The post-abortion counseling group Exhale, which was actively involved in the airing of MTV’s 16 & Pregnant “No Easy Decision” abortion special, has come under fire for their choice to work with MTV, with some conservatives calling them as agenda pushing and not neutral whatsoever. Which begs the question: Can a group that works in after-abortion counseling even be neutral? Can …
… a person, for that matter, be in between pro-life and pro-choice?
Aspen Baker, the co-founder of Exhale, says that she dislikes the “black and white world” we live in, and that Exhale is “trying to say there’s something else.” There is something to be said for this; Exhale functions in a world in which people get penalized for changing their mind, or for not being sure where they stand on issues (see John Kerry in 2004, who was repeatedly called a “flip-flopper,” particularly over his stance in the war in Iraq). The staff at Exhale, which has received a huge increase in calls from women asking for guidance, is happy to be helping women, but frustrated by being included in a political agenda. They call themselves “pro-voice.”
Others don’t see it that way. Anti-abortion blogger Jill Stanek believes that, “What Exhale does is allow post-abortive mothers to come in and debrief and get out all their grief and fears and whatever, but then its ultimate purpose is to support abortion. It wasn’t pro-life post-abortive groups that MTV called. It was a group that was decidedly pro-abortion.”
Exhale disagrees: “We’re not pro-choice. We’re very clear about that. Women’s feelings about abortion should not be politicized.” But in an environment where abortion is always politicized, this rhetoric seems useful. For Exhale’s purposes, it’s extremely helpful; they can target and work with lots of different women who might not respond to them if they identified with a side. But in today’s political climate, with abortion rights being attacked at every angle, it seems like we need everyone we can saying what they feel and fighting for it. The executive director of Ohio Right to Life, Michael Gonidakis, told The New York Times that, “This is the best climate for passing pro-life laws in years. We’ve got a pro-life governor and a brand new pro-life speaker. Our government now is pro-life from top to bottom.” There’s no way for abortion to avoid being political, and maybe that’s the problem.
I personally resent the term “pro-life”. It sort of implies that the other side is “anti-life”.
Is there a name for “I believe that abortions should be legal but shouldn’t be used to the extent that they are because really, if we were more vigilant about teaching proper contraceptive use and provided inexpensive access, less women would feel the need to have them, and I would personally never have one”? Cause that’s what I am.
I think that most (all?) people on the pro-choice side of things would agree with your position. I do, and I consider myself pro-choice. But I am even more pro-education and pro-healthcare.
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It would be great if no one ever needed an abortion. It would also be great if it regularly rained chicken pot pie from the sky on Wednesdays. Since neither of these things is going to happen, we need to address the factors that cause a woman to have an unwanted pregnancy and find ways to prevent that from happening in the first place.
Eh, I’d be much happier if it rained pasta or steak. Ooh, fettucine alfredo rain would be phenomenal. Blast! Now I’m thinking of all the yummy food I would love gratuitous amounts of!
I loved Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs as a kid. I can’t believe they destroyed it so thoroughly into a recent movie.
I feel the same way, Manda. I’d rather not see abortions used as widely as they are, but there should always be options for women.
“It wasn’t pro-life post-abortive groups that MTV called. It was a group that was decidedly pro-abortion.”
Yeah, because there are totally anti-choice groups that want to talk to women post-abortion. That is, other than to condemn her as evil and demand repentance in the eyes of an angry god.
They sure seemed upset with the notion that women should have their grief dealt with in a humane manner, didn’t they?
There do exist support groups for women after abortions that don’t support abortions. They do tend towards the people who are regretting an abortion, but it’s out there.
It does, of course, make total sense though that the majority of post-abortion-care groups would not be opposed to abortion.
This is exactly the argument I have been in with my father for years. While I personally would never ever have an abortion due to my personal and religious beliefs, I have to recognize that that was a well thought out decision to which I came entirely on my own and without any input from the government. Would I go to my best friend and say” oh yeah, you should get an abortion”? Never. Would I turn away from a friend who was grieving after one? Again, Never. I mean, that’s a traumatizing enough decision to make without having the people who are supposed to be helping you tell you that you are right to feel upset because you made a wicked mistake. That’s /totally/ helpful and Christian. Oh ignorance. Sigh.
On a different thematic note, “This is the best climate for passing pro-life laws in years.”
Apparently he’s pretending 2000-2006 didn’t happen… (I know he’s referring to state government, but it was still a stupid point)
I think it’s entirely helpful to identify as neither pro-life nor pro-choice.
Both are terrible agenda-based terms that are supposed to cover a large area of different possible opinions, which simply leads people to lump all disagreers as one unit, and to cause issues when someone with a similar idea doesn’t quite toe the party line.
It’s dumb, and there is no reason that anyone should feel required to align themselves with poorly-chosen sides.
I dunno, I think the distinction between supporting a woman’s right to choose or opposing that right are fairly straightforward. There are certainly shades of gray within and between, but it’s fairly easy to classify oneself as one or the other.
I’m concentrating on the terms.
And even now, it’s demonstrating the issue. In the terms you use, you are defining the issue as you would like it to be. Someone opposed to abortion is ‘opposed to a woman’s right to choose’. Choose what? Choose anything? opposed to her ‘right’ to choose to kill her developing baby? yes. opposed to her ‘right’ to choose to kill her born child? also yes, though now in much greater company. opposed to her ‘right’ to choose the colours to paint the baby’s room? nope.
‘right to choose’ is deliberately making it sound as though the other side believes in no choices and no options and thinks of women as slaves. ‘right to choose to remove a developing foetus’ would be slightly more appropriately descriptive.
Similarly ‘pro-life’ is deliberately chosen to label the other side as ‘anti-life’, as though people who believe abortion is okay have no respect for any life at all, and are thrilled to kill people left, right, and centre.
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Even if we’re detailing out whether a woman should be allowed to choose to abort, if you are ‘pro-choice’, are you pro- any choice? Do you believe there should be a cutoff? do you believe a woman should be able to abort up until the day she goes into labour? Or even during labour? Do you believe abortion should be permitted only up until a certain number of weeks?
There’s plenty of dissent within the ‘pro-choice’ ranks between those who think abortion should be legal up to a point, and rare even then, and those who think that if you’re opposing abortion anywhere along, you’re not ‘pro-choice’.
So yeah, the terms suck, and it’s entirely decent to label yourself with something that actually describes your opinion with fewer political terms.
Given that most of these pro-life groups also oppose contraception and sex education, I think there’s a good case for calling them “anti-choice”. As far as they are concerned, the only choice for a woman is to remain a virgin, and if you don’t, or get attacked, tough sh*t, you’re a whore, you deserve to be shot.
That doesn’t seem like a choice to me.
I am Pro-Life and as I am concerned what choice do people who are supportive of abortion give them. they don’t. If a woman finds herself pregnant and alone and decided to go to Planned Parenthood. They often do not try to give her any options but tell her that she does not have another choice.
Abortion is not just a fix, it kills a life and leaves the woman wounded. Most Postabortive woman are left feeling depressed, can lead to suicidal thoughts, self-esteem problems. They cannot just forget about it. The baby becomes apart of them before they are fully developed. They spend years in guilt over it.
If someone gets shot and they find the killer, he will get arrested. well, what is the difference when a guy pulls apart the body of an unborn baby and it gets thrown in the dumbster like a pierce of trash. The guy does not get arrested but yet there is no difference. Killing is killing. One can not justify themselves when it comes to killing.
Pro-lifers do not want woman to be lied to .There are people out there waiting to walk with them throughout their pregnancy and even afterwards. Their are plenty of families would love to adopt.
I pray for those everyday who have experienced abortion and for those who are in hard pregnancy.
over 50,0000 babies are killed a year due to abortion.