Charles Sykes thinks that the term "pro-life" lost all meaning with the Republican "victory" in stripping women of the right to abortion with the abolition of Roe v. Wade. As he states, he speaks as "a longtime supporter of the pro-life movement" who was aligned with it for nearly 50 years.

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https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/06/how-pro-life-lost-all-meaning/678784/

How ‘pro-life’ lost all meaning

The anti-abortion movement may have won the battle with <em>Dobbs</em>, but the war is just getting started.

The Atlantic

From where I stand, the term "pro-life" never HAD any real meaning, since the "pro-life" movement was from the outset about coercing instead of reasoning. It was about coercing the majority of Americans who do not share its religion-based conclusion that a human person is fully present from the moment of conception, and about putting women back into their "places."

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It was never about persuading those with differing viewpoints by the use of sound moral reasoning and respectful dialogue. It was all about using the force of law to enshrine a minoritarian opinion and then punish dissenters.

It was absolutely never about the "consistent ethic of life" that "pro-lifers" claimed to adore — about providing for children, supporting mothers in economic stress, working against capital punishment.

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What we've seen in the Trump era is a great unmasking, including an unmasking of the "pro-life" movement. As Sykes writes,

"I watched as a movement that should have championed compassion for women and young children instead tightened its ties to those who embraced performative cruelty, including forced family separations at the border."

Trump supporters are about as pro-life as chalk is really cheese.

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