Pro-birth, pro-life or pro-choice: A very simple question

Conservatives have added a national ban on abortions to their political platform. This is nothing new for the Republican Party. However, this issue is getting a lot of press time due to the outrage from women who see this as an all-out attack and a war waged against their right to make a medical decision that should include a woman and her doctor.

A quote by a Benedictine nun named Sister Joan Chittister has created quite a stir on Facebook. The graphic above has been circulating and it has received an extreme amount attention by those who call themselves pro-life and those who are pro-choice.

On Nov. 12, 2004, Sister Joan told Bill Moyers: “But I do not believe that just because you're opposed to abortion that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking. If all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed, and why would I think that you don't? Because you don't want any tax money to go there. That's not pro-life. That's pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of what pro-life is.”

A graphic depicting this quote that has been circulating can be seen here.

In essence, this quote has spurred conversations surrounding the validity of a pro-birth mantra. After all, it seems that if an individual supports the pro-life agenda, that concern should be carried over for the lifetime of the child and ensuring it receives everything it needs. However, that does not seem to be the case. Somewhere the rest of the picture got lost.

Once a child is born, it has needs that can include anything from medical care, food, shelter, adoptive services, various support services and clothing. Cuts in support systems for low-income women and children seem to contradict the pro-life belief system. Cuts in many programs that help provide care for these children have come under attack as the GOP pushes for "no new taxes" and cutting current spending. It seems that those who are the most vulnerable are not exempt from the pending cuts and this ties directly to the quote made by Sister Joan and begs the question: If you are pro-life, shouldn’t your concerns exist beyond the womb?

It is extremely hypocritical to pro-choice advocates to see pro-life advocates pushing for restricting a woman’s right to choose what happens to her own body in one breath, then pushing to restrict tax dollars from being spent on necessary services to the poor in the next. It appears on the surface as if a woman who is forced to bear a child- whether conceived from rape, incest or other causes - then she is then left struggling to find a way to care for the child with no help from the GOP.

Pro-life advocates have decided that in order to push their personal agenda on poor women, they will prevent them from having access to birth control, possible life-saving services and medical care by restricting and sometimes even defunding family planning. This leaves these women with no options. This has created rage and anger.

This leave only one final question: Are you pro-birth, pro-life or pro-choice?

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SOURCES:

http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript346_full.html

http://rtl.org/RLMNews/09editions/AreMyTaxDollarsPayingForAbortion.htm