Over the past decade, there has been a burgeoning attempt in the anti-abortion advocacy world to fight against the powerful narrative that the anti-abortion movement is run and mostly comprised of old men whose goal is to oppress young women. In its early days, the push manifested itself through the rise of women-focused or women-led groups, like Susan B. Anthony List or Students For Life.
But in recent years, as feminism has increasingly infiltrated the mainstream from Superbowl commercials to Walmart clothing lines, some members of the anti-abortion movement have decided to “get with the times” and borrow some of the language, aesthetics, and tactics of the feminist and abortion rights movements to forward their own cause.
One of the chief proponents of this change is the founder of the Pro-Life Women’s Conference, Abby Johnson, a former pro-abortion rights Planned Parenthood employee turned anti-abortion advocate. In addition to the conference, Johnson began a group called And Then There Were None, which tries to persuade other employees of abortion clinics to leave their professions.
About four years ago, Johnson said she realized “that there are a lot of things that were outdated [in the anti-abortion movement], including language, including graphic design, including the way that we present ourselves.”
Squinting at the third annual Pro-Life Women’s Conference in June, it looked like a pro-abortion rights gathering — but with a lot more babies and Christian rock. Some of the more than 500 attendees, ranging in age from 18 to 82, walked around with pixie-cuts, tattoos, and teal and purple hair.
The venue was covered in “pro-life feminist” posters: One in the style of a nautical tattoo, but instead of a pin-up girl, it was a fully grown baby in a womb. Another was a collage of images, including several Mother Teresas and a floral-patterned uterus containing a small embryo surrounded by the words “freedom from violence, no matter where you live, is reproductive justice.” Next to that was a fetus in a Rosie The Riveter bandana saying, “Keep your philosophy off my biology,” alongside another fetus saying, “Feminism is inclusive, or it is worthless.”
I’ve seen this a lot. There are billboards up by us that say things like “Abortion is not feminist” and “Abortion causes systemic racism” etc.
How Anti-Abortion Advocates Are Using A Pro-Woman Message To Appeal To A New Generation
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