A New American Compact: Caring about Women, Caring for the Unborn: “If we abandon the principle of respect for human life by making the value of a life depend on whether someone else thinks that life is worthy or wanted, we will become one sort of people. But there is a better way. We can choose to reaffirm our respect for human life. We can choose to extend once again the mantle of protection to all members of the human family, including the unborn. We can choose to provide effective care of mothers and children. And if we make those choices, America will experience a new birth of freedom, bringing with it a renewed spirit of community, compassion, and caring.”

Momentum Builds for a Less Partisan, More ‘Whole Life’ Pro-Life Approach: “While the main focus of the March for Life must always remain overturning Roe v. Wade — for without the right to life, all other rights become impossible — perhaps the March for Life could begin to more robustly advocate for additional issues that contribute to basic human dignity. For example, in addition to protesting abortion, could we protest euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide? Could we advocate for the dignity found in the poor, the immigrant and the refugee? Could we stand up for the right for access to health care and life-giving and sustaining benefits for all? Could we work together for a world where the actions of the wealthy in the first world don’t negatively impact the lives of those in the third world, as they do in many of the world’s current environmental policies?”

Check out additional articles on: Pro-life Feminism

Scott Arbeiter

I’m Pro-Life, and Pro-Refugee: “I must be “pro” everything needed for that child not just to be born, but to flourish.  This means that I need to be pro education and pro job growth, and pro many other things I never considered as connected to my pro-life convictions. And I need to be ready to stand against every form of economic injustice, racism and individual or corporate greed that destroys the life of a family and a community.”

Katelyn Beaty

I’m a pro-life evangelical. Republicans are pushing a heath care bill that isn’t.: “Protecting unborn life must at root mean putting our money where our mouth is: enacting programs and policies that make it easier for millions of women to choose life, from pre- and postnatal care to delivery to high-quality child care and education and beyond.”

David Brooks

The Abortion Memo: “I understand that our donors (though not necessarily our voters) want to preserve a woman’s right to choose through all nine months of her pregnancy. But do we want late-term abortion so much that we are willing to tolerate President Trump? Do we want it so much that we give up our chance at congressional majorities? Do we want it so much that we see our agendas on poverty, immigration, income equality and racial justice thwarted and defeated?”

Elizabeth Stoker Bruenig

Why I’m a pro-life liberal: “A genuine pro-life position supports the lives of mothers and children rather than simply their births.”

Charles Camosy

‘Extreme’ abortion restrictions must be paired with ‘extreme’ support for mothers: “Resisting “throwaway culture” requires intense efforts to lift up and support populations so marginalized by a U.S. culture obsessed with individualism and autonomy that they are discarded as mere objects or trash. Pro-lifers get it largely right when it comes to doing this for the prenatal child, even when those who hold power in the culture paint us as extremists. But we must do a much better job lifting up and supporting the other half of the relationship at the heart of pregnancy. Merely restricting abortion makes the same kind of mistake, perhaps unintentionally, that our opponents make on abortion. Pro-lifers, if we are to consistently honor our principles, must become champions for both mothers and their prenatal children.”

The War of Words on Abortion: “A genuine concern for justice for the most vulnerable — one directed at something other than advancing a particular political agenda — must resist throwaway culture across issues that transcend our crumbling right-left politics. People who are committed to justice for the most vulnerable will be on the alert for dehumanizing language intended to confirm biases and serve the interests of those who hold power over the weak.”

Democrats could destroy the GOP — if only they would welcome antiabortion liberals: “If Democrats act strategically, they can pick up some of the crumbling pieces of the GOP’s coalition, starting with antiabortion citizens….Opening a big tent to pro-lifers would not only offer a hospitable climate for Democrats who value a “whole life” ethic, which weaves together common Democratic concerns like care for the impoverished and elderly with an equal interest in the unborn; it would also put them in a good position to win the next generation. Millennials and Latinos, after all, are trending more antiabortion than any other young generation in recent U.S. history.”

Robert Christian

Does the Pro-life Cause Have the Wrong Allies?: “Only a comprehensive approach that guarantees constitutional protection for unborn lives and addresses the economic and social needs of pregnant women and children, born and unborn, can be fully successful.”

Pro-life Progressives: Still Not a Myth: “Yes, they are grossly underrepresented in Congress (as are pro-choice libertarians, their ideological opposites). Yes, they are underrepresented among those in academia, the media, and other elite circles. And yes, they have become more dispersed as the Democratic Party increasingly embraced social libertarianism. But around a third of the Democratic Party remains pro-life. That’s over 20 million registered voters alone.”

If you are pro-life, you can’t be a libertarian: “Demonizing government and displaying an unwillingness to use government action to protect the lives of those who have already been born will rightly open up the movement to charges of hypocrisy and incoherence. Only a whole life commitment to the life and dignity of all can offer the best path forward. And libertarianism simply cannot be reconciled with such a commitment.”

What is the Whole Life Movement?: “A pro-life movement that ignores infant mortality rates, starvation, or the degradation of the environment simply does not deserve the label ‘pro-life.’ It becomes a mere euphemism for supporting laws that restrict access to abortion. It becomes detached from the understanding of human dignity and worth that should animate the movement. Only a whole life approach can make the pro-life movement authentically pro-life.”

Caitlin Conroy

Pro-lifers Must Support Those with Disabilities: “True respect for life is the protection of that life from the moment of conception until natural death and the respect for human dignity at every stage of life in between.  Refusing to see the intellectually and physically disabled as the ‘other’ and insisting in our advocacy that they be afforded the same quality of life that the rest of us enjoy is the only way to maintain a consistent life ethic and to deserve the ‘pro-life’ label.”

Kristen Day

Why assisted suicide isn’t the right answer to suffering: “Compassion must motivate us, but it should push us toward creating a more just society that reflects the dignity and equality of all, not a simplistic effort to end suffering by ending the person’s life. The battle over assisted suicide in California is just the beginning; the fight will continue across the country. Americans will be faced with the same choice: fight for the lives of the poor and vulnerable or cast them aside. We should choose equality, dignity, and life.”

Pro-Life Democrats and the Catholic Church: 21 Questions for Kristen Day: “It is not enough to simply oppose abortion; we must provide support and provide options for women facing unplanned or crisis pregnancies. The legislation banning abortions after 20 weeks, providing informed consent and requiring ultrasounds in advance have all played a role in bringing attention to the humanity of the unborn. We should continue to work to end abortion in America with reasonable restrictions to protect both the mother and the child, but also provide more support for pregnant women and new mothers. Our Pregnant Women Support Act is a good start to focus on assisting women who want to carry their children to term, but who feel tremendous pressure to abort. We also must advocate for paid maternity leave, affordable childcare and address other reasons women choose abortion.”

Interview with Aleteia: “We don’t believe women should have to “choose” between motherhood and a decent, safe life.”

Saving ObamaCare requires a Democratic majority that includes pro-life Democrat: “To avoid the prospect of continued Republican dominance, Democrats can try to double down on a strategy that is designed to appeal to affluent white voters and recruit pro-business candidates who support abortion-on-demand. Alternatively, the Democratic Party can restore its big-tent approach on abortion, recruit strong candidates who will address economic inequality and injustice, and rebuild the party around a shared commitment to economic justice for all Americans. The latter approach is not only our best chance to take back Congress; it also gives us the best chance to build a coherent policy agenda that uplifts the poor, benefits the working class, and strengthens the middle class. For the Democratic Party and the country, now is the time to embrace this strategy.”

Pro-life Democrats must stand up against party’s abortion litmus test: “Pro-life Democrats oppose abortion because we believe that it constitutes the direct taking of innocent human life. We see it as a violation of human rights, as something that is incompatible with social justice, and as an unjust alternative to delivering social justice to poor and working-class women, men, and families.”

We’re pro-Life Democrats and we want to protect the lives of the born and unborn: “We believe in the dignity and worth of all, especially the poor, the vulnerable, the persecuted, and the abandoned. And we believe in an active government that safeguards that dignity and protects human rights. We are pro-life because we believe in the defense of all innocent human life, and we are Democrats because they are the party that, since the New Deal, has best stood up for the well-being of working-class and middle-class Americans.”

John Dilulio

Why I’m Still a Democrat: “From the New Deal to the present, the Democratic Party, for all of its insufferable radical-liberal elites, and despite its morally fatal failure to care for unborn children, has generally stood for average American families, wageworkers, immigrants, and the poor.”

Christine Emba

Why won’t Democrats let antiabortion progressives under their tent?: “The message they get from progressive activists and commentators, if not from Democratic Party leaders, is increasingly hostile: As much as the party professes to be a big tent, those who oppose abortion rights aren’t really wanted. This is a mistake — and not only because it limits Democrats’ ability to keep or expand their voter base. It also reduces the core values of the progressive movement to a single symbol and constrains the debate on how to best achieve broader goals of social and economic equality. The associated contempt for antiabortion activists often relies on outdated assumptions about their aims and origins and fails to take into account the complexity of most Americans’ views on abortion.”

Christopher Hale

Why progressives should oppose abortion: “In the final analysis, it takes both a family and a village to raise a child. We’re all in this struggle together, and we must use everything at our disposal to give our children what they deserve: a life, a family and a future.”

Democrats must start speaking out about Planned Parenthood: “Deeply rooted in the foundation of our nation is the belief that every human being has dignity and the right to live in that dignity. As progressives, we further believe that the government plays a crucial role in protecting that dignity, especially among those who face adverse societal conditions: the poor, the unemployed, the uninsured, immigrants, the LGBT community — and yes — pregnant women and their unborn children. This radical inclusivity is at the heart of the progressive tradition.”

Mehdi Hasan

Being pro-life doesn’t make me any less of a lefty: “Abortion is one of those rare political issues on which left and right seem to have swapped ideologies.”

Anna Keating

Addressing the American Suicide Contagion: “We need laws that affirm the dignity and value of every human being, and that improve the way people die in America. We need laws that require providers to be trained in palliative care. Laws that require nursing homes and hospices to be adequately staffed. Laws that shut down nursing homes that do not meet basic standards. Laws that extend Medicaid and full coverage Medicare for all. Laws that require patients to be informed about their rights and options, including the right to refuse treatment. Laws that guarantee access to spiritual and psychological support. We must improve hospice and palliative care and make a progressive case against PAS, which normalizes killing and de-prioritizes hospice.”

Why I Can’t Support Physician-Assisted Suicide: “It is no wonder that disability activists, the poor and racial minorities are the most vocal opponents of physician-assisted suicide. They will be offered this “option” first.”

Jessica Keating

Stumbling into the Pro-Life Movement: “I had questions that someone in favor of abortion rights shouldn’t have. Why did we call the unborn, babies and children, when they were planned for and wanted, but fetuses when they were not? Why did the law consider the unborn persons, in some cases, but not in others? Why were some pregnant women mothers, but others were host entities, invaded by parasitic fetuses intent on destroying their lives? Why did we mourn a miscarriage, but not an abortion? Why were there numerous ways that the law curbed personal autonomy and privacy in light of greater human and social goods (e.g. drunk driving, neglect, domestic abuse) but the lives of preterm children were somehow not deemed human or social goods worthy of protection? Why did women’s equality mean some human beings had to die? I didn’t ask these questions because they weren’t part of the script of the abortion rights movement I had been given.”

James Martin, SJ

Why I Am Pro-Life: “So my respect for life extends to all people, but most especially those whose lives are at risk: the unborn child, to be sure, but also the refugee whose life is threatened by war, the L.G.B.T. young person tempted to commit suicide, the homeless person whose life is endangered by malnutrition, the uninsured sick person with no health care, the elderly person in danger of being euthanized. I have come to value all life, from conception to natural death, and believe that our laws should reflect this important principle.”

Russell Moore and Michael Wear

Dems need to reverse moral misstep on abortion: “For 40 years, our government and our people have decided to respect abortion as a unique moral issue. The Democrats should reverse course and remove opposition to Hyde from their platform. Wherever you stand on abortion, forcing people to pay for it can’t be good for Democrats, or for democracy.”

Janet Robert

To right their political ship, Democrats need to welcome pro-life liberals: “The Democratic Party is in serious trouble. It has lost more than 900 state legislative seats, 12 governors, 69 House seats and 13 Senate seats over the last decade, and a recent poll indicates that it has a lower approval rating than President Trump.  To right this political ship, it must recapture pro-life liberals such as my mother, who was a loyal Democrat until 1996, when President Clinton vetoed the bill banning partial-birth abortions.”

Courtney Reissig

The Pro-Life Case for Paid Maternity Leave: “Our pro-life ethic should expand beyond the baby in the womb or the scared mom in the crisis pregnancy center. A lack of concern for paid leave has direct implications for our pro-life cause. What happens to an overwhelmed mom when she realizes she can’t afford to stay home with her baby in those early days, or even worse, can’t even afford day care?”

Stephen Schneck

Democrat for Life Stephen Schneck talks about his political party affiliation: “I am very serious about my commitment to pro‑life causes and yet at the same time I share with other Democrats the more traditional understanding of the common good. And I share with the Democrats a concern for the poor, a concern for the environment, and a concern for immigrant, and so on.”

Mark Shields

The abortion debate: Life does not end at birth: “I am a pro-life liberal who agrees with pro-choice Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., in his criticism that too many pro-lifers act as though life began at conception and ended at birth. It is entirely reasonable to question how we can call ourselves pro-life if we do not defend and protect the powerless among us, the hungry and the homeless, the undocumented immigrant and the unemployed worker.”