Women should embrace unique role as mothers, not imitate masculinity

By Nicole Manzione

A couple years ago I would have considered myself a feminist, but now it doesn’t seem like I’m welcome.

This is because the modern feminist movement is incompatible with being a “pro-life” Catholic woman. The movement says everyone is welcome, but you must support abortion and birth control, which goes against Catholic teachings.

According to Students for Life of America’s website, they were rejected as a sponsor at the first Women’s March in Washington D.C. because they oppose abortion. The organization showed up anyway, despite opposition and verbal harassment from individuals, showing a lack of inclusivity.

We have come a long way from the first-wave feminists who advocated for suffrage. However, an integral part of these first feminists’ platform is left out by the mainstream feminists of today.

According to Donna Steichen, a Roman Catholic journalist and author, the pioneering women in the first wave, such as Alice Stokes Paul, were unapologetically anti-abortion. Women’s empowerment should be rooted in the acceptance of themselves and all that comes with it, including fertility.

Fertility is a privilege some women do not have, and the current culture has told women that they should repress their fertility for the sake of being “normal” and “successful.” Being “successful” means getting that promotion and being the CEO, but it seems as though being a mother is less valued.

Women were made to be mothers, and rejecting that part of our biology is destructive. This new wave of feminism has idolized the traits of men and placed them on a pedestal for women to attain, which is impossible. Women will never be men and men will never be women, no matter how hard we try.

A Los Angeles Times column by Debrah Soh, a sexual neuroscientist at York University in Toronto, clearly addresses this issue by saying that “distortion of science hinders progress.” Women and men were created with complementary traits and tendencies for the good of the world.

The current feminism that so many have bought into over the past 30 years has failed us as a society, creating a culture of casual sex and a “you do you” attitude. These sound harmless in theory, but have often resulted in an unhappy generation of individuals that seek meaning and happiness in places where it does not exist; we have been taught that relationships of use are normal and acceptable.

As pleasing as this may seem, it can harm those who are involved. The way that this culture of use is perpetuated is through the use of birth control methods and, when those methods fail, abortion.

It is treated as a one-sided responsibility for the woman, and the man gets away with the use of her as an object for pleasure and not a person; this is not to forget that some women make themselves available to be used in this way intentionally or unknowingly.

Current feminists follow this narrative, while the Catholic Church and the anti-abortion movement say otherwise. Every life has worth, and should be treated with the utmost respect and dignity. Women are amazing, and are worth more than a one-night stand or hook-up.

Pope John Paul II said in his Letter to Women, “Thank you, every woman, for the simple fact of being a woman! Through the insight which is so much a part of your womanhood, you enrich the world’s understanding and help to make human relations more honest and authentic.”

A woman does not need abortion to be successful in the modern world. There are so many more avenues to get where you want to be.

Women’s personal choice should not be influenced by outside institutions

By Keaton Aspell

The debate over abortion in America seems to be never-ending. On one side exists people who are anti-abortion, arguing that life begins at conception and that when a woman decides to have an abortion, she is committing one of the greatest sins.

On the other side, people who are pro-abortion rights carry the belief that a woman’s decision to have an abortion is nobody’s business except that woman and her doctor’s.

I myself am pro-abortion rights, and let me make it clear that does not mean I or any other person who is pro-abortion rights is “pro-abortion.” Being pro-abortion rights means that you have decided not to judge a woman for her personal decisions because you don’t know why she is making them.

A woman may have an abortion because she was raped or lied to by her partner about using a condom.

Regardless of her reasoning, the decision to have an abortion is not an easy one to make. Most of the time when women choose to have an abortion, it is because they know that they do not have the financial or emotional resources available to them to give a baby a good life.

In simpler terms, women don’t choose to have abortions only because they do not want to have a child. Most often it is because they understand that having the child would not only have a negative impact on their own lives, but on the child’s life as well.

Now, hoping you understand why someone would be pro-abortion rights, let’s talk a bit about people who claim to be “pro-life.”

Many people who are “pro-life” are not actually pro-life, but instead are really pro-birth. Republicans in congress who are supporting the bombings in the Middle East are the same ones who claim to be “pro-life.” So why do unborn babies take priority over the living children who are in desperate need of help?

All they seem to care about is making sure women do not have abortions and carry their babies to term.

If someone truly believes that every life is precious, they should offer their support to people who are already alive and possibly on the verge of death.

Why are the children dying in Syria not important enough to be part of the “pro-life” agenda?

Or the LGBTQ community that struggles with high rates of suicide?

Or how about the impoverished families in America who have multiple children because they were unable to get an abortion and struggle to provide food for their children?

The reason most of us are unable to help these people is because we, as individuals, don’t have the resources to do so. This reasoning runs parallel to the financial reasoning women choose to have an abortion. They can’t afford to give that child a good life.

If someone is going to claim to be “pro-life” then they should prove it.

Focus on other ways of saving lives instead of shaming women into having children they never wanted in the first place.

Right-wing politicians are too focused on controlling what women do with their bodies instead of focusing their energy on enacting policies that could help stop unwanted pregnancies in the first place.

Sexual education is desperately needed in America, but many conservatives still assert the belief that sex is a dirty topic that shouldn’t even be discussed until marriage. A person’s sex life, let alone their decision to have a child, is none of the government’s, or anyone’s, business.

Nobody wants abortions to continue, but unfortunately they are the result of a lack of sexual and contraceptive education. If we decided to stop treating sex as taboo and taught everyone how to have safe and consensual sex, we would all be happy to see abortion rates plummet.