It would be interesting to find out if abortion advocates actually believe the drivel they spew, or if they’re just spouting off one-liners in an attempt to make themselves look less ghoulish. This question comes to mind when reading a new article posted at RH Reality Check written by Sarah Erdreich.
According to Erdreich, abortion is a wonderful thing that is good for not only women, but for children and families as well. This kind of argument clearly requires some impressive mental gymnastics.
I was recently reminded of the old pro-choice slogan, “Every Child a Wanted Child.” Along with my personal favorite slogan, “Pro-Child, Pro-Family, Pro-Choice,” this decades-old mantra succinctly sums up a powerful pro-choice argument: that supporting reproductive rights is also supporting families, children, and choice.
… In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Look at the name of the best-known pro-choice organization—Planned Parenthood. In these words is embedded the very idea of healthy families and children: the idea that people can and should plan their families. Being deliberate and thoughtful about when to have children ensures that every parent is as prepared as possible for the responsibility of raising a child. This is a message that any compassionate person would respond to.
Talking about family planning also places abortion care firmly on a larger continuum, along with contraception, access to good prenatal care, and the right of any woman to have a child. This also allows abortion to be correctly discussed as one part of the larger issue of reproductive rights and justice, rather than as an exotic medical procedure deserving of judgment and stigma.
… Until then, it’s once again on us in the grassroots and online community to be the innovators. And no, I don’t mean that I’m going to start scouring Etsy for tasteful abortion-themed toddler clothing. As I learned through dozens of interviews for my book on the future of the pro-choice movement, one of the most effective ways to increase support for reproductive rights is by doing so one conversation at a time. Emphasizing the pro-family roots and goals of abortion activism is an excellent way to keep these conversations open.
If your head is currently spinning, you’re surely not alone.
First, Erdreich regurgitates the tired phrase of “Every Child A Wanted Child.” Aside from the fact that really, there are no unwanted children, this entire catchphrase relies on the idea that some people are just not worthy of life. And people like Erdreich get to decide whose lives are worth living and whose are not. Evidently, to abortion advocates, if a child’s life might not be perfect — if there is disability or hardship or heartbreak ahead — then that child is undeserving of life. It is better that a child never live at all then be “unwanted.” Because nothing good ever came out of people who had difficult upbringings, right?
Then there is the touting of Planned Parenthood as some kind of family advocacy organization, bravely paving the way to help families make their way through a cruel, cruel world. But Erdreich’s claims that Planned Parenthood is somehow “pro-family” is ludicrous. You can go straight to the source to see so for yourself. According to their most recent annual report, there’s no doubt that Planned Parenthood does a lot when it comes to contraception and abortion. They had over 3 million contraceptive patients, and performed 333,964 abortions. Prenatal care? 28,674 patients. Adoption referrals? A pathetic 2,300. Family practice care? 55,328 patients.
Pro-family? Not in the least.
The idea that anything about abortion could be considered pro-family, or even worse, pro-child, is one of the most ludicrous claims that could ever be made. There is nothing pro-child about abortion — no movement whose entire aim is to kill children can be — and abortion providers care not even the slightest bit about helping families do anything except not grow. This is just yet another pathetic attempt to make abortion sound like a noble force for social good, instead of the evil it actually is.
