Myth or Reality: Prolife Christians Hate Women
by Mary Katherine May
RECOMMENDED LINK to
Orthodox Christianity in Public: Reflections on Sexuality and Bioethics, a talk given by
Father Andrew Stephen Damick on
Ancient Faith Radio, an Orthodox Christian website.
Description of Father Damick's talk: What is a person? Is our culture confused about what a
person is? What is morality? What does it mean to be moral? How does sex fit
in? What about homosexuality, abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research and
assisted suicide? How should we as Orthodox Christians live regarding these
matters? How should we talk to our family and friends about them? How should we
talk to the wider society about them? Should we engage in political action over
them?
People who are
Pro-Life believe that
every life has the right to exist. Christians and those of other religions who are named with the label
Pro-life are people who believe that human life was and is created by God or a creator. As God made man, woman, people in his own image and God is holy, it is thus also true that every person has at a minimum an element of of holiness, despite how deeply that element may be hidden from view.
Human life that is created by God is human from its conception. To say that a person who is
For (Pro) Life hates any life is preposterous. To say that women who are for life and that is
all life must hate women is also preposterous because they then must hate themselves.
Those who are against protecting every human life, specifically life in the womb, want the general public to believe that they are far more generous and all-inclusive in respect to protecting every person's rights. The truth is, however, that they do not respect all life because they do not respect the right of innocent infants to live unless the woman chooses.
What pro-choice people want is for everyone to accept their opinion as fact, and at a minimum have the expectation that those who believe in the sanctity or holiness of life should agree to disagree, which in truth makes them complicit accessories in the killing of infants who have no voice.
The truth is that the pro-choice stance does far more than allowing women to choose for themselves how to control their bodies.
Pro-Choice means that women are put in the position of being executioner or giving pardon to the life within.
Pro-choice offers women the freedom that men supposedly naturally have by their very nature to choose sexual relationships with no consequence. Women in this position do not gain equality as women but instead women lose dignity of personhood to gain false equality by taking on the role of men, who themselves are not acting with good moral character when they deny responsibility for their actions.
Pro-choice supporters believe that all restrictions for murdering infants should be removed so that women may decide as they will. This position in truth demeans women in the sense that it trivializes the lives of the infants they carry as well as disrespecting who they are as women. Women have the God-given ability to bear children, and women should not settle for any form of equality but that which respects their bodies.
Life and death decisions are serious. There are times when this decision is necessary, but it is not after a life has been created out of choice. Considering murder as a reasonable choice of birth control is against nature, against women, and against the sanctity of life that deems every person has the right to exist.
President Barack Obama has stated his approval of abortion on demand because he wouldn't want his two daughters, should they become pregnant, to be punished for the rest of their lives. My response is to wonder why Mr. Obama feels that the created life is to blame for his daughters' poor choices should they become pregnant by their own choosing.
LINK to YouTube video of Obama statement.
The issue of life continues to be debated as heatedly now as it was decades ago. The arguments are old and repetitive, yet they are not going away. Now, with the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Hobby Lobby fresh on the national scene, passions have again risen to mountainous heights.
Make no mistake.
There are two lives at stake in being pro-choice.
Christians who are
for life are not haters of women, and that is a myth perpetrated by those who call themselves
for choice. If all who do not believe in the pro-choice position were included as haters at least the choice message would be consistent, but the reality is that Christians are the only group given the
hater designation.
What choice entails is debatable. For what women in everyday circumstances are choosing to do is treat themselves as less than who they are by denying the dignity of womanhood. Women in difficult circumstances when their own lives are threatened or due to rape do have a tough choice to make, and that is where the focus of the law should be positioned.
