What’s at the top of the feminist agenda? “Abortion on demand and without apology.”
They brazenly shout this mantra with a defiance that reveals their true desire.
Here’s a little known secret: that’s not how the feminist movement began.
Most Americans would be shocked to learn that the earliest feminists were, almost without exception, opposed to abortion.
As we celebrate Women’s History Month in March, it’s important for pro-life supporters to understand and share this reality.
The first to acknowledge the Personhood of the pre-born were those courageous women who took to the streets to demand equal rights with men, such as the right to vote.
They condemned abortion in no uncertain terms. In the prominent feminist newspaper, The Revolution, founder Susan B. Anthony and co-editor Elizabeth Cady Stanton refused to publish advertisements for “foeticides and infanticides.”
Stanton, who in 1848 organized the first women’s convention in Seneca Falls, NY, classified abortion as a form of infanticide. Referring to the “murder of children either before or after birth,” she said, “When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.”
Sarah Norton, the first woman to gain admission to Cornell University, said, “Child murderers practice their profession without let or hindrance, and open infant butcheries unquestioned, establishing themselves with an impunity that is not allowed to the slaughterers of cattle…”
Norton added, “Perhaps there will come a time when an unmarried woman will not be despised because of her motherhood, and when the right of the unborn to be born will not be denied or interfered with.”
Victoria Woodhull, who in 1872 became the first woman to run for President, said, “The rights of children as individuals begin while they yet remain the foetus…I hold abortion to be just as much murder as the killing of a person after birth is murder.”
Another well-known feminist, Alice Paul, who fought tirelessly for passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that granted women the right to vote, called abortion “the ultimate exploitation of women.”
Thankfully, the feminist pro-life torch is still burning. Feminists for Life of America asserts that “abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women,” also declaring that “women deserve better than abortion.”
The group’s mission states, “We are dedicated to systematically eliminating the root causes that drive women to abortion—primarily lack of practical resources and support—through holistic, women-centered solutions.
Erika Bachiochi, another modern pro-life feminist, authored The Rights of Women: Reclaiming a Lost Vision in 2021.
In her book, Bachiochi argues that the idea of abortion as empowerment for women symbolizes failure rather than progress in the women’s movement. She boldly asserts that abortion is an anathema to authentic feminism.
“Every pro-life supporter owes a profound debt of gratitude to those early feminists who broke the mold of what women were expected to be,” said Georgia Right to Life (GRTL) President Ricardo Davis.
“Long before we had sonograms, they instinctively knew that a pre-born child from earliest beginning was a person and deserved respect and protection,” Davis added.
We need to spread the word about how some feminists have totally abandoned their heritage and become the anti-Personhood movement they are today.
Please share this article and help GRTL continue to fight for the pre-born with your prayers and a generous contribution.
Thank you and God bless you.
Sources: americanmagazine.org; ewtn.com; foxnews.com; feministsforlife.org; thehill.com; care-net.org.
By Wayne DuBois
Georgia Right to Life
Media Relations Advisor