Better Living (for men) Through Surgery (for women)
This was first published in Sisterlife, the newsletter of Feminists for Life of America, Fall 1989. It was reprinted in the book ProLife Feminism: Yesterday and Today. by Leslie Keech (1954-1989) We are all used to it by now: the media establishment portraying prolifers as insensitive, sexist clods, while…
Insights from Mennonites
compiled by Rachel MacNair Mennonites are one of the historic peace churches. Membership in the church can be used as evidence for conscientious objector status to the draft in the United States. The “New Call to Peacemaking” was a cooperative project of the three such churches (including Quakers and Church of the Brethren). From Article…
Displaced and Brought Together by War: The Tale of Giovanni’s Island
by John Whitehead The many ways war and its aftermath can devastate people’s lives, but also the bonds that can form among those enduring such hardships, is the subject of Giovanni’s Island, an animated movie produced by Japanese studio Production I.G. Although originally released in 2014, the movie became available in North America for…
Medicine’s Movement towards Abandonment
by Jim Hewes We trust ourselves to a doctor because we suppose he/she knows his/her profession. We judge they would not act as they do unless the remedy were necessary, and we must rely on their knowledge and skill. Yet both the medical community and the larger society are moving towards a place of…
Work and Life
by Ms. Boomer-ang Claims that having fewer children than one would like and that spending most of the day working away from one’s children (and other dependents) are necessary for the economy and good behavior rule out many occupations that are responsible, are not lazy or idle, and are for some people psychologically enjoyable. Instead,…
The Violence That Didn’t Happen
by Julia Smucker “As long as you can look at them as anything but human, you won’t have any problems.” This is what Richard “Mac” McKinney recalls being told in his Marine Corps training, recounted in the Oscar-nominated documentary short film “Stranger at the Gate.” (You can watch it here.) McKinney describes how this…
The Death Penalty and Abortion: Perspectives on Connections
Quotation collected by Rachel MacNair Helen Prejean Endorsing the book, Consistently Opposing Killing The societal wounds of racism, poverty, and a penchant for using violence to address problems are intimately connected to the death penalty, to war, to the killing of the old and demented, and to the killing of children, unborn and…
Wangari Maathai, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Full excerpt of the section on Wangari Maathi (1940-2011) from Pro-Life Feminism: Yesterday and Today. (all sections contain an introduction and at least one document) Introduction by Mary Krane Derr Wangari Muta Maathai, globally acclaimed environmentalist, human rights campaigner, feminist, and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, was born in 1940 to a farming…
Isolating Women and Encouraging Jerks
by Rachel MacNair I recently received an email from a fellow Quaker in response to my emails on the availability of insights at prolifequakers.org. I think she made points that are important to address. I mainly focus on her statement: “Preventing a woman who needs one from having an abortion is in many cases…
What Just Happened!?! Becoming Consistent Life Despite Myself, Part 2
by Thad Crouch This is the second part; the first part is: What Just Happened!?! Becoming Consistent Life Despite Myself. Part 1 Early May, 1988. Interstate 65, Alabama A Greyhound bus passenger asked about my “Airborne Infantry HOOAH!” t-shirt. I proudly inform him, “I’m an army infantryman and just graduated airborne…