Anti-abortion movement
The anti-abortion movement is a political movement opposed to abortion. Those within the movement seek to restrict or prohibit some or all abortions. Some involved in the movement also hold positions on other issues in bioethics and reproductive rights, such as opposing birth control, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research and human cloning.
In the United States
While "anti-abortion" is the neutral term most often used in news accounts, many people within the movement tend to call their beliefs "pro-life" or "right-to-life," names that began to appear in the early 1960s. ". This designation, like pro-choice for those in the abortion-rights movement, is a very controversial loaded term, because it implies that those who do not share similar beliefs are "anti-life" or even "pro-death." It also implies that abortion is murder. Oppents of the anti-abortion movement sometimes refer to them as "anti-choice".
The anti-abortion movement in the United States is generally associated with the Christian right and Fundamentalist Christianity, especially some (but certainly not all) strains of Evangelical Protestant and Roman Catholic thought. There are others from outside the religious right community, but the bulk of people involved in the anti-abortion movement are from the religious right.
Some people opposed to abortion have used terrorism to further their cause, including violent acts (including killings) against physicians who have performed abortions. However, these are very much fringe groups within the larger anti-abortion movement.
Those in the anti-abortion movement are often criticized because call themselves "pro-life" in the context of reproductive rights while holding positions that are at odds with that designation on other "life"-related issues, such as support for capital punishment, support for war, opposition to social welfare, universal health insurance and government-sponsored health care plans. One such critic, U.S. Representative Barney Frank, characterized this approach as the view that "life begins at conception and ends at birth." Those in the movement do not see their stance as contradictory; some answer the criticism by supporting the "consistent life ethic."
Some critics, such as Thomas Frank, argue that anti-abortion politicians use moral issues such as abortion to distract voters from their economic concerns. In addition, liberal critics often claim that many who claim the title are not truly interested in preventing abortions, citing their opposition to some forms of sexual education and some forms of (and access to) birth control (especially emergency contraception).
See also
- List of anti-abortion people
- Abortion-rights movement–opposed to the anti-abortion movement
- Morality and legality of abortion–overview
- Religion and abortion–overview
- "Culture of life"–rhetorical term
- Evangelium Vitae ("Gospel of Life")– a papal encyclical written by Pope John Paul II