How can it be that a staunchly pro-life organization has pro-choice support? Easy, really. Often a person who identifies him- or herself as being pro-choice made that decision based upon a belief that women should not be forced into a particular situation when desires and life goals lead in a different direction. Literally: those women should have a choice. These pro-choice supporters of the Morning Center see that poor women are often put into a situation where they are treated like second class citizens, unable to choose the great prenatal care and beautiful birth that they want. They see that the Morning Center will give women a choice to birth surrounded by love and respect.
We do differ on the extremely important issue of whether a fetus (pre-born baby) is a person with a soul, made in the image of God, valuable and precious (though in the context of this video one wonders if people who call themselves ‘pro-choice’ have really stopped to think about what it means). But I think that it is a good thing to labor together on the areas where we can agree much work needs to be done to help women.
We have also had several people who identify with the pro-choice cause speak vehemently against what we are doing. How can that be? Don’t they want great birth “choices” for women? I believe that those who are antagonistic the Morning Center are not pro-choice at all. They are pro-death.
One woman told me that she made a donation to Planned Parenthood when she heard about what we are doing. She was angry that we were encouraging women from poor neighborhoods to have their babies, as she thinks that will be the downfall of society. I would say that she is much more properly called pro-death, as she seems to believe that certain types of people just don’t deserve to live. Making an enemy like that makes me even more certain that the Morning Center is taking the right stance.
We are so thankful for all our supporters who are standing together to help women be treated as they deserve, with love and respect. If you haven’t yet read the Morning Center philosophy of birth, check it out.
Feel free to share this with your pro-choice friends. It might start some interesting discussions. And perhaps you will find the Morning Center is a common ground where you can work together to help women and their babies.
-Theresa Lansberry
