Sentimentality

To me, this sums up the "pro-life" movement. It makes a cult object out of the baby--cute, innocent, full of potential--but gives short shrift to the real, complicated woman who found herself with an unplanned pregnancy.

Who cares about the "pre-born" when they enter the anticlimactic post-born stage of their lives? Are pro-life people working on the needs of unaborted babies and their mothers: things like adoption, affordable child care, universal health coverage for children? Is the Christian right seriously looking at ways to REDUCE unplanned pregnancies? Are they seriously claiming that abstinence-only sex ed is EFFECTIVE, rather than just a way to avoid awkward discussions with their teenagers? A lot of inconvenient facts get glossed over.

A lot of the churchy talk about the "traditional family" is sentimental hogwash that relies on stirring anecdotes. Fallen women who made the brave decision to "choose life." Ex-gays who courageously overcame their sinful urges and took the cure. Ex-drunks who used Bible study to kick the bottle, save their marriages, and in rare cases get elected President. Great, but look at statistics: the so-called Bible Belt region has higher rates of divorce, of domestic violence, of STDs.