While both abortion abolitionists and pro-life activists share a variety of fundamental beliefs, they also vary in their approach and interpretation of women’s rights to abortion. Both initiatives follow a religious doctrine and undertone, though it is compulsory and dominant among abolitionists. Pro-life beliefs aim at establishing slow but steady change with the more shared ground between pro-abortion activities. Abolitionists are more severe in their beliefs, which aim at promoting religious indoctrination and complete removal of abortion processes and rights. As such, pro-life followers are much more likely to be lenient on the issue of receiving an abortion in the case that a woman may die as a result of her pregnancy. Due to the heavily reinforced belief in a higher power among abolitionists, they are much less likely to find this intervention acceptable. This is due to their prioritization of religious norms and laws above even the lives of unborn children or their mothers.
While the pro-life position may seem less hostile to the rights and well-being of women, both schools of thought are fundamentally flawed and in opposition to basic human rights. Both systems of belief prioritize hypothetical and religion-driven concepts such as ‘souls’ and ‘the will of God’ over women, their bodily autonomy, and well-being. In the case that a woman’s life is not endangered by her pregnancy, but she may be unable to keep or give birth to a child due to other factors, she has the right to terminate her pregnancy and maintain control over her body. However, due to the mission of both pro-life activists and abortion abolitionists, religious indoctrination is presented as more valuable (Cooper & Vasquez, 2020). The implementation of religious values on a national scale is inherently detrimental and unjust, as it subjects individuals and communities from varied backgrounds and systems of belief to a universal and unfair structure of values.
Reference
Cooper, C., & Vasquez, T. (2020). The anti-abortion abolitionist movement is dangerous. Here’s what you need to know. Prism.