Some time ago I worked at a Catholic university that housed a Human Life Center. The director of the center was a passionate man who vehemently opposed abortion. He carried around a bottle with a dead fetus to show people what one looked like. He also got into arguments with those who disagreed with him on abortion. Knowing I was LDS, he told me that some years earlier he had admonished my church’s president, then President David O. McKay, about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' position on abortion being too liberal because it allowed exceptions to abortion.
The recent discussion about the Planned Parenthood videos has raised the question again about what it means to be pro-life. One of the complaints by others at this university where I worked was that the center director cared for the unborn — but had little respect for those already born. Indeed, that can be a problem with the approach and tactics of some in the pro-life movement.
That has made me question what it means to me to be pro-life. I believe that it means when we balance a woman’s right to choose with human life, we tip the scales more towards life. As a society, we need to do more to urge women to choose to continue their pregnancies and, if necessary, give their children up for adoption.
But pro-life to me includes far more than that. It also means being concerned about how our society treats those already born. To me, pro-life means helping all attain a high quality of life. The first step towards that goal is educational access. Pro-life includes providing quality educational opportunities for all people, not just a select few. That is why I strongly favor a public education system that offers such opportunities. Without public education as our most important education system, we become a divided society that robs the many with poor educational opportunities in order to benefit an elite who attend private schools.
Another element of being pro-life is health care access for all. No one should be denied the health care they need because of their inability to pay. A pro-lifer will be just as concerned that programs like Medicaid are available to all who are poor. And one who is pro-life will not repeatedly vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) without offering an alternative that would be just as comprehensive, if not more so.
A pro-lifer also will stand up for a decent wage for all Americans. Those who are pro-life should be concerned that this goal has become more elusive. Pro-lifers will want to help families survive economically and not be satisfied with a declining middle class.
The pro-lifer not only should be concerned about the vulnerable fetus who is subject to the decision of his or her mother as to whether birth or abortion will terminate the pregnancy, but also about the most vulnerable of those already born. For example, wages of the poorest — the bottom fifth in annual family income — have stagnated since 1979. That has occurred while corporate profits have increased. In 2013, tax corporate profits were the highest since 1965. Somehow, trickle down is not happening as conservative economists claimed it would. A pro-lifer cares about that, too.
Additionally, a pro-lifer will not rush to war. Many people who consider themselves pro-life were anxious to commit the United States to a war in Iraq that resulted in the deaths of over 4,000 American soldiers and approximately 500,000 Iraqis. The pro-lifer must seek avoidance, not advocacy, of war. Some wars will occur despite those efforts. For example, when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the U.S. was drawn into an unavoidable war. Similarly, when a larger nation attacks a smaller one, war may be necessary. But a pro-lifer seeks to preserve lives and is not in a hurry to see them taken, regardless of their nationality.
Pro-life means more than just opposing abortion. It also includes caring about what happens to those already born. It means seeking to bring about a just, compassionate, and opportune environment so all may enjoy a high quality of life — both the unborn and the born.
Richard Davis is a professor of political science at Brigham Young University. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of BYU.