Miami University Students for Life hosted a speaker event on April 20 titled “The Feminist Case Against Abortion”, with founder of the Women Deserve Better campaign, Serrin Foster. Foster is the editor in chief of The American Feminist and has led Feminists for Life since 1994. She focuses her work on creating on-campus support and resources for young pregnant women, and actively opposes pregnancy discrimination. Foster also served on the National Taskforce Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence, which helped pass the Violence Against Women Act. Today, she leads Feminists for Life in efforts to create a dialogue around being pro-life and feminist.
The last time Foster spoke at Miami University was in 2008, and due to COVID-19 she was not able to come to a scheduled event with Students for Life in 2020. She emphasized how grateful she was for those who are both pro-life and pro-choice attending the virtual speaker event. “I’m not here to condemn you. I’m here because I want to free women from abortion,” said Foster.
Surrounding the topic of abortion, there is so much hurt, anger, and regret, explained Foster. When asked if she supports women or babies in the debate over abortion, she answered, “I refuse to choose.”
In describing the origins of feminism and early feminists’ views on abortion, Foster cited Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a main figure in the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, which was the first convention regarding women’s rights. On the topic of abortion and other offenses against women, “We believe the cause of all these abuses lies in the degradation of women,” said Stanton. Foster emphasized that early feminists such as Stanton were fighting for women’s rights, and that abortion was not considered a right until much later in history with the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.
Foster drew from the actions of early American female physicians, one of which was Dr. Charlotte Denman Lozier, who at 25 years old called for a man’s arrest after he tried to get his mistress an abortion. Foster wants us to look at this historical event which shows us the amazing ability of women to give life.
According to Planned Parenthood’s research arm, the Guttmacher Institute reports that three-quarters of women who have abortions are the poorest among us. This includes women in college, and that in fact 66% are pursuing a college degree. 61% of women who have abortions are women of color, to which Foster declared that there is “nothing more racist than abortion.”
Foster explained that since Roe v. Wade, young women have felt that the inconvenience of a child is enough reason to terminate a pregnancy. “47 years later we mourn the loss of 60 million American children,” said Foster.
To Foster, abortion represents failure. “[Abortion is] a failed experiment on women, and we don’t celebrate failures, we want to celebrate birthdays instead,” said Foster.
To bring the conversation full circle, Foster feels it is most important to create understanding among those who are both pro-life and pro-choice. A common misconception according to Foster is that everyone in the pro-life movement wants to criminalize women, when in fact both sides of the aisle share a desire for more resources for women. “There is not a one size fits all solution, everybody lives differently,” said Foster. Instead of arguing, focus the dialogue on solutions.
As the leader of Feminists for Life, Foster helped create their college outreach program, which focuses on providing support and resources to underserved young women experiencing pregnancy. A decade after the college outreach program was founded, Planned Parenthood experienced a 30% drop among college-aged women for abortion, according to Foster.
At the end of the event, Foster asked Students for Life to see what steps they could take to increase the amount of resources available for college aged women experiencing pregnancy.
Foster’s goal is to bring pro-choice and pro-life people together to solve problems as a group. The focus should be on solutions, Foster expressed. She closed with, “We stand with women who were vulnerable because they were young, or poor, or in school; with women who have underestimated their own strength.”
Brave, powerful message, well done.