"Pro Life" Groups Cannot Be Considered Feminists

I have a great aversion to the term “pro life,” as if everyone else is “anti-life.”  Everyone is pro-life, but some of us also believe in a woman’s right to make medical decisions about her body without government interference. Abortion is a medical procedure and should be something discussed between doctor and patient. As soon as someone begins to talk about “pro life” or “murder,” etc., I realize that religion has been brought up. You are entitled to your religious beliefs and among them may be the belief that abortion is a sin. That’s your business. But I do not believe you have the right to foist that belief on anyone else. No one can force a woman to have an abortion, and no one should force a woman to bear an unwanted pregnancy. No one should have the authority to tell women that they cannot have abortions; no one should be able to make abortions difficult to impossible to obtain, or to make other laws placing burdens on women for even considering such a procedure. As for the Women’s March saying no to “pro life” women who say there is no problem with their being feminists and joining in the march, there is a serious contradiction of even one woman declaring herself to have a “pro life” stance at the same time as claiming to be a feminist. There may be women who marched who do not believe that abortion is right and would never consider having the procedure. But that is not the same thing as wanting to be a part of a pro life group; association with such a group would mean being officially against women being allowed to have choice. So, as soon as this “pro-life” stance is announced as an “official” position, one does have to be perplexed: How can a woman be a feminist if she does not believe that a woman has the right to make medical decisions about herself? If a woman believes in choices, she can personally believe that abortion is wrong, but feel that she should not demand that other women have the same position. If a woman has choice, that choice could be a decision not to have an abortion, but it is still the belief that the woman, and not a bunch of strangers, is making the decision.