From Susan B. Anthony to Nancy Pelosi – Pro-Life Feminism and Political Lies

Hello, Coffee Talkers! 

American civil rights activist and champion of women’s rights and suffrage, Susan B. Anthony, turns 191 today. While most people are at least familiar with Anthony as an early American feminist, I fear that much of her message (the message shared by so many of the pioneers of civil and women’s rights in America) has been distorted through the years. As it turns out, these early feminists were overwhelmingly pro-life, and they considered abortion among the injustices rendered to women and their unborn children through gender oppression which they fought vehemently to eradicate (http://feministsforlife.org/history/index.htm). 

Here is what Susan B. Anthony had to say about helping women to have authentic rights and freedoms:

 “Sweeter even than to have had the joy of caring  for children of my own has it been to me to help bring about a better state of things for mothers generally, so their unborn little ones could not be willed away from them.”

Wow.

That’s pretty unlike the message we get from much of the modern ‘feminist’ revolution, wouldn’t you say? While many modern feminists see abortion as an expression of autonomy for women, the early pro-life feminist pioneers believed that in a world where women were not oppressed and were truly free, there would not be the pressure to choose against the life of their own child and to do violence to themselves and their unborn babies. True freedom and choice, in their view, would preserve the health and dignity of both mother and child.

This brings me to today’s news about the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” and Nancy Pelosi’s comments, which run counter to the ideas of Susan B. Anthony and friends, not to mention the Catholic Church:

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Catholic who serves as House Minority Leader, blasted the proposed No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, calling it part of “the most comprehensive and radical assault on women’s health in our lifetime.” Supporters of the act, she said, are “in a different philosophical place on…all engagements that result in a child. So that’s why homosexuality, that’s why birth control, all these things that are not consistent with their beliefs that are all about procreation.” (http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=9244)

Wow! I didn’t know that Nancy Pelosi was not only a politician, but a philosopher, too! 

Let me make a point of clarification – what I’m  saying here has very little to do with politics, and a lot to do with Nancy Pelosi being completely erroneous every time she opens her mouth about the teachings of the Catholic Church. I’m sorry, I’ll try my best to be charitable here, but not a single word comes out of that woman’s mouth about Catholicism that isn’t a horrible distortion (at best), or an outright lie. 

I usually get most of my news from internet sources, but I do remember seeing this broadcast live on television:

…and then shouting at the TV at the beginning and end of her brief speech, first as Nancy Pelosi began by saying the WRONG FEAST DAY (it was the Feast of St. Joseph, Husband of Mary – NOT the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker), and at the end when she said that every order of nuns in the US was supportive of the new health care legislation (this is a big topic suited for another blog, but for now let it suffice to say that she was completely wrong).

What makes Pelosi’s misinformation particularly scandalous is the fact that before she makes statements about her (alleged) Catholic faith (clearly for political advantage), she qualifies what she’s saying with a preface about how she is an ardent, faithful, practicing Catholic who was taught by the School Sisters of Notre Dame (do they cringe when they hear her speak like I do??) and how much she’s studied about the moral topics at hand.

I would like to suggest that perhaps a simple internet search would have revealed to her the correct feast day on the occasion shown above, and that maybe a little flip through the Catechism of the Catholic Church (also available online) could have cleared up for her any number of the other matters on which she has very publicly spoken erroneously on Catholic teaching. And if Nancy Pelosi doesn’t have internet access, maybe the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops would be willing to take up a national second collection for the cause.

I’ll end by sharing a video that a friend posted titled “Nancy Pelosi vs. The Catholic Church” – it’s a bit crassly made, but I still found it to be both entertaining and accurate. See what you think:

And for any of you who pray and fast, why not consider praying and fasting from something for the continued conversion and sanctification of all Catholics in public office, and for pregnant mothers to have the support they need to choose life? Prayer and fasting don't just work during Lent, you know! :)

Peace and all good,

Leslie