Ok, well, I know this thread was buried a bit, but I had been wanting to pipe in, and didn't get a chance until now(newborn here). I will admit that I have not read all the responses, and don't wish to debate abortion (again
: ), but thought I would stick to answering the OP
At my high school graduation during the awards part of the ceremony, one of the awards was called "The Award For Feminism", as they described the award, I joked with the kid next to me about who I thought would get it, there was one girl in my class who was today's version of feminist. Imagine my shock when my name was read
I did not know what to think about that, b/c to me feminist=pro-choice, which simply put- I am not (at least not on the issue of abortion
). I talked to the woman who gave the award in her mothers name, and she explained that it was my way of always standing up for myself, and for anyone else who needed someone to stand up for them, that made me a feminist in her eyes, she knew I was pro-life, she was pro-choice, she chose me anyway
OK, now the point I really wanted to make
(and sorry if someone has already pointed this out). If being pro-life makes one "not a feminist" than the following women were not feminists:
~Susan B. Anthony
(in her publication The Revolution)-"Guilty? Yes. No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; But oh, thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime!"
~Elizabeth Cady Stanton
"When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit."
~Mattie Brinkerhoff
"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."
~Victoria Woodhull (the first female presidential candidate)
"Every woman knows that if she were free, she would never bear an unwished-for child, nor think of murdering one before its birth."
~Sarah Norton
"Child murderers practice their profession without let or hindrance, and open infant butcheries unquestioned...Is there no remedy for all this ante-natal child murder?...Perhaps there will come a time when...an unmarried mother will not be despised because of her motherhood...and when the right of the unborn to be born will not be denied or interfered with."
~Matilda Gage
"[This] subject lies deeper down in woman's wrongs than any other...I hesitate not to assert that most of [the responsibility for] this crime lies at the door of the male sex."
***interesting to me that women today think it is men who are all against abortion, I, being in the pro-life movement, know full well that the vast majority of pro-life activists (if you call us such) are women***
~Alice Paul (author of the original ERA)
"Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women."
So- if these women were feminists (which I believe they were), than so am I