The other day on Twitter, someone complained that she hadn’t seen any Pro-life organizations calling out the atrocities seen at the border.
It's funny, I haven't seen any outcry from "pro-life" organizations about the treatment of children at the border. Almost as if they don't give a shit about actual babies.
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) June 18, 2018
My initial reaction was as follows:
Maybe you're not seeing Pro-life organizations speak out about the treatment of children at the border because you aren't following any Pro-life organizations online.
— Katelynne Hendrick (@SainthoodOrBust) June 19, 2018
It would be like me saying I never see pro-choice organizations advocating for other women’s health issues like endometriosis or PCOS. It isn’t so much that these organizations aren’t posting about it (and I imagine there must be some out there that are); it comes down to how I have chosen to fill my social media feeds. It’s one thing for me to be honest and admit I don’t see it because I don’t pay attention to them, but if I were to make such claims broadly, it is on me to first look at what these organizations I’m criticizing have said first. It seems (at least from my perspective) that Ms. Valenti failed to do this.
Here are just a few of the organizations who have issued statements/ made resolutions/ spoke out in some way:
- The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
- The American Solidarity Party
- New Wave Feminists
- Feminists for Non-Violent Choices
- Pro-Life Atheists
- Rehumanize International
- Secular Pro-Life
There’s also this thread that points out all the faith groups calling out Session’s argument and this tweet which identifies faith groups that spoke out (I’m not sure which are pro-life or not, though).
However, to be fair, not every pro-life individual or organization is speaking out about this issue.
Ms. Valenti wants to paint it as though these people and/or organizations simply don’t care. And readers, there is the possibility that this is the case. But I believe this group of pro-lifers who are actually just “pro-birth” is extremely, extremely small.
I think in reality, the situation is that these organization who advocate for the lives of the unborn had to narrow their scope. It isn’t because they don’t care about other life issues; it is because if you want to make a change, you have to be focused on a particular issue.
I really hate to use a comparison that involves animals due to the dehumanizing rhetoric that’s being spewed out, but I think this example helps illustrate my point with the emphatic comment that I am not calling any human being an animal. Let’s consider a humane society. We don’t criticize them for only serving cats and dogs while there are a ton of endangered species. We don’t lament that they are disregarding all the animals in factory farms. We recognize that they have limited resources, and they have to set a focus to make an impact. We instead celebrate that they are making a small piece of the world better, even if they aren’t addressing every animal rights issue.
Ultimately, what I’m trying to say is that before we criticize “the other side,” we first need to get out of our own echo chambers and dialogue before making accusations on lack of caring.
Immigrants Make America Great Photo by Nitish Meena on Unsplash
Barbed Wire Fence Photo by Robert Hickerson on Unsplash
I think this is a particular case of the wishful thinking of some ideologues who mistake the world as they want it to be for the world as it really is. If in their imagination pro-lifers don’t care about the problems of born children, they assume it must be so in the real world too, and they don’t bother to check the evidence.
I also think there may be some projection of their own motives. It’s all about themselves, what really matters to them is their own interests, so for them it’s the same with pro-lifers, they don’t really care about the unborn, only about their own goals and advancing their cause.
Generally speaking, odd though it may seem, logical and moral thinking are related, so immorality and rationality can’t go together. Actually, I would say sin is a form of irrationality, although not only, of course.
Javier, I agree. It is much easier to disagree with someone if you paint them as terrible, narrowly-focused people. Pointing out that pro-life advocates often take a whole life approach challenges the narrative.
I also love what you said about immorality and irrationality. So true!
Another excellent post.
Ms. Valenti’s comment leads one to say, “I don’t see Ms. Valenti doing anything about the situation at the border. Probably because she just doesn’t care.”
Hmmm.
It may also be possible she “doesn’t see” prolife groups doing anything because the media censors us.
Something i have learned working and volunteering in the prolife arena is that often, the most vituperative pro-abortion voices come from people who had or were involved in an abortion and are desperate to prove to themselves and everyone else that it was “right”. Since they can’t, they often resort to bashing the prolife side in any way possible, hoping they can at least prove that prolifers are “worse”. When i worked for a prolife education organization, the foundress would time and again come back from speaking to a college class or something and recount that a particularly vehement proabortion heckler would eventually relent, sobbing, and saying how much she regretted her own abortion. So, when you see people like Ms. Valenti, what you might be witnessing is someone in unimaginable pain.
Keep up the great work!
Thank you for your kind words, Teresa.
I agree that a lot of the defense comes from a place of pain. That’s one of the reasons why I think it is so important that we treat pro-choice advocates with love: we don’t know what is underneath. I actually wrote a post on that on FemCatholic: http://www.femcatholic.com/why-we-shouldnt-call-women-whove-had-abortions-murderers/
Thank you for that beautifully-written, insightful comment!
https://www.catholicextension.org
Family reunification fund by Catholic Extension. Just fyi, if you and your contacts are looking for how to help.
Yes! I saw that post, and my first thought was ‘information silos’