In an interview with the Catholic News Agency (CNA), founder and president of Secular Pro-life, Kelsey Hazzard, spoke about the myths and challenges facing the pro-life movement. She also discussed what the future holds for both pro-abortion groups and pro-life activism as the Supreme Court prepares to hear the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization regarding Mississippi’s 2018 law restricting abortion after 15 weeks.
The lie that women need abortion to succeed
According to CNA, dozens of amicus briefs have been filed in support of Mississippi’s pro-life law, and Hazzard signed one of those briefs, arguing that women’s “social, economic, and political opportunities” were increasing prior to the legalization of abortion. Abortion is not necessary, Hazzard says, in order for women to achieve socioeconomic success.
“In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court said that even if Roe was wrong, it couldn’t correct its deadly error because American women had come to rely upon abortion for their professional advancement,” Hazzard told CNA. “This is the infamous ‘reliance interest.’ And yet in the decades since Casey, abortion rates have plummeted dramatically while women have enjoyed ever-increasing gains in the workplace. Forget ‘correlation doesn’t not equal causation’ — they don’t even have correlation!”
Hazzard, an attorney, said, “the fact that the highest court in the land attributes my success to the mass slaughter of preborn babies fills me with disgust.”
“That is the polar opposite of my values,” she explained, “and I deserve credit for my own hard work.”
When the Supreme Court determined in the 1992 Casey ruling that American women were dependent on abortion in order to achieve career success, it implied that mothers are incapable of having success outside of a family; that while men could be both fathers and successful career men, women were incapable of doing the same.
The myth that all pro-lifers are male Christians
Hazzard also tackled the false notion that all pro-lifers are male Christians. She explained that women make up a large part of the pro-life movement, despite the fact that the media and the abortion industry continue to frame abortion as a right that women want. “In my experience, women are the majority of engaged pro-life advocates,” she said. “Pro-life female leadership is commonplace and unremarkable.”
Not only is Hazzard the president of Secular Pro-Life, but Lila Rose is the president and founder of Live Action, Kristan Hawkins is the president of Students for Life of America, Carol Tobias is the president of National Right to Life, and Terrisa Bukovinac is the founder and executive director of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising.
While pro-life atheists are not the majority of the pro-life movement, they do exist. Religiously unaffiliated people account for about 12% of pro-lifers in the U.S., said Hazzard. And most religious pro-lifers have welcomed them, working with them toward the common goal of ending abortion.
The pro-choice movement is a caricature of itself
“The pro-choice movement has become almost a caricature of itself at this point,” said Hazzard. “I mean, talking about ‘cardiac activity’ or ‘flutters’ to avoid saying ‘heartbeat’? Come on.”
While the pro-life movement has always had science on its side — consistently maintaining that life begins at fertilization and that abortion kills innocent human beings — the pro-abortion argument has changed over the years. Once ultrasounds and other advancements in science revealed what life inside the womb looks like, the flawed “clump of cells” argument could no longer stand.
In addition, abortion advocates have always had to rely on carefully worded euphemisms to market abortion as a product, because when people know the truth of fetal development and abortion, they sometimes choose life and may become pro-life. The word “fetus” is always used for babies targeted for abortion, while “baby” is reserved for “wanted” preborn children. Phrases like, “remove pregnancy tissue” and “terminate the pregnancy” cover up the truth that a human being must die in order for an abortion to be successful.
The pro-abortion agenda is being forced by science to move away from claiming preborn children are just tissue, but they are still trying to play their game of misdirection. “[…] I think the ‘clump of cells’ talking point is on its way out; the truth is just too difficult to avoid,” said Hazzard. “Instead it’s the ad hominem attacks taking the lead: ‘you hate women,’ ‘you don’t care about kids after they’re born,’ that sort of thing.”
The future of the pro-life movement
While the abortion industry works out its next marketing scheme, the Supreme Court will soon reexamine if and how states can restrict abortion. No matter which way the court rules — overturning Roe v. Wade, allowing Roe v. Wade to stand as is, or falling somewhere in the middle — the pro-life movement needs to remain strong and focused.
“We must remember that success in Dobbs is only the beginning,” explained Hazzard. “I worry that people will get complacent, thinking that reversal of Roe was the goal. No: saving lives is the goal. The post-Roe abortion industry is not going to accept defeat quietly. They are going to enact ever more extreme laws in pro-abortion states. They are already trying chemical-abortion-by-mail schemes. Increasingly, abortion advocates dehumanize not only children in the womb, but their defenders as well. It’s going to get worse before it gets better.”
All of the efforts pro-lifers have been making to help women and babies will need to continue and even increase as abortion becomes more and more restricted. Pro-lifers who have remained on the sidelines will need to step up to the plate.
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