Views and Goals
Pro-life feminists believe that the legal option of abortion "supports anti-motherhood social attitudes and policies and limits respect for women's citizenship". Laury Oaks, Associate Professor of Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, writes that when abortion is legal, pro-life feminists believe, "women come to see pregnancy and parenting as obstacles to full participation in education and the workplace," and describes pro-life feminist activism in Ireland as more "pro-mother" than "pro-woman". Oaks notes that while Irish abortion opponents valorize child-bearing and are critical of the notion that women have "a 'right' to an identity beyond motherhood", some, such as Breda O'Brien, founder of Feminists for Life Ireland, also offer feminist-inspired arguments that women's contributions to society are not limited to such functions.
Pro-life feminist organizations generally do not distinguish between views on abortion as a legal issue, abortion as a moral issue, and abortion as a medical procedure. Such distinctions are made by many women, for example, women who would not abort their own pregnancies but would prefer that abortion remain legal.
Prominent American pro-life feminist organizations seek to end abortion in the U.S. The SBA List states this as their "ultimate goal", and FFL founder Serrin Foster said that FFL "opposes abortion in all cases because violence is a violation of basic feminist principles".
Read more about this topic: Pro-life Feminism
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