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The grassroots pro-life group Students for life held a press conference on Monday, announcing new features of a website aimed at providing services and help to pregnant women who do not know such resources exist and who might get an abortion as a result. The press conference was held at the Heritage Foundation, an influential conservative think tank in Washington D.C., where numerous pro-life activists gave their testimonies on abortion and highlighted the website of Standing with you, a pro-life woman support website.
The decades-long fight over abortion is reaching a potentially crucial juncture this year, as the Supreme Court is scheduled to decide on the constitutionality of the Mississippi fetal heartbeat bill, a case that could overturn the landmark Roe V. Wade case that made abortion a constitutional right in 1973. If the justices overturn Roe, then the legality of abortion would be decided by each individual state, not the Federal government, marking a seismic change in the nationwide debate over the legality of abortion.
Abortion has historically been one of the most divisive issues in American culture and politics, and although Gallup polls show that a majority of Americans think abortion should be legal under some circumstances, the survey also shows that there is an almost equal split between Americans who classify themselves as pro-life and pro-choice, as 47% say they are the former and 49% told pollsters they are the latter. This data presents a substantial increase in the pro-life movement since the 1990s, when only 33% of respondents said they were pro-life, compared to 56% of Americans who said they were pro-choice.
Pro-life group Students for Life say abortion harms women rather than help them
At the hour-long conference, the organizers presented the new features of the website of Standing With You, a pro-life organization dedicated to providing resources and support to women who are facing troubles due to their pregnancy and also to women who are experiencing psychological harm after having an abortion.
The event was headed by Kristan Hawkins, the president o Students for Life, who said “we’re gathering today to say that pro-life is pro-love for women” and accused a “predatory abortion industry making billions through ending young lives tells women that they are alone in the world and incapable of succeeding at home and at work. They sell women short, and they sell them an abortion, creating real fear in women. We want women to know that we are already working to help them and that no woman needs to stand alone.”
Penny Nance, the CEO of Concerned Women for America (CWA) Married and an anti-abortion activist, also talked at the event, saying that “there’s no single reason why every single woman in America can’t support this idea of this effort of more information, more resources, whether you are pro-choice or pro-life, you should care about women.” Nance, also criticized the amount of money the government gives to abortion organizations every year, for example, the federal government provided at least $618 million to the organization in 2020, almost 38% of their total revenue, according to Planned Parenthood’s report for FY2020.
Toni McFadden, an antiabortion activist, criticized abortion, saying that “not only does the abortion industry not care about women, but they want to eliminate those who look exactly like me. The act of abortion is literally wiping out the black community.” McFadden, also called out Planned Parenthood and NARAL saying that while those organizations “celebrate Black History month and pretend to care about black lives, while telling that restrictions in abortions are racists and that we need access to abortion to thrive. They are walking right in step with their racist founder Margaret Sanger.”
Daniel is a Political Science and Economics student from the University of South Florida. He worked as a congressional intern to Rep. Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) from January to May 2020. He also is the head of international analysis at Politiks // Daniel es un estudiante de Cs Políticas y Economía en la Universidad del Sur de la Florida. Trabajo como pasante legislativo para el Representate Gus Bilirakis (FL-12) desde enero hasta mayo del 2020. Daniel también es el jefe de análisis internacional de Politiks.