Recently, "feminist" pro-life groups, like Susan B. Anthony List, New Wave Feminists, and Feminists for Life have gained more popularity and attention since being excluded from the Women's March of 2017. They argue that being pro-life and being feminist aren't mutually exclusive and felt upset at being removed from the list of sponsors.

Many self-labeled "pro-life feminists" argue that women who they claim are the "original feminists" such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul all viewed abortion as murder and "the ultimate exploitation of women."

However, I'd hesitate to call Stanton and Anthony, who were known to be fairly racist, the "original feminists." Isn't the point of feminism to always be looking to the future and not trying to repeat the past? I think history warns us pretty strongly against repeating past mistakes.

New Wave Feminists say that "we don't work to make abortion illegal. We work to make it unthinkable and unnecessary. And we do that by getting to the root of the need for it." They then go on to say that "no woman" wants to have an abortion, and that they aim to create a world where a woman never feels like they need to have one. They claim that real sisterhood lies in creating a culture where women don't need abortions because they are supported so well by others that it doesn't even cross their minds.

There are several problems with these statements. The first is that the group inherently assumes that all women want to be mothers and the only reason women get abortions is because they feel "unsupported." They ignore the fact that some women simply have no desire to have children and recognize that they don't have to. These groups also ignore women who don't want to have children conceived by rape, children who would be born with severe deficiencies, or pregnancies that would threaten the life of the mother.

Also, doesn't it seem interesting that the main goal of these groups seems to be only to push pro-life legislation across the country? Rather than doing anything else, they use their platform to further stigmatize women and take their rights away. As a "feminist" group, shouldn't you be focused on pushing legislation that fights the wage gap or provides everyone equal access to healthcare? Or just doing anything involved with the actual feminist agenda at all?

How can you claim to be a feminist or claim to be "pro-woman" while actively working to legislate on the female reproductive system and restrict women's access to affordable healthcare? The moment you try to enact legislature that places restrictions on a person's bodily autonomy, you lose the right to call yourself a feminist.

You can't be a feminist and be someone who agrees with taking away the personal rights of other women, especially a woman's rights over her own body.

You can be a feminist and decide to never have an abortion.

Taking it upon yourself to decide what is right for other women excludes you from being a feminist.