Pro-life Feminism

This fall I led a short presentation and discussion on Pro-life feminism in the feminist research group I'm a part of in grad school. Needless to say, I was in the minority in my pro-life views, however the group was gracious and didn't kill me on the spot. I learned some interesting things about the debate in our discussion, and the topic certainly deserves further coverage in my blog. At the moment however, I thought I would simply share some of the best resources I found in my research for the presentation. Check out these links--they are all well worth it.

ProWomanProLife
This Canadian blog is a good representative of the modern pro-life movement: focused on changing society's attitudes towards abortion, rather than more punitive or inflammatory approaches. Taken as a whole, the blog articulately makes the case that being pro-life is a legitimate feminist view. The nine female contributors (all with very different personalities and reasons for being pro-life), combined with the blog format, allows for a flexible, multifaceted take on various women and abortion related issues. This also means that the posts are occasionally off-topic and humorous , which I think serves to bust some stereotypes about pro-lifer's seriousness and humorlessness.

Better Homes and Children
A fascinating article from a Christian perspective which analyzes the advertising in the '50s for their cleanliness, health and progress narratives, and argues that we've internalized these in our thinking about children and mothering. Amy Laura Hall shows how this thinking has contributed to a devaluing of life-- buying into the myth of the perfect child, the perfect family, has resulted in treating children as commodities, the creation of designer babies, and the rise of abortion. People choose to kill their own child rather than suffer imperfection (either imperfect timing which might disrupt their notion of a perfect life or an imperfect child). Hall describes the societal pressure that leads to this: "Legal, efficient forms of controlling birth changed parenthood from a probable given in marriage to a task that must be chosen responsibly and performed well. Aspiring young couples today often speak about parenthood as if each potential child, each possible life, must be justified—each conception brought about only under the best timing and after obviously adequate preparation." Hall doesn't spare the church, however, and her recent book, Conceiving Parenthood, chronicles the rise of this attitude in her own denomination--Methodist. Both the book and the article make extensive use of popular culture artifacts-- advertising, photographs, church publications, etc. making them engaging reading. (Unfortunately the online version of the article doesn't include the pictures--to see the pictures, find a print version of Books and Culture)

John Piper
John Piper has preached more than his share of sermons on abortion in the course of his ministry. I found one sermon by Piper, Abortion: Shall We Listen to Men or God?, particularly relevant and encouraging. I know it must be difficult to preach on this subject as a modern pastor, and I think Piper sets an excellent example for courage in speaking out.

Life Network
This doesn't exactly qualify as a resource, but Life Network is my local crisis pregnancy center, and so is what I'm generally thinking about when I talk about pro-life action. Over the years they're really done an excellent loving and caring for both mothers and their babies. You may recognize some familiar faces in this promotional video--Jasmin and Silvia with Jasmin's two kids, telling how Life Network was there for them.

Flipsyde--Happy Birthday
Also not really a resource, but a rap song on Youtube about the effects of abortion. Enough said.