Women Left Out At Women’s March

Women’s March was an international march on January 21, 2017 that supported women’s rights and other human rights including LGBTQ rights, immigration reform, and racial equality. This march organized to unify women, however, excluded a group of women who had different opinions on one issue: abortion.

Many pro-life organizations were originally encouraged to participate and were listed under as partners on the Women’s March website. For instance, a pro-life group called New Wave Feminists— a group that works towards making abortion unnecessary by ensuring that pregnant women have proper healthcare and financial and emotional support—was first included in the march and was thrilled to represent pro-life feminism and march along other groups in unity to support women’s rights and equality. However, shortly after they were included, there were many complaints from pro-choice women that pro-life women should not be included because those who are pro-choice believe that anti-abortion means anti-woman.

This was the viewpoint of some radical feminists who did not agree that pro-life women support both women’s rights as well as the rights of the life in the womb; there was a misconception that pro-life women are against feminism. These, however, are untrue statements because pro-life women believe that there needs to be equal rights for both the mother and the child. They felt completely excluded and believed that they should be part of the march for they are supporters of women’s rights as well. Despite the many complaints and negative comments they received, they decided to attend the march to stand up for what they believe in, “We will definitely be there with our pro-life, pro-woman message,” said New Wave Feminists leader, Destiny Hernon-De La Rosa.

I believe that organizers of the women’s march were wrong to exclude pro-life groups because by doing so, they excluded many women from different backgrounds and different faiths. They defeated their purpose of unifying women by excluding those who had different opinions on abortion. The misconception that anti-abortion means anti-women needs to be cleared up because this misunderstanding separates women rather than uniting them. The only major difference between pro-life feminists and pro-choice feminists is that the former takes both the women and their child into consideration while the latter only put importance on the mothers. Regardless of the different beliefs we have on abortion, we are all women who believe that we should be respected and treated equally.