Volume 11, Number 1

Spring, 2004Impact of Suffragists Felt a Century LaterFinding a Home in Today’s FeminismInspired by Our Feminist Foremothers

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Ourpro-woman,pro-lifelegacy

Ourpro-woman,pro-lifelegacy

Alice PaulAuthor of the Original Equal Rights Amendment

The quarterly magazine of Feminists for Life of America Editor Laura Ciampa Editorial Board Cat Clark, Maureen O’Connor Copy Editors Donna R. Foster, Linda Frommer, Coleen MacKay Art Director Lisa Toscani

Feminists for Life of America, 733 15th Street, NW, Suite 1100, Washington, DC 20005; 202-737-3352; www.feministsforlife.org. President Serrin M. Foster Vice-President Sally A. Winn Board of Directors:Chair Andrea Milanowski Robb Vice Chair Therese Madden Treasurer Marion Syversen Member-at-Large Susan Hurley DeConcini

Established in 1972, Feminists for Life of America is a nonsectarian, nonpartisan, grassroots organization that seeks real solutions to the challenges women face. Our efforts are shaped by the core feminist values of justice, nondiscrimination,and nonviolence. Feminists for Life of America continues the tradition of early American feminists such as Susan B. Anthony, who opposed abortion.The opinions expressed in The American Feminist by individual authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the policies, views or beliefs of FFL’s Board of Directors, President, Vice-President or The American Feminist editorial staff.Copyright 2004. All rights reserved. ISSN 1532-6861

3 A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft

5 Inspired by Our Feminist Foremothers Feminist experts discuss the pro-life feminists who have inspired them.

11 Impact of Suffragists Felt a Century Later FFL members reflect on the pro-life feminists who inspire them.

14 Finding a Home in Today’s Feminism A review of contemporary pro-life feministwriters shows a rich diversity of ideas and arguments.

19 Abortion and Modern PoetryTwentieth century poets reflect on the personal pain of abortion.

24 Feminist Giving Circles Thank you to our generous donors.

In Every Issue:18 We Remember: Holly Patterson

22 Herstory: Pearl S. Buck

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c o n t e n t sOur

pro-woman,pro-life legacy

"When a man steals to satisfy hunger, we may safely conclude that there is something wrong in society - so when a woman destroys the life of her unborn child, it is an evidence that either by education or circumstances she has been greatly wronged."Mattie Brinkerhoff The Revolution, 4(9):138-9 September 2, 1869

Susan B. Anthony

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Great thinkers during the Age of Reason inthe eighteenth century inspired majorsocial and political revolutions. A philoso-pher whose work made an indelible markon this era was Mary Wollstonecraft. In1790, she published A Vindication of theRights of Man. It inspired Thomas Paine’sclassic The Rights of Man and introducedWollstonecraft to a circle of eminent writ-ers including William Blake and WilliamGodwin (her future husband).

A Vindication of the Rights of Man wasfollowed two years later by her mostfamous book, A Vindication of the Rightsof Woman. Focusing on the emancipationand education of the female sex, this bookreflected Wollstonecraft’s wider politicaland social views about the inherent dignityof the human person, regardless of sex,race or rank. An ardent supporter of theAmerican Revolution, Wollstonecraft regu-larly compares patriarchy with monarchyin A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.She writes, "Who made man the exclusive,if women partake with him of the gift ofreason? In this style argue tyrants of everygeneration from the weak king to the weakfather of a family."

While many male leadersof her time argued againstequal education for womenas a potential threat to thestability of home and family,Wollstonecraft saw it as theonly means by whichwomen would ever beeffective mothers.

A Vindicationof the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft

reviewed by Elise Ehrhard

Mary Wollstonecraft

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It is the "gift of reason" and natural lawthat form the thematic heart of her book.She celebrates the natural differencesbetween women and men, but railsagainst the idea that these differencesdeprive women of the capacity for self-reliance. While many male leaders of hertime argued against equal education forwomen as a potential threat to the stabil-ity of home and family, Wollstonecraftsaw it as the only means by whichwomen would ever be effective mothers.

"And have women who have earlyimbibed notions of pas-sive obedience, sufficientcharacter to manage afamily or educate chil-dren?" she asks.

Later she asserts, "To bea good mother, a womanmust have sense, andthat independence ofmind which few womenpossess who are taught todepend entirely on theirhusbands. Meek wivesare, in general, foolishmothers."

Wollstonecraft placesmuch of the blame forfemale oppression onmale "libertines" andtheir sexual objectificationof women.

"…tyrants and sensualists are in theright when they endeavor to keep womenin the dark, because the former onlywant slaves, and the latter a plaything."

Wollstonecraft bluntly addresses contro-versial issues few would dare mention inpublic, including prostitution, rape andabortion. In decrying the tragedy of abor-tion, she again looks to natural law."Nature in everything demands respectand those who violate her laws seldomviolate them with impunity."

She demands equal responsibility byboth men and women for their parentalduties. "Many men attend to the breed-ing of horses…who would, strange wantof sense and feeling! think themselvesdegraded by paying any attention to thenursery."

Abortion would later occupyWollstonecraft’s thoughts in her finalunfinished novel, Maria: or the Wrongsof Women, in which a servant girl isseduced by a master and then coercedinto an abortion.

In 1797, Wollstonecraft died from com-plications after the birth of her child,Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the futureauthor of Frankenstein. Decades later,suffragists like Elizabeth Cady Stantonand Susan B. Anthony looked toWollstonecraft’s work for inspiration,serializing A Vindication of the Rights ofWoman in their newspaper, TheRevolution.

Today, Mary Wollstonecraft is consideredthe “mother of feminism” and AVindication of the Rights of Woman ispart of the great eighteenth-century intellectual canon. ✽

Elise Ehrhard has written fiction and articles fornumerous publications, most recently theChicago Tribune. She is past editor of theAmerican Feminist.

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She celebrates the natural differencesbetween women and men, but railsagainst the idea that these differencesdeprive women of the capacity forself-reliance.

Nature in everythingdemandsrespect and those who violate her laws seldomviolate them with impunity.

Inspired by Our FeministForemothers Laura Ciampa

Editor

Susan B. Anthony

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Have you ever wondered what would happen if a group ofpro-life feminist historians, writers and leaders got togetherin one room and talked about the pro-life feminists who hadinspired them? Picture a group of women enjoying tea in acozy room with a fireplace and comfortable chairs, or per-haps sitting around a conference table in a board room, orsipping cool drinks in a Japanese garden… Unfortunatelysince the busy schedules of these women would not permitan actual roundtable discussion; we decided to create a vir-tual one instead. We asked our experts to tell us via e-mailabout the feminists who inspired them and created a round-table discussion from their reflections and observations.

Lisa Bellecci-st. romain is the author of three books, a publichigh school social worker and adjunct professor of psycholo-gy for Baker University. She served as the first president ofFeminists for Life of Kansas and has written numerouscolumns about feminist history for various publications.

Rosemary Oelrich Bottcher, Ph.D., is the Immediate PastBoard President of Feminists for Life of America, and hasauthored numerous articles and opinion pieces on contem-porary pro-life feminism.

Mary Krane Derr is coeditor of Prolife Feminism Yesterdayand Today, compiler of "Man’s Inhumanity to WomanMakes Countless Infants Die," and a contributor toHistorical and Multicultural Encyclopedia of Women’sReproductive Rights in the United States, ed. Judith Baer(Greenwood, 2003). She is also an award-winning poet and abiomedical, environmental, and social service writer.

Serrin Foster is President of Feminists for Life of America.Her speech, "The Feminist Case Against Abortion," has beenpresented internationally and has been included in ananthology on Women’s Rights entitled "Great Speeches inHistory." She serves on the advisory boards of AmericanCollegians for Life and the Susan B. Anthony List and hasbeen recognized by Marquis Who’s Who in America andWho’s Who of American Women.

Ellen Kennedy Johnson teaches English Literature at ArizonaState University and has a forthcoming article about SarahGrimke’s unpublished letters and essays.

Rachel M. MacNair, Ph.D., is the director of the Institute forIntegrated Social Analysis in Kansas City, the research arm ofConsistent Life; co-editor of Prolife Feminism Yesterday andToday; and the author of Perpetration-Induced TraumaticStress: The Psychological Consequences of Killing (Praeger,2002), which examines several groups that kill, includingabortion clinic staff and executioners. MacNair served asnational president of FFLA from 1984 to 1994, and originallyfounded the Susan B. Anthony List.

Suzanne Schnittman, Ph.D. in American History, currentlyserves on the Board of Directors of Feminists for Life of NewYork, teaches history at State University of New York atBrockport and writes on women's issues. She is writing abook on nineteenth-century women using previously unpub-lished letters.

Sally Winn is a mother of two and serves as Vice President ofFeminists for Life of America. She has served on the boardsof the Feminism and Nonviolence Studies Association,Democrats for Life and the Susan B. Anthony List and haspresented her speech, "Refuse to Choose: ReclaimingFeminism," across the country.

All of these women have contributed to FFL’s earlier newslet-ter, Sisterlife, and/or FFL’s current magazine, The AmericanFeminist. Krane Derr and Bellecci-st. romain are the pri-mary authors of the column "Herstory," a favorite feature inThe American Feminist.

Debunking the myth that nineteenth-centurywomen's rights supported abortion is a constantchallenge, especially for historians faced withprejudice and political correctness.

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A RICH LEGACY

Krane Derr: Despite the importance that the present dayfeminist movement has placed on abortion, little to nothingis said about the activism of earlier women regarding thisissue. When it is mentioned, it’s often downplayed, andattributed to motives that don’t tell the whole story, or don’ttell it at all!

Schnittman: Debunking the myth that nineteenth-cen-tury women's rights supported abortion is a constant chal-lenge, especially for historians faced with prejudice andpolitical correctness. My recent work demonstrates thatmore and more women's historians of this period are reluc-tantly recognizing that Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth CadyStanton, and their colleagues saw abortion as hurtingwomen. The mere mention of abortion has been absentfrom most collections of sources.

I recently discovered some entries in Susan B. Anthony’sdiary, written during a speaking tour to Missouri (quoted inThe Selected Papers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and SusanB. Anthony, Vol. III, ed. Ann Gordon, 2003. pp. 213-14):

Mar. 4, 1876, while visiting her brother Danielwhile on a tour, notes this about her sister-in-lawAnnie: "Sister Annie in bed—had been sick for amonth—tampering with herself—and was freedthis A.M. what ignorance & lack of self-governmentthe world is filled with." (The editor notes tamper-ing was "inducing an abortion.")Mar. 7, 1876, leaving her brother Daniel's: "SisterAnnie better—but looks very slim—she will ruethe day she forces nature—"

Foster: As I travel the country by train I cannot help butthink that Susan B. Anthony traveled these same rails, goingfrom town to town organizing support for women’s suffrage.I relate to this childless woman who responded to a compli-ment by a man who said she would have made a wonderfulmother. She answered, "I thank you sir, for what I take to bethe highest compliment, but sweeter even than to have hadthe joy of caring for children of my own has it been to me to

help bring about a better state of things for mothers general-ly, so that their unborn little ones could not be willed awayfrom them." All of us follow in her footsteps as we addressthe root causes that drive women to abortion.

Bellecci-st. romain: I have read about Elizabeth CadyStanton's experience when first advocating for the vote forwomen at Seneca Falls in 1848—the only one of the 12 res-olutions not to pass unanimously because it was consideredridiculous and outrageous. I love the wording: "Resolved:that it is the sacred duty of the women of this country tosecure to themselves their sacred right to the elective fran-chise." That it was "sacred"—they would have to answer forit if they did not do something about the problem, a "duty"that they could not run from, and that the women had to"secure" it themselves, enough of counting on the men togive it over. How others thought her wild and far out-of-bounds to even voice the impossible: women voting!

Krane Derr: Stanton voiced another wild, out-of-bounds"impossibility": a world where women’s social, familial, andeconomic circumstances do not compel them to such"degrading" (her word) practices as abortion and infanti-cide. [In this world,] because biological motherhood is sohighly valued and actively supported by people of both sexes,and at the same time women—and men—aren’t mandat-ed to have as many biological kids as possible (or even any).[It is] an appealing vision to me as a woman who has borneand raised an unplanned child, then became infertile, andmight not have chosen further bio-motherhood anyway.There are so many ways to mother, all of them sacred.Stanton’s long-ago insight is badly needed in the currentabortion debate.

Winn: Elizabeth Cady Stanton is a profound yet real rolemodel to me. As the founder of the women's movement andmother of seven she suffered the same struggles so many ofus face in boldly answering the call of duty to elevate the sta-tus of women while maintaining an unwavering dedicationto her beloved role as mother. At a time when mentioningpregnancy and childbirth was something of a taboo, Stantonwas truly a woman ahead of her time. Against society'snorms, she went out visibly pregnant and raised a flag to

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commemorate the birth of each of her children. She saw thebeauty in women’s awesome life-giving abilities and celebrat-ed each new life publicly. The stork-in-the-lawn people shouldbe paying royalties to her estate!

Stanton's views on the individuality of every human life, asreflected in her writings below, underscore for me the need tohelp women appreciate their unique abilities and fight againstbeing molded into the wombless model of success society hasfoisted upon us. It is clearly also a reminder of the regrets ofmany women in abortion recovery who were told that theycould always "get pregnant again later." Each life—both thatof the woman and her child—is beautiful, unique, anddeserves an opportunity to blossom in its own right.

Bellecci-st. romain: I have been inspired that ElizabethCady Stanton's amazing writings were accomplished while sheraised SEVEN children! Oh, my goodness, and that was beforeword processors, electric washing machines and dryers, dish-washers... What energy! Her quote regarding her partnershipwith Susan B. Anthony is a favorite reminder that we don'thave to do this work alone: "I am the better writer; she thebetter critic. She supplied the facts and statistics, I the philos-ophy and rhetoric, and together, we have made argumentsthat have stood unshaken through the storms of long years."What an incredible partnership! How productive they were!

Kennedy Johnson: Abolitionist Sarah Grimke, who withher sister Angelina was the first woman to speak in front of a"promiscuous" audience in 1836 (meaning one where menwere in attendance), called the too frequent practice of abor-tion and self-induced miscarriage "the secret sorrows ofwomen." She asserts: "And why I would ask this untimelycasting of her fruit? Do the beasts of the field miscarry? Why

not? They are governed by instinct. Are the brutes safe duringthe period of gestation whilst women are not?" Grimke want-ed women to understand that their hopes, dreams anddesires were often subsumed by a social agenda that did notmatch their ideas of freedom, liberty, family and love. Sherevolutionized the conventional discourse of the female bodyfrom something weak and in need of man’s control by vali-dating its strength and uniqueness and by asserting awoman’s right to control her own person. Only unlike today,this movement toward women’s agency over her body meantthe embracing of her life-bearing potential, not a furtheralienation from it.

MacNair: The very reason the early feminists opposedabortion was that they were against enforced maternity. Bothunwanted pregnancy and abortion were caused by the samething—that a woman had no right to control her own body.Her husband did. Susan B. Anthony was quite clear that thiswas the root of the problem. Elizabeth Cady Stanton wasmore inclined to the view that women needed economicpower, since women would be less likely to engage in "child-murder" if they weren’t relying on someone else economical-ly. She was sure that having the vote would help put an end tothe practice. When one of the first woman doctors, Dr.Charlotte Lozier, turned in a man to law enforcement for try-ing to get her to perform an abortion on a young woman,other feminists praised her. The Springfield Republican, anewspaper sympathetic to women’s rights, said that this wasa good reason to have more women in the medical profes-sion—they would shield other women from this kind of victimization.

Bottcher: I was influenced by so many of the early femi-nists; they were such courageous and capable thinkers! Theirideas seem self-evident to us now, but at the time, they wereconsidered to be dangerous heretics. If I had to pick one, itwould be the first American female physician, ElizabethBlackwell. She saw for herself the horrific damage that con-stant childbearing and abortions could inflict upon women,yet she was a fierce advocate for the unborn because sheknew that they are fellow humans. She advocated elevatingthe status of women and educating them about their ownbodies so that they and their children could be healthy.

Schnittman: I, too, am inspired by Elizabeth Blackwell,who never married but chose to adopt a daughter. The first[American] woman to receive a medical degree, she treas-ured motherhood in all its forms. In an autobiographical

We come into the world alone, unlike all who have gonebefore us; we leave it alone, under circumstances pecu-liar to ourselves. No mortal ever has been, no mortal everwill be like the soul just launched on the sea of life. Therecan never again be just such a combination of prenatalinfluences; never again just such environments as make upthe infancy, youth and manhood of this one. Nature neverrepeats herself, and the possibilities of one human soulwill never be found in another. No one has ever foundtwo blades of ribbon grass alike, and no one will everfind two human beings alike.

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sketch from 1845 Blackwell explained her regret that femalephysicians were identified with abortionists. She wrote, "Thegrose perversion and destruction of mother hood by theabortionist filled me with indignation, and awakened activeantagonism. That the honourable term female physicianshould be exclusively applied to those women [like MadamRestell] who carried on this shocking trade seemed to me ahorror. It was an utter degradation of what might andshould become a noble position for women." (Quoted inPioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession toWoman: Autobiographical Sketches by Dr. ElizabethBlackwell, Schocken Books, New York 1977, p. 30)

Foster: I feel the frustration of the lesser-known EleanorKirk who goes off on a tangent answering a question from awoman who wonders why women’s suffrage is importantsince she and her husband “are one”, and connectswomen’s rights to the rights of the unborn. Her exasperationwith women who only care about themselves, and her angerat doctors who perform abortion, are palpable. But hervision of strong, educated women who have political clout toprotect the unborn is filled with hope for the future.

Now, just that little sentence caused every nerve inmy body to quiver painfully. No true woman canshut herself up in a little Paradise of her own, andnever look out into the great thoroughfare of life.Why, woman alive, or woman asleep, where there isone wife happy and contented in the love of a nobleman, there are thousands of wretched ones... Thinka moment. Suppose death, inexorable and strangelyexacting, should claim his own; what then? ... Whatwill become of your babies, madam, should you besuddenly deprived of the means of their support?Have you the courage, stamina, ay, ability, to fightthe world single-handed? ... What will become ofthe babies? Why don’t somebody ask—what hasbecome of the babies? Ask Restell and thousands ofphysicians, male and female, who have beenengaged in their work of destruction for years.Physicians who have graduated from our first med-ical colleges, physicians with high sounding diplo-mas, whose elegant equipages stand in front of FifthAvenue mansions, who pocket a big fee and a littlebundle of flesh at the same time, and nobody’s thewiser! not even the husband in hosts of instances.

What will become of the babies —did you ask—and you? Can you not see that the idea is to educatewomen that they may be self-reliant, self-sustaining,self-respected? The wheel is a big one, and needs astrong push, and a push all together, giving it animpulse that will keep it constantly revolving, andthe first Revolution must be female suffrage. Afterthis, the ponderous affair will move regularly, andperhaps slowly; but education, moral, physical, andintellectually practical, will as surely follow as dawnfollows the darkness and night... God speed thetime, for the sake of the babies. Little ones will thenbe welcome.(Kirk, E. "What Will Become of the Babies?" TheRevolution, 1(21): 327, May 23,1868)

Bellecci-st. romain: I would also include Jane Addamson the list of inspiring feminists. As a social worker, I amextremely impressed with the breadth of works that wereaccomplished by Hull House. She was the driving force ofthat social, political, economic and educational trainingground, inspiring many others to join the effort, so that itseems that every idea they had was able to come to fruition.Wow. What energy must have zoomed in and through thathouse!

Krane Derr: Jane Addams and the other remarkablewomen affiliated with Hull House—Alice Hamilton, and mysomethingteenth cousin Julia Lathrop, for example—wereboth opposed to abortion and actively involved in creatingbetter options—for example, sex education and family plan-ning clinics, improvements in the legal status of singlemothers and their children, reducing infant and maternalmortality, including disabled persons in society, and guard-ing the reproductive health of women exposed to dangerouschemicals at work. The second and expanded edition ofProlife Feminism Yesterday and Today (XLibris, forthcom-ing 2004) will document their work in this vein. As aChicagoan, I am proud to live in the city that the women ofHull House called home. Closer to our own time, theAfrican-American civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer justknocks me out with awe and gratitude for her straightfor-ward affirmation, in deed and word alike, of every life. AMississippi sharecropper with a sixth-grade education, shereally had what Gandhi called satyagraha, nonviolent soul-power.

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Foster: When I speak on college campuses I think ofSarah Norton, the first woman who successfully argued foradmission of women to Cornell University, who painted apicture for us that is eerily familiar, more than a centurylater:

Child murderers practice their profession withoutlet or hindrance, and open infant butcheriesunquestioned ... Is there no remedy for all thisante-natal child murder? ... Perhaps there willcome a time when ... an unmarried mother will notbe despised because of her motherhood ... andwhen the right of the unborn to be born will not bedenied or interfered with.(Woodhull's and Claffin's Weekly,November 19, 1870)

Krane Derr: Matilda Joslyn Gage dug through endlesstiny details of history to uncover and reconstruct the bighidden picture of herstory. Yet ironically she herself wasdeleted from the record because other feminists found hertoo radical. She spoke and acted most fearlessly andprophetically for the rights of women, the elderly, practition-ers of Earth-based spiritualities, prenatal and postnatal chil-dren, disabled persons, the colonized Irish, AfricanAmericans, [Native Americans], and other-than-human sen-tient beings to live and flourish in a world run on compas-sion rather than violence. She was ahead of her time andours, too. Her biography still shows that "all the struggles forlife are connected" —and that the voices we find most dis-comfiting are often the ones we need to hear the most.

Kennedy Johnson: Both the first- and second-wavefeminist movements labored to make gender politicallyirrelevant and feared that any emphasis on sexual differ-ence impeded egalitarian ends. Yet, consciously or uncon-sciously, this approach validated the long-standing culturalrepresentations that claimed women’s unique way of expe-riencing the world is, indeed, inferior and something toovercome. Sadly, it’s the underlying social structures makingchildren the enemy of women’s material well being thathave gone unchallenged. People misunderstand how abor-tion rights actually further women’s oppression and therhetoric surrounding them limit women’s freedom ofchoice. That’s why a closer reading of the writings of ourfeminist foremothers is imperative to the real understandingof what accounts for equal rights for women. Unfortunately,many academics refuse to look at this side of the argument,fearing they will somehow appear conservative, religious, oranti-woman.

MacNair: So the very words that are used by today’sabortion advocates were understood by the nineteenth-cen-tury feminists as reasons to understand abortion not as awoman’s right but as a wrong against women. The move-ment always was one for women and children, since chil-dren were socially vulnerable the same way. Once a basicunderstanding of equal human rights and nonviolence arethe important principles, then pro-life feminism is fairlyinescapable. In the nineteenth-century, when they werestruggling to establish those principles, they understood thatmore clearly. It’s when people think they’re following theprinciples, but don’t have to struggle so hard to get others toagree, that they no longer pay close attention to the obviousimplications.

Schnittman: If we honestly examine the words of ourfeminist foremothers, we see a dedication to the full womanin all her strengths and a celebration of life, born andunborn. Digging to find those sources provides us with alifelong but joy-filled challenge.

Bellecci-st. romain: The very existence of Feministsfor Life has served to anchor and enlarge my views, as myprevious "amorphous grayness" of opinion found a founda-tion on which it could attach, gain substance and grow. Iwonder how my frustrations and energy would have beenchanneled, had it not been for FFL finding me 13 years ago!I am grateful.

Foster: It is Mattie Brinkerhoff who to me best sums upwhat FFL is about:

Today we say, "Abortion is a reflection that we have not metthe needs of women. Women deserve better than abortion."I can see them all nodding with agreement as they hearFeminists for Life’s refrain, "Women deserve better." I canhear them cheering us on.

For more on pro-life feminism, go to www.feministsforlife.organd click on Feminist History. Click on “Covetable Stuff ” toorder books such as Prolife Feminism Yesterday and Today, Pro-Life Feminists: Different Voices, Swimming Against the Tide, thebooklet "Man’s Inhumanity to Women Makes Countless InfantsDie," or the poster "Voices of our Feminist Foremothers," or usethe enclosed Covetable Stuff order form.

When a man steals to satisfy hunger, we may safely concludethat there is something wrong in society—so when a womandestroys the life of her unborn child, it is an evidence that eitherby education or circumstances she has been greatly wronged.(The Revolution, 4(9):138–9 September 2, 1869)

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Impactof Suffragists Felt a Century Later

For more than two hundred years pro-life feminists have recognized that

the rights of women are deeply entangled with the rights of their unborn

children and that abortion is harmful to women as individuals and as a

group. Women deserve better, and the pro-life feminists of yesterday and

today refuse to choose between women and children. Feminists for Life

asked our members to e-mail us their thoughts on the pro-life feminists who

have inspired them the most.

"Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women." Alice Paul

The ultimate exploitation of womencomes when women give up whatand who they are for a standard thatis set by someone else…The lessontaught by Alice Paul and Susan B.Anthony and others is that what setsa woman apart from a man is herability to bear and deliver new life.They knew that once a womanallowed herself to be compromisedon this glorious ability, she would beopen to the controls of men andsociety in a way which she had notbeen before, and that instead of mov-ing forward, she would move back-ward into further slavery. —Phyllis DeroianManalapan, New Jersey

As a male I find Matilda Gage’sfamous quote from The Revolution,in which she asserts the responsibili-ty for this grave wrong "lies at thedoor of the male sex", especiallyinsightful. In modern society we[men] have absolved ourselves fromresponsibility and accountability onthe issue of sex and many of us sim-ply think that if she gets pregnant,it’s her problem…we aren’t holdingmen accountable by allowing them tosimply pay for an abortion…Womendeserve our support, not $600 and asupposed quick fix. —Michael Sciscenti, President ofJohns Hopkins’ Voice for Life and President of American Collegiansfor Life

Their quotes give a profound sense ofhow abortion was both well under-stood as a social motive and as ameans of the subordination ofwomen…The quotes of Anthony andStanton make clear that these moreprofound feminist thinkers recog-nized the innate value of unborn lifeand the inherent threat of that life topatriarchal visions of men unshack-led from sexual responsibility.—Dr. Ben VothProfessor, Miami University

It is a sign, a symptom of the ail-ments that plague society when we asa people are unable to welcome andnurture all children…How can welet our fellow women make suchdecisions without trying to alleviatetheir circumstances first, give themoptions?—Mary Bridget GurryOxford, Ohio

My favorite quote from the early pro-life feminists comes from ElizabethCady Stanton. "There must be a remedy even for such a cryingevil as [abortion]. But whereshall it be found, at leastwhere begin, if not in the com-plete enfranchisement and elevation of women?" That is a positive solution! —John Munnis, Jr. Maineville, Ohio

Their words of wisdom are timelessand have helped me discover whoand what I am… They are the epito-me of what it means to be anauthentic feminist and we areblessed to have them as our fore-mothers.—Tish FarrellWilmington, Delaware

When I wonder if our attempts toreach women about the unique andcreative gifts they bring to the politi-cal arena are getting through, Iremember that [Susan B. Anthony]never saw her fight for women’s suf-frage to fruition. She believed inwomanhood, acted to advance thebest in it and trusted that it wouldprevail …the truth of Susan B.Anthony’s mission sustainedher…And it sustains me.—Marjorie DannenfelserChair of the BoardSusan B. Anthony List

I am most affected by MaryWollstonecraft whose message isbasically "You can’t mess withMother Nature and get away with it."Mary died birthing her daughter,Mary Shelly, who createdFrankenstein, a metaphor for hermother’s keen observation. It’s atruth I wish I had embraced early on,but instead I was duped by the pseu-do-feminist, abortion-supportingmovement. It cost me a child andmost of my self-worth. I believe thatyou can’t be a feminist and "pro-choice," and I’m encouraged that theforemothers of the feminist move-ment understood this.—Ashli E. McCallQuincy, Florida

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More than what she said, I aminspired by the actions of Susan B.Anthony…She published a newspa-per called The Revolution. Then asnow newspapers needed advertisingto survive. Several companies man-ufactured concoctions that were sup-posedly abortifacients. Anthonyrefused to take advertising from suchcompanies. It would have been veryeasy for her to take the advertisingwith a disclaimer but she adhered toher beliefs and refused the advertis-ing and the income. What awoman!!!!!—Florence ScarinciFranklin Square, New York

When I grew up and joined the pro-life movement, I became disenchant-ed with a great many feminists fortheir pro-abortion views. But I wasgratified when I read a pro-life quotefrom Elizabeth [Cady Stanton].—Maria VitalePennsylvania Pro-Life Federation

Frederica Mathewes-Green is a prolif-ic feminist writer who has impressedme a great deal. I’m alwaysimpressed by her clear thinking andarticulate writing. I’m already pro-life, but if I weren’t I’d have a hardtime countering her arguments.—Joanne SchmidtHouston, Texas

Those who promote abortion rightsin the name of justice and equalitywould do well to consider the wordsof Elizabeth Moore Sobo, "Abortiondoes nothing whatever to promotesocial and economic justice, nordoes it compensate for the lack of it."If women think that their equality iscontingent on their access to an inva-sive surgical procedure, then we havefailed them. —Katherine QuahBryn Mawr College

Pregnancy and childbirth arenatural. The ability to bear childrenis the one thing that truly distin-guishes women from men.Demanding the right to abort inorder to achieve equality implieswomen must become males in orderto compete and survive in a man’sworld. Rosemary Bottcher points outthat abortion reduces women to thestatus of sex machines which can be"repaired," if necessary. She refers toit as the "castration of women."—Vasu MurtiAuthor and activist, California

A contemporary pro-life feminist thatI have benefited from is SidneyCallahan...Her essay "Talk of ‘WantedChild’ Makes for Doll Objects" high-lights the dangerous implications of aphilosophy of human dignity that canonly find value in a person when thatperson is wanted by another...Byspreading the notion that womenshould abort their babies if times aretough for them, our culture hasessentially told women that they arenot strong enough to overcome oddsand are not capable of displayingheroic and sacrificial love for theirchild coming into less than ideal cir-cumstances.—Heath BradleyUniversity of Arkansas

Juli Loesch wrote: "We deserve,demand, have a right to—can cre-ate—something better than theabortion industry’s ‘cure’ for ourunique condition of impregnability,whether that abortionist be in theback alley or the plush front office."Her words are my daily motivation toenvision a better world for womenand make that vision a reality.—Cat ClarkNational Office CoordinatorFeminists for Life of America

When Serrin [Foster] appeared onmy radar screen I sat up and tooknotice. Here is a dynamic and posi-tive woman. She is media savvy, andhas the ability to turn a phrase in away that is unique and gets youthinking...Serrin is a woman fortoday. —Geri UrrutiaDirector, Shield of RosesGlendale, California

As an acting student, Patricia Heatonand Margaret Colin have had a greatimpact on me. They’ve made mebelieve that it’s okay to be verballypro-life in a pro-choice-heavy world. —Alicia Jeanne DaigleWoonsocket, Rhode Island

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Finding a Home In Today’s Feminism

Abortion is a reflection that we have not metthe needs of women.

Women deserve better than abortion.

www.WomenDeserveBetter.com

Women Deserve Better is a registered trademark of Feminists for Life of America

Natalie Nardelli

S p r i n g 2 0 0 4 15

In a 1990 essay entitled "Cassandra’s Fate: WhyFeminists Ought to Be Pro-Life," Anne Maloneyrelated the story of the Greek mythological figureCassandra, who was able to see the future, butwas not believed by anyone. Maloney observed,

In the late twentieth century, we find our-selves in the frustrating and even terrify-ing situation of Cassandra—seeing soclearly the disastrous consequences of thecurrent abortion ethic, consequences dis-astrous not just for the unborn women,who are aborted in far greater numbersthan unborn men, not just for the womenwho abort, but consequences disastrousfor all of society: all women, all children,all men. When we try to point out whatawaits us ahead, we are usually ignored,sometimes laughed at, while our feministcredentials are questioned.

Despite having to face potential criticism,ostracism and ridicule, contemporary femi-nists—such as Mary Krane Derr, who hasresearched early American feminists’ writings;Rosemary Bottcher, Immediate Past BoardPresident of Feminists for Life of America;Frederica Mathewes-Green, former VicePresident of Communications for FFL; andSerrin Foster, President of FFL, among others—proudly continue the legacy of our feminist fore-mothers in their research, writings and speeches.

Becoming familiar with these women and their thoughtscan help bring an end to the myth that one must be in favorof abortion to be pro-woman. Here are some of the mostfundamental arguments for today’s pro-life feminism fromthe experts themselves.

Serrin M. Foster, President of FFL, conceived the "WomenDeserve Better" theme for the 30th anniversary of Roe v.Wade. "For the past thirty years we have been arguingabout one of the worst things that a woman could experi-ence. We need to elevate expectations for women and bywomen," says Foster.

Foster’s landmark speech, "The Feminist CaseAgainst Abortion," is a comprehensive descrip-tion of pro-life feminism. In it, she says:

The anti-abortion laws that early feministsworked so hard to enact to protect womenand children were the very ones destroyedby the Roe v. Wade decision 100 yearslater—a decision hailed by the NationalOrganization for Women (NOW) as the“emancipation of women.” The goals ofthe more recent NOW-led women's move-ment with respect to abortion would haveoutraged the early feminists.

Foster’s speech has been included in an antholo-gy on Women’s Rights, part of a series entitled,"Great Speeches in History." She travels aroundthe United States spreading pro-life feminismprimarily on college campuses for FFL’s flagshipCollege Outreach Program.

After nearly a decade of fielding questions chal-lenging her as a feminist, Foster recently wrote"Pro-Woman Answers to Pro-Choice Questions,"for the spring 2003 issue of The AmericanFeminist. Foster bases her answers on funda-mental feminist principles. As she explains, "Thebasic tenets of feminism are nonviolence,nondiscrimination, and justice for all. Abortionviolates all three."

Rosemary Bottcher, FFL’s Immediate Past Board President,makes a similar point in her essay "Pro-Abortionists PoisonFeminism," in which she remarks, "The pro-abortion stanceof the orthodox women’s liberation movement is poisoningthe roots of feminism." Bottcher also points out that abor-tion has exchanged an oppressive patriarchy for an oppres-sive matriarchy:

Defending abortion requires defending the conceptof discrimination...It is sheer hypocrisy to argue forequality for [women] and against equality for theunborn...The irony is excruciating. Establishing thepersonhood of women has been the ultimate goalof feminism...In denying the personhood of theunborn child, feminists have borrowed the very

Frederica Mathewes-Green

Rosemary Bottcher

Serrin M. Foster

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same justifications that the patriarchs have used sosuccessfully throughout history to deny full recogni-tion as persons to women.

Not only does Bottcher believe that abortion discriminatesagainst the unborn, but it also allows for pregnancy discrim-ination.

Those who advocate legal abortion concede thatpregnant women are intolerably handicapped; theycannot compete in a male world of wombless effi-ciency. Rather than changing the world to accom-modate the needs of pregnant women and mothers,pro-abortion feminists encourage women to fitthemselves neatly into a society designed by and formen.

For reasons such as this, Bottcher believes abortion remainsthe number one threat to equality for women.

Pro-life feminist Daphne Clair de Jong is a full-time writer inNew Zealand and has written widely on the connectionbetween abortion and the continued subjugation of women.She comments in her 1978 work, "The Feminist Sell-Out":

Women will gain their rights only when theydemand recognition of the fact that they are peoplewho become pregnant and give birth—and notalways at infallibly convenient times—and thatpregnant people have the same rights as others. Tosay that in order to be equal with men it must bepossible for a pregnant woman to become un-preg-nant at will is to say that being a woman precludesher from being a fully functioning person.

Pro-life feminists across the board strongly agree that manychanges must happen to make society accepting and sup-portive of women with their unique life-giving capacity—such as offering real choices for pregnant and parentingwomen and men. Flexible school situations, fairness in hir-ing, better prenatal and obstetric care, attractive adoptionopportunities and help with child care and parenting areonly some of the changes required. Although abortion-choice feminists may agree that action should be taken con-cerning these factors, they do not recognize that advocatingthe "quick fix" of abortion cuts women short of the long-term answers that they need and deserve.

De Jong continues in her essay, "Accepting short term solu-tions like abortion only delays the implementation of realreforms like decent maternity and paternity leave, job pro-tection, high quality child-care, community responsibility fordependent people of all ages, and recognition of the eco-nomic contribution of child-minders."

A similar theme is reflected in the pro-life feminist work ofCecelia Voss Koch, who wrote:

Abortion is the destruction of human life and ener-gy that does nothing to eradicate the very realunderlying problems of women. The pregnant wel-fare mother begs for decent housing, a decent joband child-care or respect for her child-nurturingwork. Instead, she gets directions to the local abor-tion clinic and is told to take care of “her prob-lem.” How convenient. Much less time and troublethan teaching her about authentic reproductivefreedom and reproductive responsibility. Muchcheaper than attending to her real problems: herpoverty, her lack of skills, her illiteracy, her loneli-ness, her bitterness about her entrapment, her self-contempt, her vulnerability. After the abortion theseproblems will all be there…

Graciela Olivarez, a Chicana active in civil rights and anti-poverty work, likewise noted:

The poor cry out for justice and equality, and werespond with legalized abortion. I believe that in asociety that permits the life of even one individual(born or unborn) to be dependent on whether thatlife is “wanted” or not, all its citizens stand in dan-ger.... We do not have equal opportunities. Abortionis a cruel way out.

De Jong also compares abortion-choice feminism to malechauvinism in her essay "Feminism and Abortion: The GreatInconsistency":

The feminist claim to equality is based on the equalrights of all human beings. The most fundamentalof all is the right to life. If women are to justify tak-ing this right from the unborn, they must contendthat their own superiority of size, of power, or ofphysique or intellect or need, or their own value as

S p r i n g 2 0 0 4 17

a person, transcends any right ofthe unborn. In the long history ofmale chauvinism, all these havebeen seen as good reasons forwithholding human rights fromwomen.

Maloney agrees, contending:

In calling for abortion rights asthe ultimate guarantee thatwomen can control their ownbodies, abortion advocates areviewing a woman's body as a kindof territory to be subdued, inter-fered with, dominated. This is nota feminist perspective, regardlessof how many people maintainthat it is. Abortion, if it is an act ofcontrol, is a violent act of control.… Traditionally, it has alwaysbeen women who have realizedthat violence solves nothing andusually begets more violence, thatviolent solutions often wound theperpetrator as well as the victim.That is why women have histori-cally been opposed to war, to cap-ital punishment, to the rape anddestruction of the environment.Why should women's traditional(and quite wise) abhorrence ofviolence stop at the threshold oftheir own bodies?

Frederica Mathewes-Green, past editor of FFL’s previouspublication Sisterlife, has been published in dozens ofnational publications. Her observation— "No one wants anabortion as she wants an ice-cream cone or a Porsche. Shewants an abortion as an animal, caught in a trap, wants tognaw off its own leg." —has been printed in mainstreamand specialty publications that both oppose and supportabortion. She comments in her 1994 book Real Choices,"Apparently there was something about this analogy thatstruck a nerve; apparently pro-choice partisans could agreewith pro-lifers that, no matter what their political differ-ences, abortion was a miserable choice."

Mathewes-Green believes that it is ridiculous to even callabortion a woman’s choice. "We may choose to sacrifice ourlife and career plans, or choose to undergo humiliatinginvasive surgery and sacrifice our offspring. How fortunatewe are—we have a choice! ...If we refused to choose, if weinsisted on keeping both our lives and our bodies intact,what changes would our communities have to make? Whatwould make abortion unnecessary?" She also laments theramifications on culture and society:

In no sane country, are women and their own chil-dren assumed to be mortal enemies; any culturethat does so is slowly committing suicide… Whenwe accept as normal the ripping of a child from hermother's womb, we violate something disturbinglyclose to the heart of the human story. In the landwhere women kill their unborn children, everylesser love grows frail.

As a civil rights advocate, she pronounces, "To our great-grandchildren it will be obvious that this was the civil rightschallenge of our time, and we will be judged for ourresponse. If we are not moved when they're killing children,nothing will ever move us."

Another feminist argument against abortion relates to theaftermath caused by the procedure itself and the pain, bothphysical and emotional, that is borne by the women andmen who have suffered the personal tragedy of abortion.While some find the courage to speak publicly of their expe-riences and others gain strength through support groups,the number of people affected by abortion continues togrow. Yet all this is denied by many abortion-choice femi-nists, and women’s voices go unheard.

Rachel MacNair, former president of Feminists for Life, con-cludes in "Is Abortion Good for Women?": "People whoassert that women’s voices must be listened to neverthelessannounce that all women feel one way about ‘reproductiverights,’ belittling women whose opinion differs. Feministswho insist on sisterhood censor their sisters, over and overagain." MacNair also comments on the controversy overwhether or not abortion of the first pregnancy significantlyincreases the likelihood of breast cancer:

Abortion defenders vociferously deny the link, argu-ing that other studies dispute this. The debate con-

Pat Goltz

Rachel MacNair

Cathy Callahan

18

tinues and cannot be settled here. But womenneed it settled...Groups interested in researchingbreast cancer seem to find their support for abor-tion more important than their opposition to breastcancer at this time. The question must be asked:why does support for abortion keep interfering withwomen’s rights?

MacNair also speaks to the issue of equality in her essay,"Parallel Cages: The Oppression of Men”:

Abortion defenders say that women must haveaccess to abortion in order to have equality withmen. The prolife feminist responds that there is noother oppressed group that requires surgery inorder to become unoppressed. Abortion defenderssuggest that we now have technology available to fixthe inherent biological handicap of women. Prolifefeminists believe that Nature was never the sourceof the idea that our bodies are inferior due to theirinnate abilities.

Cindy Osborne sums up the pro-life feminist position in heressay, "Pat Goltz, Catherine Callaghan and the Founding ofFeminists for Life":

We want equality. We demand liberty. But, as seek-ers of peace and promoters of justice, we know ourroad to freedom cannot be littered with the bodiesof our own offspring. Having known oppression, wecannot stand by and allow the oppression of anentire class of weaker human beings. Having oncebeen owned by our husbands, we cannot condonea position that says the unborn are owned by theirmothers. Remembering a time when our value wasdetermined by whether a man wanted us, werefuse to bow to the patriarchal attitude that saysthe unborn child’s value is determined by whethera woman wants her.

These contemporary women have built upon feminist ideology that was eloquently articulated more than 200years ago. Thanks to their work to bring this rich legacy intothe 21st century, the wisdom of our feminist foremotherscan be clearly heard today through the voices of pro-life,pro-woman people everywhere.

Natalie Nardelli interned at Feminists for Life’s national office thesummer of 2003. She currently attends Seton Hill University inPennsylvania.

© 2000 Amanda Lewanski

W e r e m e m b e r

Holly Patterson1985 – 2003

On September 10, 2003, Holly Patterson's boyfriend took her toPlanned Parenthood in Hayward, California. Seven weeks pregnant,she was given the abortion drug mifepristone, more commonly knownas RU-486, and also given misoprostol vaginal inserts to use two dayslater that would produce contractions and cause her to miscarry.

After taking the second drug, Patterson went to Valley Care MedicalCenter complaining of severe bleeding and excessive pain. She wasgiven painkillers and sent home. After two more days of cramping,she returned to Valley Care on September 17, 2003, where she died ofseptic shock and a massive systemic infection due to an incompleteabortion.

Holly’s father lamented, "I think it's a sad day when a father has tobury his daughter because she suffered in silence. I think it was fearand shame that made her decide she could do this, that she could takea pill and make it all go away. If she could have just talked to us,things would be different."

In a letter to Congress dated November 6, 2003, Holly’s parents,Monty and Helen Patterson, stated, "Holly has died from an RU-486chemical induced abortion. There are no quick fixes for a pregnancy ormagical pills that will make it go away…Holly was a strong, healthy,intelligent and ambitious teenager who fell victim of a process thatwholly failed her, beginning with the 24-year-old man who had unpro-tected sex with her, impregnated her, and then proceeded to facilitatethe secrecy that surrounded her pregnancy and abortion. In the weekssince we buried Holly's body we are now able to recall and share thememories of our daughter's brilliant blue eyes, engaging smile, laugh-ter, unwavering determination and sheer gentle beauty that invokedour natural instinct to protect and love her, but we will never be ableto forget those last moments of her life when she was too weak totalk and could barely squeeze our hands in acknowledgment of ourwords of encouragement. We love you, Holly.”

The California Department of Health Services determined that PlannedParenthood failed to inform Holly on how to properly use the RU 486abortion drug. A spokesperson for the Food and Drug Administrationsaid they are "aggressively investigating [Holly's] death."

Source: LifeNews.com

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S p r i n g 2 0 0 4 19

by Elise Ehrhard

In high school twelve years ago, I was flipping

through my English book before class, casually

glancing over the poetry.

A poem’s title caught my eye–"the mother," by

Gwendolyn Brooks.

Then the poem’s words practically rocked me

from my chair.

abortionandMODERNPOETRY

Abortions will not let you forget.You remember the children you got that you did not get, The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair, The singers and workers that never handled the air. You will never neglect or beatThem, or silence or buy with a sweet.You will never wind up the sucking thumbOr scuttle off ghosts that come.You will never leave them, controlling your luscious sigh,Return for a snack of them, with gobbling mother-eye.

I have heard in the voices of the wind the voices of my dim killed children.I have contracted. I have easedMy dim dears at the breasts they could never suck.I have said, Sweets, if I sinned, if I seized Your luckAnd your lives from your unfinished reach,If I stole your births and your names,Your straight baby tears and your games,Your stilted or lovely loves, your tumults, your marriages, aches, and your deaths,If I poisoned the beginnings of your breaths,Believe that even in my deliberateness I was not deliberate.Though why should I whine, Whine that the crime was other than mine?- - Since anyhow you are dead,Or rather, or instead,You were never made.But that too, I am afraid,Is faulty: oh, what shall I say, how is the truth to be said?You were born, you had body, you died.It is just that you never giggled or planned or cried.

Believe me, I loved you all.Believe me, I knew you, though faintly, and I loved, I loved you All.

20 S p r i n g 2 0 0 420

Class began, but I barely kept track of the discussion. The poem’s wordsstill lingered in my brain.

Gwendolyn Brooks was the first African-American poet to win the PulitzerPrize. She used traditional forms to address often-taboo topics of race and gender.Published in 1945, "the mother" was the first published poem to ever use theword "abortion."

Taboo topics broke wide open with the dawn of "confessional" poets likeAnne Sexton in the 1960s. Sexton, also a Pulitzer Prize winner, struggled withmental illness her entire life, finally succumbing to suicide in 1974 at the age of46. In "The Abortion" Sexton explodes her emotional anguish onto the page.

Somebody who should have been born is gone.Just as the earth puckered its mouth, each bud puffing out from its knot,I changed my shoes, and then drove south.

Up past the Blue Mountains, where Pennsylvania humps on endlessly,wearing, like a crayoned cat, its green hair,

its roads sunken in like a gray washboard; where, in truth, the ground cracks evilly, a dark socket from which the coal has poured,

Somebody who should have been born is gone.

the grass as bristly and stout as chives,and me wondering when the ground would break, and me wondering how anything fragile survives;

up in Pennsylvania, I met a little man,not Rumpelstiltskin, at all, at all... he took the fullness that love began.

Returning north, even the sky grew thinlike a high window looking nowhere.The road was as flat as a sheet of tin.

Somebody who should have been born is gone.

Yes, woman, such logic will leadto loss without death. Or say what you meant, you coward...this baby that I bleed.

S p r i n g 2 0 0 4 21

Like Brooks, Sexton does not shy away from the pain ofabortion or the reality of the child’s death. However, Brooks’ workis more often juxtaposed with Lucille Clifton’s haunting "The LostBaby Poem." Both Brooks and Clifton were influential African-American voices. "The Lost Baby Poem," published in 1969, offersa deeply personal meditation on the circumstances surroundingClifton’s abortion.

At a Voters for Choice Benefit Concert in Washington, D.C.,in 1997, rock artist Ani DiFranco read "The Lost Baby Poem" to theaudience after telling the story of her own abortion. DiFranco fellinto tears on stage. It is tragic and strange that the abortion rightsmovement knowingly makes an act of enduring pain and emotion-al devastation its bedrock of "liberation."

Three important female poets of the last half-centurymade the pain of abortion transparent. Their works were writtenbefore Roe v. Wade. Each woman saw her poem as a personalstatement, not a political one.

Gwendolyn Brooks believed that poetry by its very naturetook on a life of its own in the hearts of readers. "In here [thepoem ‘the mother’] I believe there is a little catalog of the qualitiesof motherhood," she said. "And of course you’re free to take any-thing else from it that you need to use. That’s one of the richnessesof poetry, that we take from the poem we read what we need."

Whatever the poets’ intentions, their works leave us with aprofound testimony to the tragedy of abortion.

The time I dropped your almost bodydown

Down to meet the waters under the cityAnd run one with the sewage to the seaWhat did I know about waters rushing backWhat did I know about drowningor being drowned

You would have been born in winterIn the year of the disconnected gasAnd no carWe would have made the thin walkOver the genecy hill into the Canada windsTo let you slip into a stranger's handsIf you were here I could tell youThese and some other things

And if I am ever less than a mountainFor your definite brothers and sistersLet the rivers wash over my headLet the sea take me for a spiller of seasLet black men call me stranger alwaysFor your never named sake.

✽

22 S p r i n g 2 0 0 4

Pearl S. Buck believed "herstory" was worth repeating. Inher 1941 collection of feminist essays, Of Men and Women,she wrote:

The truth has never been told about women in history:that everywhere man has gonewoman has gone too, and what hehas done she has done also. Womenare ignorant of their own past andignorant of their own importance inthat past. In curiosity a few monthsago I asked a haphazard score ofwomen of my acquaintance if theyhad heard of Elizabeth Cady Stanton.Only one had even heard her name,and she had no recollection of more.Yet only a generation ago ElizabethCady Stanton was called the greatestwoman in the United States, and bysome the greatest in the world.... [I]fthe aim of education is to be enlight-ening of men and women abouteach other, of course history must betaught truthfully about both, andtruthfully rewritten.

Many people know Pearl S. Buck as a prolific writer of best-selling and award-winning books, especially novels. Theauthor of more than seventy books in a variety of genres,Buck was one of the most popular novelists of the 20th cen-tury. She was the first woman to win both the Pulitzer andNobel Prizes for literature, and the first of only twoAmerican women to win the Nobel. She broke new ground

in American fiction, especially in her sympathetic and hon-est portrayals of Asian women.

Others know Pearl S. Buck as an ardent humanitarianactivist and promoter of intercultural and interracial harmo-

ny. She believed "the test of a civiliza-tion is the way that it cares for itshelpless members." For this reasonBuck founded several organizationsdevoted to improving the quality of lifeand opportunities available to chil-dren, especially the displaced andrefugees, orphans and impoverishedchildren, the disabled and those suf-fering diseases, minorities, and otherdisadvantaged groups. One of these,Welcome House, was the first interna-tional, interracial adoption agency.

Buck was also a devoted civil rightsactivist, a lifetime member of theNAACP who served on the board of theNational Urban League and as anactive trustee of Howard University.She was a passionate advocate forAsian immigrants and better Asian-

American relations in her role as publisher of Asia maga-zine and as founder of the East and West Association. A paci-fist and an outspoken campaigner for disarmament, Buckwas a member of the Women’s International League forPeace and Freedom.

herstoryherstoryWorth RepeatingWorth Repeating

Cat ClarkNational Office Coordinator

Pearl S. Buck1892-1973

23S p r i n g 2 0 0 4

Fewer people know or consider Pearl S. Buck, who was botha mother of eight and an independent public figure andleader among women, as a pro-life feminist. "Press steadilyfor human equality, not only for yourselves, but for all thosegroups who are not given equality," she told HowardUniversity students in her 1942 commencement address.Buck’s tireless efforts as a champion for people in needextended to both women and their unborn children.

Though she was not inclined to label herself a "feminist,"Buck was a vocal supporter of the Equal Rights Amendmentduring a time when most organized women’s groupsopposed it. As a novelist she gave voice to the experiences ofwomen in different cultures, as a pacifist she critiqued thedevastating effects of war on women, and as a child welfareactivist she showed particular concern for female children,who were among the especially vulnerable.

Her firm belief in the equal dignity and value of all humanbeings and her commitment to empower and aid the mostvulnerable and helpless members of every society inspiredher pro-life stance. The following essay, "Every Life Is aGift," was written near the end of her life as a foreword toRobert E. Cooke’s 1968 book Terrible Choice: The AbortionDilemma.

As the mother of a child retarded from phenylketonuria, Ican ask myself, at this reflective moment, if I had rathershe had never been born. No, let me ask the questionfully. Could it have been possible for me to have fore-knowledge of her thwarted life, would I have wantedabortion?

Now with full knowledge of anguish and despair, theanswer is No, I would not. Even in full knowledge I wouldhave chosen life, and this for two reasons: First, I fear thepower of choice over life or death at human hands, I seeno human being whom I could ever trust with suchpower—not myself, not any other.

Human wisdom, human integrity are not great enough.Since the fetus is a creature already alive and in theprocess of development, to kill it is to choose death overlife. At what point shall we allow this choice? For me theanswer is - at no point, once life has begun.

At no point, I repeat, either as life begins or as life ends,for we who are human beings cannot, for our own safety,be allowed to choose death, life being all we know.Beyond life lie only faith and surmise, but not knowledge.Where there is no knowledge except for life, decision fordeath is not safe for the human race.

The principle thus established, I go to my second reasonfor rejection of abortion, in my own case. My child’s lifehas not been meaningless. She has indeed brought com-fort and practical help to many people who are parents ofretarded children or arethemselves handicapped.

True, she has done itthrough me, yet withouther I would not have hadthe means of learninghow to accept theinevitable sorrow, andhow to make that accept-ance useful to others.

Would I be so heartless asto say that it has beenworthwhile for my childto be born retarded?Certainly not, but I amsaying that even thoughgravely retarded it hasbeen worthwhile for herto have lived.

It can be summed up, perhaps, by saying that in thisworld, where cruelty prevails in so many aspects of ourlife I would not add the weight of choice to kill ratherthan to let live.

A retarded child, a handicapped person, brings its owngift to life, even to the life of normal human beings. Thatgift is comprehended in the lessons of patience, under-standing, and mercy, lessons which we all need to receiveand to practice with one another, whatever we are.

For this gift bestowed upon me by a helpless child, I givemy thanks. ✽

Seneca Falls SocietyCircle$10,000 and up. The 1848Seneca Falls Conventionmarked the beginning oforganized feminism in theUnited States.Serrin M. FosterAnonymousPatricia Heaton & David HuntAnonymousAnonymous

The RevolutionCircle$5,000-$9,999. ElizabethCady Stanton’s and Susan B.Anthony’s periodical gavevoice to early feministthought and documented thepro-life consensus amongfeminist leaders.Caritas FoundationCasillas FoundationFred and Peggy ClarkJim & Donna FreundElizabeth LambertsonDominic Toscani

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In the tradition of our feminist foremothers, Feminists for Life continues to work toward justice and equal rights for all people.

We recognize that abortion is a reflection that our society has failed to meet the needs of women. We are dedicated tosystematically eliminating the root causes that drive women to abortion–primarily lack of practical resources andsupport–through holistic, woman-centered solutions.

Fellow actor and honorary Co-Chair Margaret Colin and I would like to express our appreciation to all of our donors whoenabled us to continue our work as advocates for women and their children in 2003. With your support, we look forward tobuilding on our success in 2004.

Honoring the legacy of our foremothers

Thank You!

From 2004 Public EducationCampaign Chair Patricia Heaton

Alice Paul Circle$250-$499. Author of theoriginal Equal RightsAmendment in 1923, shesaid, “Abortion is theultimate exploitation of women.”Anita Nina AzarenkoLisa Bellecci-st. romainSusan Schlentz BongersRosemary Oelrich BottcherByron C. CalhounRev. Patricia Ciupek-ReedTara CloudJoanne M. CordonKatherine J. DanteDr. Kerry DeanMaggie C. Diamantidis

O'DonnellDr. Brian W. Donnelly Cornelia A. FarleyLawrence A. FattorePatricia M. FernandezLaura & Doug FortmeyerMichaelene FredenburgCarolyn R. GlodekJanelle HerrLaurie Anne A. JaffeKelly A. JeffersonSusan and Lee Kaiser JohnsonKathryn J. JordanDebra KaczmarekPatricia KenneyKristin KentAmy R. KlineKathryn M. LaFontanaWilliam J. LeonardStuart LiebowitzAmy LikarSharon B. LongColeen M. MacKayIris Cooper McCoy

Joseph MendezDr. Henry and Diane

MilanowskiRuth B. MoynihanMary Mulcaire-JonesMary Lou NewhouseAdrienne O'ConnorSheila M. F. O'Connor-

AmbroseMolly Pannell & George PaciJonathan PennerDr. Daniel and Janice PilonMaggie PirtleRev. Laurence PrestonTimothy RegewitzRosemary A. ReissRosemary RettigCarol D. RiegAndrea Milanowski RobbAnonymousGary M. & Katherine A.

SamahaMaureen SartorMichelle Schiller-BakerCarolyn Reischl SchwalbeEva SeifertM. Margaret SmithKristeen K. StarrRichard StithDoris C. StormsElaine SullivanKathleen SullivanDr. Jeff & Shirley TaylorDavid and Erin TenneyGregory K. ThompsonGeri UrrutiaCelia Vande HeyGregory and Carla WalshAllison A. Weiss

Feminist LeadershipCircle$100-$249. Feministsnationwide who supportjustice and full rights forwomen and children.Catherine AmatoMary E. AndersonJaynie ApgarJeanne M. AyotteLouise D. BagshaweSharon Baker-JohnsonJacqueline BarnabaCatherine BaronMarie J. BarryNorma J. BartoliniMary J. BeaudoinStephanie Farrell BechtoltJanice BentonMaija BeskyMary T. BondeRonald and Mary Jane BowesLisa BoyleTherese BrehanySusan BrooksAlbert J. Brown, Jr.Annette M. BryceJeanne BrysonOlga BuchananJeremy BuckAnne BurnsAlison M. BurtonMary Jo ButlerCharles A. BylerSandra CadeJohn C. CahalanFelix & Geraldine CallanChristine W. CaprioSally Ann CarpinellaDorothy A. CarterRachel CascosRev. Denis Casey

Bradford M. CatheyCatherine ChapmanLaura J. CiampaCat ClarkVanessa R. ClayNancy ClineRobert J. ClineJanine L.F. CondiJudith ConroyMichael CooleyCathleen CooneyDarlene P. CoppKymm M. CothrenKathleen CrawfordThomas CrosettoEileen and David CunisFaye A. DarnallDr. Janice DaurioDeborah DavidsonRemo DebazJanice C. DeGisiMarie DelaneyBill and Therese DeMarsJoan C. DenklerPatricia E. DevlinMarcella L. DeysherMary E. DiBonaventuroMary G. DiGiovanniNicole Guenther DiscenzaDaria L. DonnellyJohn M. DonoghuePatricia A. DonovanLara DorgerBarbara DriehausCarrie Gordon EarllShawn E. EavisPaul A. EckertMary C. EganDenise EisenbergCatherine E. EmersonMarie-Therese EskuchenRoberta C. FergusonMary C. FerrisFrederick FicoSean M. FielerKaren FitzpatrickBarbara A. FlynnNancy E. Fortier

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continued

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Angela T. FortunatoDonna R. FosterElizabeth Fox-GenoveseJennifer E. FrankJoanne FrazelKathleen Freeman HennessyTara A. Frohner, Esq.Linda FrommerJudy FunkCarolyn GargaroColleen GauCelestia GaudreaultCarmel C. GillSuzanne GlennonDavid Spinning GordonAnonymousKathy GraceSharon Marie GrayEleanor GriffithGail GroleauKristen GubermanMichael J. GudeBruce L. HallScott M. & Megan M.

HambergerStephanie HanleyTeresa HawkinsMary HearnDavid HechtDebra HermanCaroline Marie HicksRebekah HildebrandtSandra K. HirdesJohn P. HoldenJoan A. HollemanCathy HopperstadChrissy Horton-FlorenceMartin W. HowserDan HydarNancy IredaleRobert J. JaskoJohn G. & Mary A. JelinekCarl Eric JohnsonJudy JohnsonPhyllis A. JosephLouise M. KaegiMargaret F. KarstenAlison Katon

William KeeleyMary Lew KehmJames P. KleinKim KlugeStephen R. KochClare F. KorzeniowskiTheresa Marie KowalJohn M. KresgeMargaret M. KrolikowskiMary B. KrugerDenise E. La MarraKatherine LammersElizabeth A. LatimerAlfred LemmoKenneth B. LesterAnna Maria LicameliMichael S. LicoColleen F. LincolnRebecca A. LiounisChristine LoweJames R. LudoviciSuzanne Lee LynchMargaret M. MareshMaria MarloweJill M. MartinJoy MartinPatricia J. MartinKathleen Gannon MartinoHelen M. MayoDennis Craig McAndrewsRev. John F. McArdleDr. Melissa McBrienAshli E. McCallAnonymousJoan K. McCoyDeborah McEvoyKatharine McEvoyMary & Mike M. McGillicuddyShannon McGinleyMary C. McMonagleKathleen Ann McQuownKristie McRobertsRuth M. MeyerDeborah MiciakMargaret A. MikschRobin MillerRon MillsMildred H. Minthorne

Colette M. MoranElaine Veatch MorleyKaren MudgettCortni L. MuldoonChristopher A. MungerJohn A. MunnisJoanie MurphyFrances MurrayGretchen B. MurriSrinivas Vasu MurtyLinda A. Naranjo-HueblPatrick S. NelsonGerald J. NoraAnne NusseChristina O'Connell-DugganPatricia O'HalloranJack E. OdgaardElisabeth B. OldenMarian G. OliverMary PalmKathy Cortesio PapageorgiouMarianne PardoeMary Bolton ParkerShawn PaucDiane R. PerronRita Anne PetruccelliGaile M. PohlhausMatt and Rosa PopePaula PorterHelen I. PrattPhilip W. PrattTom and Susan PuettMary S. ReesEleanor P. ReillyDr. Michael J. ReillyMarjorie ReynoldsDouglas K. RhineMary L. RichardsonAnnette RiouxLorraine RodriguezGeraldine M. RohrkemperMaria-Elena RothAntoinette B. SaboTom & Judy SandersElyce K.D. SanterreMaria G. SantoCarol Schuck ScheiberSuzanne Schnittman

Dorothy M. SchrageDean W. SchulzeHugo B. SchwyzerMary SeedDonna L. SeremetElizabeth ShadigianAnne-Marie ShipleyRev. Bonnie L. ShullenbergerCatherine M. SnowSharon L. SoderlundGeraldine Sovak Kelly A. SpillaneJohn R. StanekJohn & Kathleen StasnyMary SteuerCharlene StricklandBetty SundryMarion & Mort Syversen Judith Ann SzotAnne Marie TassoneGregory R. TauszElissa C. TealSherry ThackreyDuane TheobaldDanielle ThuAnita E. ToddRonald TookerJanice TorbetJanet A. TrendaLinda UhlenkottMolly VachaMeg van HeerdenMargaret & Steven M.

Vande HeyJohanna Vanden BergColleen S. VogtHoward F. WetzelBarbara WhelanSarah Lehar WildenhainSandra L. WilliamsMaria C. WrightJeanne R. ZahalkaMarc J. ZappalaMary C. ZeikMartha Zweig

Feminists for Life celebrated the memory of Alice StokesPaul (1885-1977) in February as HBO premiered the origi-nal film "Iron Jawed Angels." The movie portrays Paul's boldand daring battle for the 19th Amendment, which grantedAmerican women the right to vote.

"The last seven years of suffrage were marked by peacefulprotest, but the reactions were far from peaceful," said FFLPresident Serrin Foster. "Alice Paul was knocked to theground and dragged down the street. Women were arrested,forced to disrobe in front of a company of men, incarcerat-ed, fed infested food and rotting horsemeat. Their mail wascut off and they were forced to perform hard labor. Theguards terrorized them - some tossed like dolls headfirstinto their prison cells and rendered unconscious. One politi-cal prisoner was left handcuffed to a spot above the cell doorall night long. But women became more resolved than everto win the vote."

Foster looks forward to more women learning about ourrich feminist history. "Most people have no idea how AlicePaul and other suffragists suffered for our right to vote.Even fewer know they opposed abortion."

Paul saw the 19th Amendment ratified on August 28, 1920.But her efforts on behalf of women were not ended. Shepenned the original Equal Rights Amendment and contin-ued to work for the recognition of women's rights.

Yet the direction the women's movement took in later yearswas a source of frustration for Alice Paul, because she thor-oughly opposed attempts to link the ERA with abortion.

In the mid-70s Pat Goltz, co-founder of Feminists for Life,had the honor of meeting Paul. Paul had known some of

our earlier feminist foremothers, and made it clear to Goltzthat the early feminists were altogether opposed to abortion.She then related to Goltz her concern that abortion woulddestroy feminism if it were not stopped. Paul's long-timecolleague Evelyn Judge also recalled that Paul called abor-tion "the ultimate exploitation of women" and asked, "Howcan one protect and help women by killing them as babies?"

FFL President Serrin Foster agrees. "The legacy of Susan B.Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul lives on inthose who refuse to choose between women and children,who cherish the right of women to vote and who peacefullydefend the right of children to be born."

More information about Alice Paul and our other feministforemothers is available on Feminists for Life's newlyredesigned website (www.feministsforlife.org).

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