I cannot think of a greater hypocrisy than countering abortion culture with the potential for women to receive the death penalty under the guise of a “pro-life” label. A Tennessee amendment drafted for House Bill 570/Senate Bill 738 would allow prosecutors to charge women who obtain abortions with fetal homicide, including the potential consequences of life imprisonment, life without parole or in some cases, the death penalty.
When will lawmakers learn that we cannot fight fire with fire? While I believe abortion is the intentional ending of a human life and is therefore murder, I also believe that the women seeking them are not murderers. They are the victims of a corporate-headed world lying to us, telling us that we are not strong enough or capable of raising children while sustaining simultaneous careers and education.
After years of discernment and debates, I can proudly say that I am pro-life. But I can only do so confidently insofar as I support the consistent ethics of life, from conception to natural death. A society cannot call itself pro-life while threatening women with death. Last year, I wrote an article for The Ram expressing my support for former Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign. In it, I talk about my disdain for President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, especially regarding Vance’s pro-life advocacy. I am still very much against the Trump and Vance administration. However, I have since changed my views regarding abortion and acknowledge that I was wrong in some of the comments I made.
When it comes down to it, I am pro-life because I firmly believe that life begins at conception when a new set of unique DNA is made that has never been created before and can never be created again. I strongly believe in the sanctity and dignity of life and that our most basic human right is the right to life. Society deceives women into believing that abortion is the just and moral option, when at its very root it is removing a human’s chance to be born. Who are we to play God and determine whether another human should live or die? Babies and women deserve better than that.
Every life that is taken by another person is heartbreaking and tragic, but we must understand the reasoning and intentions behind why people commit these wrongdoings. If abortion often stems from fear, instability or lack of support, punishment and coercion cannot address its root issues. Criminalizing women for receiving abortions contradicts the compassion God calls us to have for them. According to the World Health Organization, around 73 million abortions are conducted each year worldwide, with around six in 10 women with unintended pregnancies resorting to these terminations.
A consistent ethic of life does not stop at the womb, therefore pro-life laws must reflect more than just anti-abortion values. They should work to preserve and protect all life, from conception to natural death and everything in between. These genuine pro-life laws would send aid to the children being raised in Gaza, restrict guns from getting into the hands of mentally unstable people who want to hurt others and ensure equitable treatment of undocumented immigrants instead of the horrendous conditions they are facing now. True pro-life laws would lift up and support mothers from the beginning of their pregnancy through well after birth. They would provide expecting mothers maternity clothes, counseling, formula, diapers, baby clothes and any materials they may need to help themselves and their children thrive. Abortion is both a cultural issue and a legal one. We will never get anywhere as a society until people see abortion for what it is and advocate for pro-life values throughout all stages of life.
While many women are aware of the abundance of Planned Parenthoods, many remain unaware that there are even more pro-life pregnancy centers. According to the Lozier Institute, there are over 2,700 pro-life pregnancy centers throughout the U.S., whereas there are only around 550-600 Planned Parenthood locations. I don’t believe that Planned Parenthood is here to help us. According to their 2022-2023 annual report, abortions account for 97.1% of their “pregnancy resolution services.” Planned Parenthood is a multi-billion dollar industry profiting off of terminating pregnancies.
Pregnancy centers such as Heartbeat International Care Net and National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, however, provide free services like pregnancy tests, ultrasounds and counseling. Nearby Fordham we have several local pregnancy and maternity centers like Siena House which provides housing for 27 pregnant women and mothers with children under the age of two, Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing Office (PATH) that provides temporary assistance and housing to pregnant women and families with children younger than 21 years old and many more programs with similar missions. The Respect for Life club frequently volunteers at St. Phillip Neri Catholic Education and Family Center’s Mommy Storeroom, a resource room in the Bronx for pregnant and parenting mothers.
Additional resources can be found on standingwithyou.org, which is a pro-life initiative by the Students for Life of America, which supports pregnant and parenting students, as well as women facing unexpected pregnancies by connecting them with local, state and private resources.
Needless to say, Tennessee lawmakers got pro-life ethics wrong. While the amendment has not been voted on yet, it has received several sponsors among Tennessee legislators. We do not need to promote a pro-life culture with fear and threats. As Pope Saint John Paul II explained in his 1995 encyclical Evangelium Vitae, “Where life is involved, the service of charity must be profoundly consistent. It cannot tolerate bias and discrimination, for human life is sacred and inviolable at every stage and in every situation; it is an indivisible good.
Hailey Baker, FCRH ’27, is a political science major from Gaithersburg, Md.
