17th May 2019

by Alithea Williams

All the old men heading the March for Life.

One of the most frustrating things about being a pro-lifer is the constant rhetoric that you’re "anti-woman". Never mind that I’m a woman myself, that women are generally speaking more pro-life than men, and that the abortion issue goes to the heart of debates about human rights - no, any opposition to abortion is misogyny, pure and simple.

We’ve seen a lot of this recently following Alabama’s new law, which would ban abortion in most circumstances. The media narrative is focused on the "25 white men" who voted the law through the State Senate, and how they only did it because they hate women and want to control their bodies. Ironically, this narrative airbrushes out a lot of women. All the women of Alabama who helped pass the referendum stating "it is the public policy of this state to recognize and support the sanctity of unborn life and the rights of unborn children, most importantly the right to life in all manners and measures appropriate and lawful". Representative Terri Collins, who introduced the bill. Governor Kay Ivey, who signed it into law. And of course, the many women who make up the bulk of the American pro-life movement.

This refusal to acknowledge that the abortion argument isn’t a binary battle between men and women, and to accept the existence of pro-life women, was also evident at the counter-protest to last Saturday’s March for Life. At one point, Carla and Danny, who recently changed their minds about having an abortion outside a Marie Stopes clinic in Birmingham, were telling their story. Carla read out a poem describing their experience, and then Danny explained what had happened. While he was speaking, the pro-abortion protestors started chanting "Let the woman speak", completely ignoring the fact that they’d been chanting over Carla when she WAS speaking!

So, because the protestors were too busy shouting about the importance of letting women speak, to actually, um, listen to the women who were speaking, here’s a reminder of some of the most powerful female testimonies from this year’s March for Life.

Melissa Ohden

It is perhaps unsurprising that the chanting from the "March for Choice" protestors reached its highest pitch during Melissa’s testimony, as she embodies something abortion supporters don’t want to think about - how abortion effects unborn women. Melissa is something most abortion supporters deny exists - an abortion survivor. Her story of surviving a saline infusion abortion is one of the most powerful pro-life testimonies you will ever hear. But as well as representing the unborn baby targeted in an abortion, she is also a voice for the many women who are coerced into undergoing one. Her mother was forced into the abortion by her own mother, who never told her that Melissa had survived. Hers is a voice that those who support abortion need to hear.

Jennifer Christie

Jennifer represents a group of women most often brought up by abortion supporters - survivors of rape and sexual assault. Jennifer chose life after being brutally raped by a serial killer, and is now a fierce advocate for the right to life of children like her son. Her story shows just how vital it is to actually listen to women who have conceived after rape, rather than just assuming that abortion is the way to help them.

Crystal Johnson

Crystal, who shared her testimony with the March for Life media team, gives the other side of the story to conception after rape - that of the child. This one is only a few minutes long, so do watch!

Obianuju Ekeocha

Some of the outrage about Alabama has been about how the ban would disproportionately affect women of colour. Abortion supporters also really hate it when any comparison is made between abortion and slavery. Perhaps they couldn’t bear to listen to Uju because this black Nigerian woman did just that.   

So, yes, let the women speak! You might just learn something.