By: Missy Stone, SFLA National Field Director Jennie, a former Students for Life group member, recently published an article expressing her frustration and overall disappointment with the pro-life movement. Her chief complaint was that the understanding of what it meant to be “pro-life” is extremely narrow and in her case, ostracizing. I know that Jennie is not the only person who feels this way, nor will she be the last, so I wanted to take some time and address Jennie’s situation and hopefully bring solace to the hard position she has found herself in. Dear Jennie, I would like to say, you are not alone. At Students for Life of America, we work with over 900 high school and college aged student groups across the nation. Every group is made up of passionate but unique individuals. The pro-life generation comes in all shapes and sizes – Muslim, Buddhist, Atheist, Agnostic, Catholic, Gay, Straight, Republican, Democrat, and the list goes on. The notion that pro-lifers fit into this one box is absurd and we see organizations within the pro-life movement that represent the vast diversity of the people who have joined us in the fight to end abortion. We’re all in this together, no matter what. Please don’t discount the entire movement because a few people made misjudgments. Like you, they are doing what they think is the best answer to the abortion epidemic. We all have a place in the movement and maybe their message is reaching someone that yours would not. And vice versa – you have an important message that will reach people otherwise turned away from different approaches. We all play an important role, even if it’s different. I find it interesting that while you accuse people of pushing you away for not fitting a certain mold, you, yourself are pushing those very people away for not fitting into your certain way of thinking. Aren’t you just as guilty? Jennie, there’s a reason that abortion stands at the forefront of so many people’s minds when it comes to human rights violations. Yes, providing children with education is so important. Yes, combatting AIDs is so important. But, no other human rights violation in the history of the world has ever damaged and killed as many humans as abortion. There is not even one that comes close. I am not saying that other efforts are not worthy, but there is a legitimate reason why abortion seems like a priority… because it is. We cannot bring absolute relief to other victims if we don’t get to the root of the problem: our society does not value human life. Period. We see so much injustice in our society because we have created an entire culture that allows for the rights of children to be completely taken away, so how can we expect them to treat people with dignity once they are born? Lastly, I just want to clarify that simply because people are anti-abortion does not mean that they are against reproductive health. It’s quite the opposite actually. Not having an abortion is one of the healthiest decisions you can make for your body. Not taking a carcinogenic hormonal supplement is a healthy decision for your body. These positions are not at odds. Planned Parenthood facilities have been found to be dirty, workers are rude and unwelcoming, and they have been caught covering up sexual abuse of minors. Asking the government to re-allocate funds to organizations that actually meet health codes is not anti-reproductive health. Again, we’re on the same team. Bottom line, Jennie, I believe you are misjudging us the same way you feel like we have misjudged you. Focusing on abortion is not exclusive, it’s strategic. Focusing on abortion is advocating for reproductive health. We all want the same thing but if we take on every single human rights injustice without addressing the root issue, we render ourselves useless. We spread ourselves too thin. We lose the ability to make a maximum impact on the greatest injustice. The pro-life movement is made up of so many amazing, distinctive people, are working towards the same goal: to abolish abortion. And it takes people willing to put their differences aside and unite under the common objective to accomplish this. There is a place for everyone, you just have to be open-minded enough to find it.]]>
North Dakota Judges Forced to Allow Down Syndrome Abortions Even Though They’re “Eugenic”
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Something unusual happened recently in a courthouse in Fargo, North Dakota. Two federal appeals judges, Ralph Erickson and Bobby Shepherd, were reviewing an Arkansas bill that would make it illegal to target babies with Down Syndrome for abortion. They wanted the bill to be allowed. But a 1992 judicial precedent forced them to deem it unconstitutional. So what did Judge Erickson do? He asked the Supreme Court to overturn the previous bad decision and give states the authority to ban abortions. The dissent written by Erickson delved deeply into his concerns that this type of license to kill based
