Editor’s Note: This letter was originally published in the Nov. 1 print edition of The Lamron. We apologize for the delay.
Letter to the Editor-
I am writing in response to the article “Pro-life movement is hypocritical, fails to offer services for people after birth.” The writer seeks to discredit the pro-life opinion by assuming that pro-lifers don’t care about children after they are born. My objection to this argument is that it is fundamentally both a straw man and a false equivalence. The pro-life movement is definitionally against abortion, to assume that they have any other policy stance would not be representative of the movement. The attack in the article falsely equates conservatism with being pro-life. While the two often go hand-in-hand, they are not exclusive. It’s possible for someone to be pro-life and in favor of a better-funded foster care system. It’s also possible for someone to be pro-life and believe in pre-zygotic birth control. The only uniting attribute of the pro-life movement is their advocacy against abortion.
That’s not to say that criticism against conservatism isn’t justified; but it is unfair to attack the pro-life movement on stances that they don’t all agree on—like childcare after birth. If one wants to criticize the pro-life stance, do so on the grounds of claims the movement actually makes, not implied, un-agreed upon stances.
Olivia J. Collins
Political Science major on the pre-law track