The Politics of Motherhood

The abortion debate is not about unborn babies. I bet you knew that, didn’t you? If it were, there would be a similar outcry over every issue involving the lives of babies. Such as lack of healthcare, babies born addicted to drugs, babies killed after being left in hot vehicles, etc. Every year here in Texas someone leaves a kid in a carseat in 100 degree weather and the kid bakes. No public outcry. No organized protest. In fact, the person responsible usually escapes criminal prosecution.

But do you really know what it is about? The pro-life attempt to criminalize abortion is not about saving the lives of unborn babies. If it were about that, you’d see pro-lifers working toward preventing unwanted pregnancies and better adoption rates of unwanted children.

People generally don’t put a lot of time and effort into an issue unless it directly affects them. So..how are pro-lifers directly affected by the abortions of others?

The abortion debate is about women and their role in society. I never understood why pro-lifers are so concerned about what other people do or don’t do with their unwanted pregnancies. If in your mind abortion is murder, then don’t have one. If you’re going to get upset when someone else "murders" their unborn child, then you should be prepared to get just as upset over every other murder that occurs in this country. You hear about murders every day and probably don’t give it much of a thought. Why is it this one particular form of "murder" is so atrocious that it needs to be addressed so passionately?

The answer is because pro-life activists perceive abortion, not as a threat to unborn babies but to their own world view. The typical pro-life woman is a wife and mother who either does not work outside the home after the birth of her child or regards her primary role as homemaker. She considers her role--motherhood--as the most important and proper role for a woman to have. She doesn’t condemn career women for choosing another role, but believes that motherhood should usurp any other role in a woman’s life, whether it was intentional or not.

Feminist advances have made women like this feel degraded and threatened. If women are able to compete for the same kinds of success that men strive for--career, achievement, advancement--then a woman’s "worth" will be measured by the same standards as a man’s. By those standards, a homemaker and devoted mother does not measure up. Abortion reduces the motherhood role to a lesser status, implying that motherhood is not as important as other goals in life.

Similarly, the typical pro-choice activist is a career woman, who may or not be married and may or may not be a mother, but who considers aspects other than motherhood to be her primary role. In the event of an unwanted pregnancy, forcing her to bear the child threatens her marketability in the career market and implies that her goals are not as important as the motherhood role.

This is what the debate is all about: motherhood. Is it the supreme role of women and their major purpose in society or is it just one of many roles a woman can choose? Virtually any woman can become a mother, but other achievements require resources the majority of pro-life women don’t have: education, experience, ambition. No wonder they would seek to devalue those things and insist that the true worth and value of a woman is in her role as a mother. They can not treat abortion as a personal choice because if society allows others to make that choice, their world view and their self-worth are threatened.