One week before the March for Life, self-proclaimed “feminist” groups will be descending on Washington, D.C. for the Women’s March on Washington. The website for the march says that their mission is to start a grassroots effort that “will send a bold message to our new government on their first day in office, and to the world that women’s rights are human rights.” Abortion isn’t specifically mentioned, but march partners include NARAL, the National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood, and the Center for Reproductive Rights. The goal of the march is clear: it’s not about advocating for women, it’s about promoting abortion.
It seemed from the beginning that pro-life women were not welcome; pro-life group Students for Life of America was not approved to be a partner.
“They refused to acknowledge my inquiries into being a sponsor, perhaps thinking I was a college student, even though it was clear who I represented, the largest national youth pro-life organization,” President Kristan Hawkins told The Christian Post. “Even thought they put forth the message that they are inclusive and are demonstrating for a variety of issues, I think they deliberately leave out pro-life organizations deeming us not the ‘right people’ for their message.”
Students for Life of America is still planning on participating in the march, however. Surprisingly, another pro-life group, New Wave Feminists, was granted partnership status with the march. Originally, one of the march’s co-chairs, Bob Bland, seemed fine with this.
“Intersectional feminism is the future of feminism and of this movement,” he said in an interview with “The Atlantic”. “We must not just talk about feminism as one issue, like access to reproductive care.”
However, pro-abortion feminists soon realized that a pro-life group was being included — and they were not happy:
Horrified that the @womensmarch has partnered w/an anti-choice org. Plse reconsider – inclusivity is not about bolstering those who harm us.
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) January 16, 2017
https://t.co/Rn6myKjRSD Nope, you cannot be anti-choice and feminist. Forcing birth on unwilling women is a misogynist act.
— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) January 16, 2017
And it didn’t take long for the march organizers to fall in line. This article in “The Atlantic” added a disclaimer after it was published, clarifying:
On Monday afternoon, after the publication of this article, the Women’s March organizers removed the New Wave Feminists from their website and list of partners. “The Women’s March’s platform is pro-choice and that has been our stance from day one,” the organizers said in a statement. “The anti-choice organization in question is not a partner of the Women’s March on Washington. We apologize for this error.”
The writer, Emma Green, confirmed on Twitter that New Wave Feminists had officially been removed from the list of partners, as did the march itself.
The Women’s March confirmed that they removed a pro-life group from their list of partners in response to my articlehttps://t.co/GNFfSjYbZq
— Emma Green (@emmaogreen) January 16, 2017
Our statement regarding press today: pic.twitter.com/z1y9cfFFvY
— Women’s March (@womensmarch) January 16, 2017
So when this organization says their goal is to represent women, what they really mean is only certain women. Because if you don’t worship at the altar of abortion, you don’t count.
New Wave Feminists took to Facebook to express their thoughts after they were dropped as a march partner:
It appears the “(certain) Women’s March on Washington” has pulled us as a partner.
Oh, well. I’m not losing any sleep over it. Felt a little too corporate being “offically included” anyway. I mean, who do they think we are PP & NARAL? {insert money bag emoji here}
It’s worth pointing out that this nation’s first feminists abhorred abortion, and were staunchly pro-life. What would they think of what their movement has become? Modern feminists don’t just advocate for abortion to be legal; it has to be celebrated, promoted, and anyone who doesn’t fall in line must be silenced. They never consider that the very fact of women needing abortion at all means there is something wrong. As feminist pioneer Maddie Brinckerhoff said:
When a man steals to satisfy hunger, we may safely conclude that there is something wrong in society – so when a woman destroys the life of her unborn child, it is an evidence that either by education or circumstances she has been greatly wronged.
Yet pro-abortion feminists don’t work to ensure abortion is unnecessary; if a woman is facing a crisis pregnancy, they don’t offer her resources and help so she can realize she has other choices besides just abortion. For them, the answer is abortion, above all else.
The Women’s March on Washington clearly isn’t about bringing women together to show that we are stronger standing as one than we are standing apart. Evidently, the only “real” women are the ones who toe the pro-abortion line. This march isn’t dedicated to women’s rights — it’s dedicated to furthering abortion. It’s a march for abortion, not for women. Because clearly, the claim that all women were welcome was not even remotely true.
