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Warning: This blog is mainly about my views on issues relating to liberty, disability rights, women's rights, the non-aggression principle, and the consistent life ethic. This blog also contains artwork, satire, and lists of awesome music and movies. Many of the things I post will be controversial, meaningful, or hilarious. For a more in-depth description, click here.

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Confessions of an Aspiring Pro-Life Activist

So... a while back, I read an article entitled "Confessions of a Former Pro-Life Activist." In the article, the author (Jennie) describes how pro-lifers and pro-choicers made assumptions about her beliefs on issues unrelated to abortion just because she was pro-life.
As a libertarian, pro-LGBT, culturally liberal, spiritual but not religious, consistently pro-life feminist, I totally get where she's coming from. I don't even look like I should be pro-life. I mean, there isn't really a "look," but when people think of pro-lifers, they tend to think of conservatively-dressed politicians, priests in their clerical clothing, rednecks, or young people wearing religious t-shirts that are made by Christian companies trying to appeal to teens. None of those things describe me.
So, I get what she means about people making assumptions. Although I don't tell people that I'm pro-life early on, as soon as (pro-choice) people find out, I lose all my feminist, libertarian, and/or culturally liberal cred, and I have to spend a lot of time convincing people that I don't hate women or want to take away liberty.
On the flip side, I don't know a lot of conservative Christians who advocate against abortion. My family is Mormon, so most of the "religious right" I interact with on a regular basis are LDS, and although Mormonism is against abortion, they are not nearly as passionate as, say, the Catholics. And since my liberal (or otherwise non-conservative) friends and acquaintances are much less likely to be pro-life, I don't have a lot of opportunities to actually go to pro-life events. None of the pro-life groups I would feel comfortable working with are going to have events in my area, and travel is something I really have to plan for, so I'm pretty much stuck blogging and taking pictures of myself. The most established pro-life group in my area isn't officially religious or affiliated with any political party, but it certainly has that bias. I would feel extremely uncomfortable at their events.
Luckily, I have some online friends who have connections with nontraditional pro-life organizations, but it's not the same as going to an actual event.
So... yeah. I totally get it, Jennie. You're not alone.

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