I don't know how to tell you this, but …
if you're a feminist?
You're pro-life.
Not so fast, Roxane Gay!
I know. It sounds like
an impossible pairing.
Like red wine and Coca-Cola.
Literally my favorite mixed drink.
But hear me out.
Over time, the term "pro-life"
has become largely maligned by the left
because it's become synonymous with
only caring about life before birth.
But here's a brief history
on the term's liberal origins.
Before Roe v. Wade,
the first anti-abortion rights
activists in the late 1960s
were liberal Democrats who viewed
their campaign against abortion
as a rights-based movement
known as “Right to Life."
But in the late 1970s,
evangelicals co-opted the movement,
joining forces with the Republican Party
to link the politics of moral order
and "family values"
and together they birthed
the Christian right!
And for the past 40 years,
it's this unholy alliance that's
shaped the rhetoric
of the pro-life/pro-choice debate.
Today, the mainstream rhetoric seems to
intertwine conservative views —
on trans rights,
immigration, climate change —
with pro-life views.
But when you really think about it,
being "pro-life" should be synonymous
with wanting education access,
or health care or affordable child care —
which is super important because
families spend about $18,000 annually
on some form of early child care.
Pro-lifers should also support federal
law granting
You know what?
Let's just close the wage gap.
[laughter]
Here's proof of that wage gap.
In a pro-life world,
black lives, queer lives
and trans lives matter.
And if you identified as pro-life,
you'd also identify as pro-gun control,
pro-rehabilitation over incarceration,
pro-birth control and pro-choice.
If you're pro-life, I’m not saying you're pro-abortion ...
Only that the majority
of Americans feel that way.
A Gallup Poll from 2014
found that 50% of Americans
favor limited abortion rights.
28% think it should be completely
legal in all circumstances
and 21% think it should be completely illegal.
But misunderstanding and misrepresenting the term "pro-life"
has hurt access to prenatal and postnatal care
in the U.S. and abroad.
The U.S. has an extremely high infant mortality rate
because of abortion.
[buzzer]
No!
Due to the lack of access to
prenatal care for low-income mothers.
And? There's been a noted correlation
between the lack of access
to prenatal care
and an increase in abortion rates.
And yet,
social conservatives, some of whom identify as pro-life,
are largely against programs
that provide such care
and have voted to eliminate
programs that have successfully
lowered the infant mortality rate.
So if you identify as pro-choice,
I bet you're actually more pro-life than you think.
And if you're pro-life?
The president, it's no secret,
has made himself — made it very clear
that he's a pro-life president.
Mean what you say, or
what others say on your behalf,
and show some f*cking
compassion for human life.
Otherwise, stop co-opting
the term "pro-life."
Just say you're anti-abortion.
