Postnatal Abortion and Pro-Lifers

April 28, 2006

I am constantly at odds with some of my more liberal and feminist acquaintances for one reason or another. One of the constant reasons is because I am adamantly pro-life. I believe abortion is murder.

I understand the images that are conjured up in peoples mind when I say I'm pro-life. They think of conservative, white, Republican, right-wing, Christians. They think of crazed protestors holding up gruesome pictures of aborted fetuses. They think of wild-eyed madmen bombing abortion clinics.

When I say I am pro-life, I mean I am pro-ALL life. I recently read an article written by the conservative pro-life speaker Jill Stanek. In it, she talks of how the Republicans in Chicago are attacking the Democratic Party and Planned Parenthood for aiding in the genocide of African-American babies through abortion. I could not help but shake my head and laugh in sheer disgust. You see, these people are not pro-life. They are anti-abortion. And they are not anti-abortion because they care so much for human life. They are anti-abortion because they view it as a way to control women.

How do I know these people are not pro-life? Simple. Because these people believe in and practice postnatal abortion. Prenatal abortion is when a woman gives somebody permission to kill and remove the fetus living within her. Postnatal abortion is when anybody does anything that helps to aid in the death or loss of quality of life for a living human being. I don't know if you've noticed, but many of these right-wing pro-lifers are postnatal abortionists.

How do they practice their abortions? First, after they've talked a woman out of having a prenatal abortion, they cease to assist her. Right now many of these right-wing pro-lifers support policies that seek to limit the assistance women get from the government in order to feed their children. In addition, they support the tearing down, or destruction, of public housing that gives these women a place to live with their children. But it does not stop there. In a society that acknowledges that education is one of the keys in living a productive and full life, they cut funding for public schools. They enact policies like No Child Left Behind, that leave millions of children behind and under-educated. And if these children do make it out of their dilapidated public housing, and under-funded public schools, the attempt on their lives do not end there.

They continue to attack them by telling them that the military is a wonderful option to pay for the education that they should receive for free. And then, when these young men and women enter the military, they are forced to fight against other underprivileged people of the world and kill or be killed. They either return home in body bags or on crutches. When they seek medical care for their bodies and minds, they are given only what it takes to keep them alive. (And sometimes not even that) But even then, they're better off than their peers who decided not to enter the military. You see, their peers have absolutely NO health care even though some of them work everyday in stores and corporations run by these pro-lifers. In addition, they are kept in the dark about diseases rampaging through their communities, and allowed to die when these diseases hit them in epidemic proportions. These same pro-lifers dont even know the severity of these situations nor do they care.

Some of their classmates did make it out of the ghetto and into the running for higher education. Many of them are already behind because of the fact that they did not have the same resources as many of their richer counterparts, but these same pro-lifers seek to destroy the preferential treatment that would help them rise to a level playing field. (Even though many of these pro-lifers benefited from preferential treatment because of their race or class.)

If you are gay, lesbian, or transgendered, you can look forward to more postnatal abortion. You can look forward to hate crime laws not being supported by pro-lifers. You can expect that they'll fight against your right to be married and take care of your family in a way that encourages life.

If you think the postnatal abortion ends there, you'd be wrong. If these people who were not aborted receive college educations and are able to buy houses or apartments in their communities, they are in constant fear of their lives and the lives of their families because of violence. Violence that is glorified by a white-run and upper-class controlled media. Violence that is made even more possible by laws that fight gun-control and are supported by these same "pro-lifers". And then those who have committed, or are accused of committing, these crimes are thrust into a justice system where they are not represented properly or given fair trials. If they are convicted of crimes which they might have or might not have committed, they are placed in an over-crowded and increasingly violent prison system. There, these "pro-lifers" make them work almost for free in a modern-day slave trade. And thats if they're lucky. If they're convicted in one of those really red "pro-life" states, they are often placed on Death Row. And that's when these "pro-lifers" exact their ultimate punishment. Death.

These chain of events apply to those living (or dying) in America. But there's more...let's not forget that these "pro-lifers" have quite the affinity for starting and participating in wars that kill millions. They also have an excellent way of turning their heads when millions more are being slaughtered by genocide.

But these "pro-lifers" constantly claim that they are pro-life. They say they're against abortion. They say they value life. Why? Because "thou shall not kill". Oh, they are so quick to bring the Lord's name into their debauchery. Thou shall not kill when the child is white. Thou shall not kill when the person has led a good life. Thou shall not kill when we decide we shall not kill. (Father Michael Pfleger of Saint Sabina Catholic Church in Chicago said, "George Bush came off of vacation to save Terri Schiavo's life while putting a needle in Tookie Williams arm the same day! Why? Because in America, a brain-dead white woman means more than a living Black man who is an author, activist, and Nobel Peace Prize nominee.") Well, God also says a lot of other things about what thou shall do in His book.

The Bible says, "Our Father which art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in Earth as it is in Heaven." In Earth as it is in Heaven. Most of these "pro-lifers" believe that in Heaven there will be no more pain, war, or confusion. They believe that no one will go hungry and that we will all live in mansions. (I believe this also.) But if God calls for His will to be done IN EARTH as it is in Heaven, then should'nt we try our best to make this Earth as close to Heaven as humanly possible? If there will be no more pain in heaven, should'nt we have adequate, if not exceptional, healthcare on Earth? If there will be no more war in Heaven, then should'nt we try our best to refrain from war and illegal occupations on Earth? If there will be no more confusion in Heaven, then should'nt we try our best to make sure that everyone is educated equally on Earth? If there will be no more hunger in heaven, then should'nt we make sure that everyone has enough to eat on Earth? If there will be no more homelessness in Heaven, then should'nt we make sure that everyone has an adequate place to live on Earth?

Well, I am pro-life. I am pro-healthcare, pro-education, pro-gun control, pro-gay marriage, pro-peace, and pro-elimination of the death penalty. I am pro-life because I believe in the sanctity of life; both prenatal and postnatal.