A debate is raging right now in Ireland over abortion, whether it should be considered a human right and made available to anyone, for any reason. Abortion in Ireland is already allowed when there is severe risk to the health of the mother, either physical or psychological, or severe fetal abnormalities are present.
Amnesty International is one organization fighting for an abortion right, but Breda O’Brien points out that “Amnesty does not want to address the factors that lead women to choose abortion. It just wants abortion.” This single point is perhaps the most important argument available for the pro-life movement. This is true in the debate raging over Ireland’s abortion laws, and it is also true in the United States and here in Canada.
Abortion is seen as a starting-point solution, where the first option we give struggling or hurting women is the legal right to kill their babies. Pro-abortionists tell you they care about social programs, health care and a women’s right to choose while pro-lifers care only about the baby, not the woman. But the pro-abortion claim to care about women is proven otherwise by the fact that violence is their starting point for an answer.
Being pro-woman means creating a world where women need never feel desperate, alone, or inadequate for the role of motherhood. Being pro-abortion tells a woman she will be desperate and need a way out, she will ultimately have to make a decision that is hers alone to cope with, and she is inadequate to consider motherhood as an option.
Wanting abortion has come to overshadow anything else the pro-abortion movement may say it stands for, and it is up to the pro-life movement to truly stand up for choice, and for women.