All Our Lives

With everything that’s happened in 2020, one thing could not be more obvious: things can’t go on the way they are.

Abortion opponents can’t continue to be focused on electing politicians with no regard for anything except the abortion bills they’ll vote for or the Supreme Court justices they’ll nominate. Divorcing concern for the unborn from concern for everyone else has led us to a point where the term “pro-life” is associated with an authoritarian regime and its apologists.

White society can’t continue to ignore Black lives, including Black maternal and child health. Advocates for the unborn can’t ignore the inequities that make Black women more likely to receive abortions—and we can’t pawn it all off as “Planned Parenthood’s racism” either. We also can’t ignore racism perpetuated by people who are (at least nominally) “on our side.”

We can’t continue to live under an economic system that treats workers as mere units of labor, not human beings with lives and needs. The corporate vision of women’s freedom touts abortion as “economic justice” because it doesn’t challenge their power; it’s cheaper and easier than real economic justice.

“Freedom” can’t continue to mean “I do whatever I want with no regard for how it affects others.” We’re all in this life together, and pretending we’re not so that a few people can indulge their every desire makes everyone else less free.

The only just, sustainable way to create a society that values the lives of the most vulnerable is to create a society that values all of us—even those whose lives others might consider disposable. It’s not OK to let a pandemic go unchecked because most of the people it kills are elderly or disabled. It’s not OK to shrug off a police shooting because the victim may have committed a crime. It’s sure as hell not “pro-life.”

We can’t go on as we’ve been. So now what?

If you believe we need a new movement, one that centers the needs of women facing unplanned pregnancy and racial injustice and poverty and ableism, one that doesn’t ask you to choose between protecting the unborn and respecting everyone else’s lives, join us and let us know how you’d like to help.

One thing the mainstream pro-life movement really likes to do is point at Black pro-lifers, Secular Pro-Life, Democrats for Life, etc. and say “See! We’re diverse!” One thing they really hate to do is learn anything from “diverse” pro-lifers that they don’t already agree with.

For the record: It wasn’t “smart” for the cops who killed Elijah McClain to be more wary of him because he was Black. It was racist, and it cost him his life. HIS LIFE—that thing we’re all supposed to care about. He had every bit as much of a right to life as a skinny, nerdy white kid or an unborn child, and someone being scared of him doesn’t change that.

Refusing to listen to Black people who point out the problems with this kind of thinking, and believing you (as a white person) are the one who should be schooling them on what Black people need—that’s racist too.

Pro-life (unless I’m afraid of you). Pro-life (unless it means inconveniencing myself by wearing a mask). Pro-life (unless you need public assistance to preserve your life and health). This isn’t pro-life at all.

We can’t go on this way

No more “unless”