Pro-Life? No, Anti-Choice and Anti-Contraception

I have frequently received emails or comments from anti-choice activists who insist that "anti-choice" is an incorrect label. Some have actually claimed that the label implies that one is against choice in everything, pretending that context plays no role in a word's meaning. No one is that ignorant, so such complaints can be dismissed as consciously and deliberately dishonest.

A bit less obviously disingenuous is the claim that "anti-choice" implies a person is opposed to choice in sexual and reproductive matters generally even though one is only opposed to abortion being a legal choice. Technically this is possible; in reality, though, organizations fighting against abortion also fight against sex education, contraception, and nearly every other area where people — and women specifically — might make personal sexual choices.

On Saturday, June 6, pro-lifers across the country will be participating in the largest protest ever against the birth control pill and other birth control products. Last year, participants across the United States shared the facts on exactly how the pill kills babies. This year, we will expose the sordid details surrounding the tragic effects these chemicals have on women. We will emphasize the truth about how the pill kills women.

Join American Life League and protest the pill. Help us unmask the truth and hopefully save lives. You can do this by having a presence outside of doctors’ offices, pharmacies, Planned Parenthood clinics and other family planning facilities, or even out on the sidewalk at a busy intersection. Wherever it is – help get the word out!

Source: The Pill Kills

Notice how even here, they insist on using the term "pro-life," a label which others have tried to tell me is the better term because it only refers to one's opposition to abortion. I think that these activists here justify use of this label because they are "concerned" with the life of women — they don't women to die from using oral contraceptives. Do you believe that they are sincere? I don't — not really.

First, I don't see them expressing any concern with women dying in childbirth. If fewer women die from complications from oral contraceptives than die from complications from pregnancy and birth, then the obvious course of action is to promote oral contraceptives and perhaps even oppose pregnancy — but I see no indication that these activists have even considered the issue, much less have tried to resolve it to see what the best course of action might be. This is more consistent with people who are pushing a position because it conforms to a pre-existing ideology (anti-sex, anti-choice) than with people who just happened to notice a problem and now want to solve it.

And what about the fact that oral contraceptives provide a number of health benefits aside from their ability to let women make decisions about pregnancy?

Benefit whom? The pill and other birth control products can and do kill. How is that a benefit? How many more women have to die or experience serious side effects that lead to death before YOU join us in our effort to educate others on the dangers of this chemical?

Of course, all medications have side-effects and complications for at least some people. No chemical that can actually do something to your body that helps you is incapable of doing something that harms you, depending on dosage and one's current health. Do oral contraceptives have side effects? Of course. Can oral contraceptives be dangerous for certain women with particular health conditions? Of course.

So these anti-choice activists aren't saying anything new. They aren't raising awareness of any new scientific data or discoveries. Doctors who prescribe oral contraceptives are already supposed to be aware of this and avoid prescribing the wrong contraceptives to the wrong women. The only legitimate goals which these anti-choices activists could have would be to raise awareness among doctors (if it's been established that they aren't doing their job) or to improve warning labels (if it's been established that the current labels are inadequate or incorrect).

Since that doesn't appear to be what they are doing, we can't generously assume that they have legitimate goals. Instead, they appear to pushing the agenda which pro-choice activists keep trying to point out to the media: deny women choices in their sexual activity, sexual knowledge, and reproduction. This goal is the one most consistent with all their activities — and it is far more consistent with their actions than mere opposition to abortion on the grounds that it is "murder."