Family Planning Freedom Is Prolife! (photo by jennyleesilver on Flickr)
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Family Planning Freedom Is Prolife!

What is family planning freedom? In short, it is the freedom to choose whether and when to attempt to conceive a child or to attempt to prevent conception, and to choose the prevention method that is best for one’s own life circumstances and health.

Even though most self-identifed pro-lifers favor family planning freedom, we haven’t succeeded in making our voices heard in the public sphere. Too often, pro-life advocates link opposition to abortion with opposition to family planning, and pro-choice advocates link support for family planning with support for abortion.

All Our Lives rejects this opposition. We have developed a presentation outlining ten ways in which family planning freedom is prolife:

  • It prevents millions of maternal and child deaths every year.
  • It measurably reduces abortion rates.
  • It is a critical solution to the overlapping injustices of violence against women and abortion.
  • Contraceptives truly prevent rather than take lives.
  • Contraception can be and is widely practiced without a “contraceptive mentality.”
  • Some contraceptives help prevent HIV/AIDS.
  • Most abortion opponents favor contraception.
  • Family planning freedom is a recognized universal human right, and one that encompasses all prevention methods.
  • Family planning freedom includes the freedom to bear children, and precludes forced sterilization and abortion.
  • Contraception secures the sexual/reproductive and life rights of people with disabilities.

We hope that you will be able to use this resource (now available in English & Spanish) in discussions with pro-lifers and pro-choicers alike.

 

VOLUNTEER TRANSLATORS NEEDED. We are looking especially for people who are fluent in both English and at least one of the remaining United Nations languages: Arabic, Chinese (Mandarin), French, and Russian. We also want to translate our presentation into Hindi, Polish, Portuguese, Swahili, Tagalog, and Urdu. Please contact volunteer at-sign allourlives dot org.

2 thoughts on “Family Planning Freedom Is Prolife!”

  1. No. No, I don’t think you understand. I’m pro-life, as in pro polpee who are alive without being attached to another being. Abortion is a personal choice; contraception is a personal choice; I never want either choice taken from me, or YOU.Having an abortion doesn’t make a person evil or irresponsible, though I do consider having an unwanted child forced upon any person pretty irresponsible. Oh, did I hear someone say adoption? There are thousands of children waiting to be adopted! They’re not cute, little mold-able babies, though, now are they? People will step on their momma for a pretty, little white infant in this country, but after oh, about 4 years? The numbers drop pretty precipitously.You want to end abortion in this country? Start with you and your family. Stop being afraid of sex! Learn all about it, then teach your sons and daughters the FACTS. Stop de-funding sex education, for those souls that aren’t brave enough to teach their children, or just don’t have the facts. Teach your children that though you may not support their choices that you will always support THEM; that they don’t need to hide, if they find themselves in a position where they find themselves having to face making a choice. Your daughter is not a whore, is she? She’s not a murderer. She is not evil! But, she may feel the need to hide a really big secret from you, if you tell her all her life that she is worthless if she does not meet your moral expectations. If she does not know how to properly prevent pregnancy, because all she knows is abstinence, but her boyfriend is pretty persuasive and she’s kind of curious things are going to happen.Teach your children to love themselves! Many young polpee are looking for approval and acceptance than love when they choose to have sex. Teach your sons to respect the burden a girl bears if she sleeps with him. Teach your daughters that she doesn’t owe it to him for taking her out, or being nice to her.Teach your children that masturbation is healthy and natural! In fact, perhaps those of you who have boys might want to consider giving their young men condoms hear me out! I’m not even talking about encouraging them to have sex, but more to get used to the feeling of sexual arousal with a condom. Get it into their minds that sex feels good, even with latex. This is your chance to be the coolest dad, ever. You care enough about your son that you can treat him like a man. (Perhaps you can save a little laundry, too? Just sayin’.) Girls like the rub, too! It’s excellent stress relief, costs nothing and is harmless. Girls who know how to get themselves off suffer less neurosis when they are sexually active. They know how they like to be touched. They appreciate sex for the pleasure of sex. There’s less shame, guilt and remorse. They’re better lovers, simply because the sex is enjoyable and not filled with head-trips. They are less likely to feel like an object, to be used. They, sons and daughters, are more likely to be sexually confident adults. Now that’s a gift worth giving!I’m not saying I like the idea of abortion, but I like the idea of keeping mothers, daughters and friends healthy and safe; I demand reproductive rights, including the right to not reproduce. These women should not have their motives questioned, because it’s their bodies and their lives and frankly, none of my business. They ought not be shamed or harassed. It is their path in life, and not anyone else’s. I will defend them, because I hope that they would to do the same for me. If you must do something for these women, pray for them, they could probably use it, as well as the rest of us.Late term abortion: abortion becomes more of a procedure the longer we wait. Truth is, most doctors could perform an early abortion in the time it takes to get treatment for an ear infection. Women could work with their doctors on the cost of an early abortion, rather than being forced to wait, then to be gouged. The women would not be subject to heavy bleeding or cramping. They would not need to have their privacy invaded by a picket line. If we are educated enough to realize when we may be pregnant, if we have an office within our logistical reach, if we aren’t caught up in red tape, if our doctors would be willing to perform the service, without shunning us to the clinics that specialize because they don’t want to become targets perhaps we could avoid the bulk of procedures that get pretty gruesome, the ones on picketer’s signs, which are relatively, already, a small percentage of abortions performed.Be conscious of these rights. Be conscious of ALL your rights, because they seem to need watching in these times. Don’t let our rights be nickel-and-dimed away from us, because it offends your personal sensibilities; because if we tell them they can have one right, chances are good that they’ll be looking for more in short order. Keep the need for abortion low by being the best and most educated human that you can, in the circles you influence. Love polpee even when you hate their actions. (Like Jesus, if you prefer.) If you must, pray for those who you cannot influence, directly. But, don’t make choices for all, and for the sake of all that is good in the world, stop harassing, threatening and hurting doctors! If you don’t think God dislikes polpee who kill babies, imagine how irritated he is by polpee who would snuff out a life with the brains to get through medical school, who have families, friends, responsibilities and unique talents. They’re somebody’s baby, too.

  2. Monzila, please read our website and learn more about our work instead of leaping to conclusions that do not apply. First of all, we are a secular organization, open to people of all faiths and none. Even as we believe (on secular/interfaith grounds) that abortion is the violent taking of prenatal lives, we do *not( believe in demonizing, shaming, harassing people who have had abortions–so often in very difficult situations where mother & child deserved a better alternative, but one was not in sight. We do *not* believe that life begins at conception & ends at birth. We are *not* afraid of sex and sexual pleasure; in fact, we work against many barriers to people’s realization of their power for sexual pleasure. We advocate for male responsibility, comprehensive sex education, contraception, and active support for *all* lives before, during, & ever after birth. You are right, adoption is not the answer to every difficult pregnancy. But it is a solution for some women in difficult pregnancies. We are for *open, nonpunitive, voluntary* adoption and for abolishing discrimination within the adoption system on the basis of race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, disability, and sexual orientation. We encourage adoption of children who are past infancy or otherwise defined as “special needs.” Please do not assume that we have certain shortcomings because we identify as pro life. We are pro *every* life….there is a difference.

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