Men want to entrap women, take away their choices, and turn them into baby-producing machines. Women, on the other hand, want choices. Becoming pregnant should not force a woman to begin a family. For the state to deny women access to abortion is to violate a woman’s right to be responsible for her own body and for her own life. Abortion is about freedom.
Many of the professional spokespeople for the feminist movement—such as Gloria Steinem, Molly Yard, Patricia Ireland—repeat the above narrative so often that many in our society have come to accept this line of thought as “the woman’s perspective” on the issue. But this overhyped scenario is missing some important ingredients—without which the narrative leaves the realm of journalism and steers toward fiction.
What is missing is the fact that abortion is also about babies. And the category of humanity most attuned to the needs and cares of children are mothers. That is why, despite what our culture has come to believe, the pro-life movement is not a male plot to oppress women. In fact, the movement is overwhelmingly led, staffed, and run by women.
We think this truth is worth shouting about because it explodes an inaccurate and harmful stereotype. Two years ago we shouted by doing a cover story on the quiet work women were doing in crisis pregnancy centers (CT, Aug. 17, 1992). This time we decided to look at some women who are doing some shouting on their own. In “For Women, Against Abortion” (p. 20), we profile five leaders in the pro-life fight. For the role of image slayer, we turned to veteran journalist Ellen Santilli Vaughn, coauthor with Charles Colson of The Body and the mother of Emily.
MICHAEL G. MAUDLIN,Managing Editor
