“Abortion betrays the basic feminist principles of nonviolence, nondiscrimination, and justice for all. Abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women — and that women have settled for less. Women deserve better”… Feminism [in its original form] was born of abolition. All people are equal. All choices are not. We envision a better day, a day when womanhood is celebrated, mothers are supported, fatherhood is honored, and every child is cherished”. — Serrin Foster, US pro-life feminist

I received an email last week from Right to Life NSW titled Standing for Life: Week 5 — Right to Life during COVID-19. The email informed me that recently the Australian Federation of Disability Organisations (AFDO) endorsed a Statement of Concern regarding the treatment (or non treatment) of people with disabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, which you can read in full here: https://www.afdo.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Statement-of-Concern-COVID-19-Human-rights-disability-and-ethical-decision-making_Final.pdf.

In response, the pro-life lobby group took the position that this is a “timely reminder that people in our society are not treated equally and we need to systematically and methodically work hard towards creating a Culture of Life which involves upholding human rights for all including people with disabilities… Adults with disability often feel as though they need to justify their own existence”.

It got me thinking… It would not be unreasonable to add LGBT people into that mix as well. It would not be unreasonable to rephrase that quote to:

People in our society are not treated equally and we need to systematically and methodically work hard towards creating a Culture of Life which involves upholding human rights for all including LGBT people… LGBT adults often feel as though they need to justify their own existence.

As a pro-life Christian who’s transgender (transitioned from male to female) and lesbian in sexual orientation, I have been ridiculed by members of the LGBT community and their “allies” because I believe in the worth and dignity of all human life, which includes the unborn, the elderly, the unwell, those with disabilities, and those who are LGBT. And that said worth and dignity is equal across the board.

The excuse for their objection is usually something along the lines of “you’re collaborating with the political enemy” or “you get your bodily autonomy via gender transition, what about that of people with uteruses?”. Identity politics and dehumanising of the unborn at its finest…

I usually don’t mention to others that I’m LGBT in my involvement in the pro-life movement, mainly because of how far our society, culture and law have gone with abortion and euthanasia etc, that I feel like mentioning something important about me is an insignificant but annoying distraction to the big issues at hand.

And because (at least I perceive) the movement to be saliently Christian and politically conservative, I sometimes wonder, putting aside the political and social views of members of the pro-life movement, is the tent big enough to include LGBT people who are pro-life, and are primarily there to stand for life, and bring an LGBT perspective to the pro-life cause? Perhaps this is a no-brainer (I hope), the US-based Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians + comes to mind.

The author of the email, Dr Rachel Carling, CEO of Right to Life NSW, ended the email with:

Creating a Culture of Life starts with the individual. We can all begin by reaching out to someone nearby to let them know that we recognise and believe in their worth.

Perhaps the question I should really be asking is, would members of the pro-life movement go out of their way to recognise and believe in the worth of LGBT people, despite politics and religion?