Cynthia Meyer, Staff Writer
Ideology: Conservative | Writing From: George Washington University

Feminists today consider abortion to be essential to women’s rights and personal freedom. As Emma Carpenter said in her latest column, “Pro-Choice and Proud,” “We are finally to the point where a woman can have a career and complete economic freedom. To restrict reproductive rights entirely would be taking away all of these advances and diminishing a woman’s freedom to act for herself in society.”

Early feminists would disagree.

In regards to abortion, modern feminists have lost their way on what it truly means to be free. It is rarely mentioned today that early American feminists were avidly pro-life, and saw abortion as oppressive to women. They believed that for women to be free, they needed to be free from abortion. When the pro-life movement uses phrases like “killing” or “murder” to describe the termination of a pregnancy, pro-choice sbafeminists often criticize them for using such harsh rhetoric. Yet it is their own Susan B. Anthony, a prominent feminist in the late 1800s who played a critical role in introducing women’s suffrage to the United States, who coined the term “child-murder” in reference to abortion. With the majority of the country in opposition to abortion, modern-day feminists should consider embracing Susan B. Anthony’s pro-life ideals.

Roe v. Wade would have been looked at with disgust in the eyes of Susan B. Anthony. It was based on an implied “right to privacy” provided by the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. But by the passage of the 14th Amendment in 1868, most states had already banned abortion practices. This “privacy right” was clearly not intended to give women the right to dispose of their unborn children like they are simply a piece of property.

A significant point made by early feminists is that abortion is a tool that men use to control women. Women who experience an unexpected pregnancy often are directly or indirectly pressured by the father of the unborn child to get an abortion. This is done either by telling the woman upfront that he does not want her to carry the child to term, or by completely denying responsibility, leaving the woman feeling alone with fears of raising the child without a supportive partner. In cases like these, how is abortion empowering to women? It only encourages the sexual objectification of women. It promotes men to sleep with whomever they please, use women as if men are entitled to their bodies, and refuse all responsibility for their actions. It allows women to be owned by men, in a sense, and be pressured by men to replace their maternal instincts with sexual submission. Susan B. Anthony emphasized this point in The Revolution: “Guilty? Yes, no matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; but oh! Thrice guilty is he who, for selfish gratification, heedless of her prayers, indifferent to her fate, drove her to the desperation which impels her to the crime.”

Modern feminists have become so preoccupied with sexual “freedom” that they have disregarded the societal freedom of women as a whole. In the battle between the pro-choice and pro-life movements, they are not standing up for women’s best interests. Not only does supporting abortion encourage the continued sexual objectification of women in society, but as Michele Walk describes in her column “Pro-Life is Pro-Women,” abortion is not, and never will be, “safe” for a woman. There are always psychological and/or physical effects that are harmful to the mother.

Carpenter posed the question in her column of why the country has shifted from pro-choice to pro-life in recent years. She argues that it is because the determined and ruthless pro-life movement uses scare tactics and graphic images to persuade the American people. But this is simply not true, and it is not the cause. The pro-choice movement has also been very vocal, telling women that conservatives want to suppress their “freedom of choice” and control what they can and cannot do with “their own bodies.” The American people have had their fill of arguments about abortion, and by this point, have heard almost every argument both sides have to offer. The reason for this shift is because, with increasing scientific knowledge and a better understanding of abortion, the public has realized how appalling the practice of abortion actually is. No, an unborn child is not just a “glob of tissues,” as Planned Parenthood would like us to think. Yes, the child is alive from the moment of conception through birth. No, the child is not simply a part of the mother; it has its own DNA, its own organs, its own physical traits. The American people are realizing that, while we do not want the government to control our lives and tell us what we can and cannot do, we must draw the line somewhere.

For further discussion of the topic of abortion, see Meyer’s column Don’t Compromise on Life.