient option to abort her. Instead, they chose life. Her focus centered on looking toward the future of the nation. She states “Every time we kill a child through abortion, we kill our potential … we lose a little of ourselves and a whole lot of our future.” In her own words, “we cannot accept what might have been” and conversely, need to embrace what is to come. Her parents did just that, and Mia Love is now the first Republican black woman to ever be elected to Congress. Additionally, Congresswoman Love highlights what it means to be empowered. “A truly empowered woman profits herself, her community, and everyone she touches” she explains. We do not need to tell women they are victims, that the only way they may be empowered in their lives is by ending another life. “We will not accept that,” Love says, and instead need to focus on loving and supporting women struggling with unplanned pregnancies.

2) Carly Fiorina

Carly Fiorina has been greatly outspoken about her pro-life convictions. Throughout her candidacy for president, Ms. Fiorina often highlighted her belief in defending the unborn. One of the most highly controversial defenses she made regarded the videos that accused Planned Parenthood of harvesting organs from aborted fetuses. She stood her ground, daring  Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and then-President Obama to watch the video. She counters Planned Parenthood’s vitriol towards her by stating “you will not silence me, you will not scare me.” Further, she stated at the 2016 March for Life that “this is a fight for the character of our nation, for the value of life … we must take our country back.” She does not sound hindered by her convictions, rather, she is strong. Pro-life women can be and are empowered, as shown by Ms. Fiorina.

3) Susan B. Anthony

A suffragette of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Susan B. Anthony made it clear that “pro-life” and “feminist” can coexist. Many debate Anthony’s stance on abortion, however there is evidence of her pro-life beliefs. Anthony’s newspaper entitled The Revolution deviated from the normal practice of other newspapers of the time by not advertising abortion. An article published in The Revolution widely attributed to Anthony states that abortion “will burden [a woman’s] conscience…” Her suffragette counterparts like Elizabeth Cady Stanton denounced abortion in their writings, as well. It is clear that while women like Susan B. Anthony did not often speak about abortion, they still stood for life.

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4) Jeanne Mancini

As the director of the national March for Life organization, Jeanne Mancini has taken a stand for the unborn. The March for Life brings together pro-life advocates of all backgrounds united by their passion for defending the rights of those in the womb. The national director’s statement on International Women’s Day is a perfect summary of the need for pro-life women to rise up and fight for their cause. Because the practice of abortion has often been used to target females, the director explains that this “gendercide…accounts for the disappearance of at least 100 million girls worldwide.” Being pro-life, she says, is fighting for a world where all are “treated with inherent dignity and respect.” The belief that pro-life women are some sort of oxymoron is deeply undercut by Jeanne Mancini’s dedication as the March for Life director and standing for the basic right to life.

5) Abby Johnson

Abby Johnson is one of the more unique voices within the pro-life movement. A former clinic director at a Planned Parenthood facility, she dedicated her career to the organization for eight years. In 2009, she witnessed an abortion procedure on a thirteen week old fetus. After seeing the fetus fight as the abortionist performed the vacuum procedure, Abby Johnson handed in her resignation and turned to pro-life activism. She calls her decision “empowering” and now tries to help other clinic workers leave the abortion industry through her ministry And Then There Were None. She explains that being pro-life is, in fact, pro-woman. Abby Johnson perfectly encompasses the fact that women can be pro-life; there is no need to support organizations that bear the misnomer of women’s advocacy group to empower other women.