Difference between revisions of "Pro-Life Views"

Latest revision as of 22:55, 29 May 2015

Pro-Life Movement Views Adoption as Positive Alternative to Abortion and IVF

Members of the pro-life movement aim to protect all forms of human life, including unborn babies and adults. This chief mission to protect the sanctity of human life factors into debates over a number of controversial topics at the forefront of society today.

Four organizations are prominent in the pro-life arena:

• National Right to Life Committee (http://www.nrlc.org/)
• Pro-Life Action League (http://www.prolifeaction.org/)
• ProLife Alliance (http://www.prolife.org.uk/)
• Presbyterians Pro-Life Research Education and Care, Inc. (http://www.ppl.org/)

Consisting of over 3,000 local and state chapters and millions of individual and group supporters, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) seeks to advertise and affect societal issues relating to the unborn, the elderly, and the disabled through education, legislation, and political action.

Founded in 1980, the Pro-Life Action League's primary goal is to save "unborn children through non-violent direct action."

The logo of the ProLife Alliance is "equality of all, absolute respect for innocent human life." This organization provides timely information on topics related to abortion, human cloning, embryo abuse, and euthanasia.

According to the Presbyterians Pro-Life Research Education and Care, Inc. website, the organization is "committed to restoring the Church's witness and ministry in response to questions about life."

Many other groups also become heavily involved in pro-life topics, either as a major focus of their organization mission or as a part of a larger ministry.

The most obvious topic on which pro-life advocates take a stance is abortion. Although some may disagree over whether or not to allow abortion under special circumstances, such as the health of the mother, all in the pro-life movement are essentially against abortion. They view the developing fetus as a child waiting to be born and, consequently, view the death of the child as murder.

Pro-life advocates also typically disagree with the use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) as a solution to infertility, believing it is morally and medically wrong.

Ethical reasons against IVF include the following:

• Babies are conceived technically rather than naturally.
• Defective embryos are discarded or stored, often resulting in their deaths in cold storage at IVF clinics.

Health risks to mothers and offspring include the following:

• Side effects from fertility drugs.
• Ectopic pregnancy.
• Maternal complications from carrying triplets or other multiple fetuses.
• Fetus abnormalities from multiple birth complications.

Pro-life advocates set out to offer positive alternatives to abortion and IVF. In recent years, adoption has been strongly promoted as a leading alternative for both birth mothers and infertile couples. Pro-life groups try to make the public more aware of adoption as a choice by educating people, supporting churches and counseling organizations, and assisting with adoptions plans.

Many clinics exist to help women and teens deal with unplanned pregnancies. Such clinics provide counseling and adoption assistance, helping birth mothers choose the type of adoption to pursue, the family life they want for their child, questions to ask prospective parents, and, in some cases, helping them choose specific adoptive parents who they may even remain in contact with. These clinics also help couples who want to adopt a child.

Due to their beliefs on abortion, IVF, and related issues, members of the pro-life movement often try to affect the outcome of public and political decisions. Two recent well-known issues in which pro-life groups have been instrumental in providing opinion and/or political action include the following:

• Boycotting the company American Girl for its ties to a pro-abortion group.
• Supporting conservative Judge Alito for U.S. President Bush's Supreme Court nomination.

American Girl, which sells doll of fictional heroines from throughout history, has refused to end its association with Girls Inc., a pro-abortion organization. Thus, the Pro-Life Action League has called for a boycott of all American Girl products this Christmas, 2005.

Other companies have stepped forward to provide alternatives to these dolls and accessories - including "A Life of Faith" dolls, the "Beautiful Girlhood Collection" dolls, and "Blessings Expressions of Faith" Catholic-themed dolls - allowing pro-life parents to make a stance against abortion while still purchasing similar female-affirming gifts for their children this holiday season.

According to some pro-life organizations, Judge Samuel A. Alito, Jr. has demonstrated a conservative approach to abortion and will help maintain balance and end judicial activism on the Supreme Court. They believe such a judge will help prevent the misuse of legal abortion and also hope that he and other conservative judges can eventually lead the country toward overturning Roe v. Wade, making abortion illegal.

Therefore, while they cannot know precisely how he would rule in any specific circumstance, many pro-life groups strongly support Judge Alito's nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In an effort to defend the sanctity of ALL human life, the pro-life movement involves itself in many moral and political aspects of society, including issues related to abortion, IVF, and adoption.