I agree with this a lot— I am wholeheartedly for life from womb to tomb but the “pro-life movement” seems awfully disingenuous and purely political anymore. The words don’t match the actions or even political policy for that matter. I see a lot of people who are “pro-birth” but completely unwilling to do anything to support a quality lifespan and certainly do not get their own hands dirty to help people in crisis in any practical way.
As a college student I attended the March for Life. It felt good, but I’m not convinced it is doing much at all to actually change the situation. It was more like preaching to the choir and rallying the troops. I suppose there’s some benefit to the public seeing visually that there is a large contingency of Americans that have a problem with abortion, but it just seems pretty lame somehow. Clearly the value of human life (at all ages and stages) in our culture is deteriorating by the day and marching with signs is doing little. Action—day to day life affirming action—paired with consistent life ethics that refuse to ignore other major life-destroying forces in our culture—is what is needed. Self-emptying love is what is needed.
You can’t say you’re pro-life but be a racist. You can’t say you’re pro-life but idolize your right to deadly weaponry and put your trust and machismo in it. You can’t say you’re pro-life but refuse to see the humanity of lgbt people because you’re so disgusted with them. You can’t be pro-life but believe that migrants, yes even the illegal ones, are subhuman and deserve to be treated like animals and political pawns. You can’t be pro-life while idolizing corrupt and perverted politicians (and/or dehumanizing the ones you don’t like). You can’t be pro-life and believe that it’s every man out for themselves—that true “freedom” is defined by selfishness and greed. You can’t be pro-life and ignore polluted environments and serious health risks like failing water systems (or lack of water and sewerage—this is a major problem in parts of the US!).
Let’s just be honest— the limitation of “life” to the abortion issue serves a political purpose to divide and conquer us and we are allowing it to happen. Both the “pro-choice” and the “pro-life” people are being played. The lack of nuance anymore on this issue is, I think, emblematic of how distorted the discourse has become.
If I may, I think we need to be careful about defining "pro-life" as anything other than what people have decided the term means. The reason is that the term is political rather than moral.
So while I agree with your MORAL argument, I think we should be careful of applying it to someone's POLITICAL identity. Basically, I think it's better to call people by the name they use. Make sense?
I understand— I guess my qualm with the entire “pro-life” culture is that it has become politicized to the point that I think it isn’t really fulfilling it’s mission anymore—if that makes sense. The politics are defining what “pro-life” is now—when the issues of life are so much more than the political battles between Republicans and Democrats. The politics have too often married the pro-life cause to things that are actually in juxtaposition to the message and make the conversations with those who disagree a lot more difficult. It’s hard to have the moral high ground when too many folks seem to pick and choose what human lives they are concerned about. I am just totally disillusioned by both major political parties as both seem completely disinterested in actually valuing human life as anything more than a pawn in a sick and twisted identity politics game.
I agree with this a lot— I am wholeheartedly for life from womb to tomb but the “pro-life movement” seems awfully disingenuous and purely political anymore. The words don’t match the actions or even political policy for that matter. I see a lot of people who are “pro-birth” but completely unwilling to do anything to support a quality lifespan and certainly do not get their own hands dirty to help people in crisis in any practical way.
As a college student I attended the March for Life. It felt good, but I’m not convinced it is doing much at all to actually change the situation. It was more like preaching to the choir and rallying the troops. I suppose there’s some benefit to the public seeing visually that there is a large contingency of Americans that have a problem with abortion, but it just seems pretty lame somehow. Clearly the value of human life (at all ages and stages) in our culture is deteriorating by the day and marching with signs is doing little. Action—day to day life affirming action—paired with consistent life ethics that refuse to ignore other major life-destroying forces in our culture—is what is needed. Self-emptying love is what is needed.
You can’t say you’re pro-life but be a racist. You can’t say you’re pro-life but idolize your right to deadly weaponry and put your trust and machismo in it. You can’t say you’re pro-life but refuse to see the humanity of lgbt people because you’re so disgusted with them. You can’t be pro-life but believe that migrants, yes even the illegal ones, are subhuman and deserve to be treated like animals and political pawns. You can’t be pro-life while idolizing corrupt and perverted politicians (and/or dehumanizing the ones you don’t like). You can’t be pro-life and believe that it’s every man out for themselves—that true “freedom” is defined by selfishness and greed. You can’t be pro-life and ignore polluted environments and serious health risks like failing water systems (or lack of water and sewerage—this is a major problem in parts of the US!).
Let’s just be honest— the limitation of “life” to the abortion issue serves a political purpose to divide and conquer us and we are allowing it to happen. Both the “pro-choice” and the “pro-life” people are being played. The lack of nuance anymore on this issue is, I think, emblematic of how distorted the discourse has become.
Thank you for your comment Elizabeth!
If I may, I think we need to be careful about defining "pro-life" as anything other than what people have decided the term means. The reason is that the term is political rather than moral.
So while I agree with your MORAL argument, I think we should be careful of applying it to someone's POLITICAL identity. Basically, I think it's better to call people by the name they use. Make sense?
In Christ,
FrG
I understand— I guess my qualm with the entire “pro-life” culture is that it has become politicized to the point that I think it isn’t really fulfilling it’s mission anymore—if that makes sense. The politics are defining what “pro-life” is now—when the issues of life are so much more than the political battles between Republicans and Democrats. The politics have too often married the pro-life cause to things that are actually in juxtaposition to the message and make the conversations with those who disagree a lot more difficult. It’s hard to have the moral high ground when too many folks seem to pick and choose what human lives they are concerned about. I am just totally disillusioned by both major political parties as both seem completely disinterested in actually valuing human life as anything more than a pawn in a sick and twisted identity politics game.