“We don’t get to choose what is true. We only get to choose what we do about it.”
― Kami Garcia, Beautiful Darkness

Dear Fellow Activists,

A lot has happened since I shared my thoughts on communal responsibility and gun owners and that was just two weeks ago!  Now I’m thinking about language.  Who gets to choose labels?  Who gets to choose the meaning of those labels and what does it mean to really be “Pro-Life.”  I’m sure many of you are thinking about all of this too.

  • Consider that in Texas, a “pro-life” lawmaker has introduced a bill that would make all abortions in the state illegal, with the punishment being the death penalty for anyone performing or undergoing the medical procedure.  So is the death penalty now pro-life?  (And also, is irony dead?)
  • Allowing living children to go hungry, go without medical care, go without housing — is that all pro-life?
  • Allowing easy access to firearms and to increasingly more dangerous firearms — is that pro-life?
  • Chaining a woman to her abusive partner through pregnancy when 70 women a month are shot and killed by their abusive partners — is that pro-life?
  • When gun-related deaths are now the number 1 cause of death of our children — is that pro-life when legislators, with the votes of their pro-life constituency, do nothing about it and even take steps to thwart the efforts of those trying to save our children?

Whenever I hear the media report on the pro-life movement or interview someone and identify them as pro-life, I cringe.  Why has the media so easily accepted a label, a brand, that is so clearly false.  Why aren’t they questioning it?  Are we?

Here’s my call to action.

Every time you hear a reporter or read in printed media the term pro-life, call or write that reporter or publication.

  • Ask them to question the term.
  • Ask them to question the person who identifies themselves as pro-life as to what that really means to them.
  • Ask them to stop using branding deliberately chosen to paint one side with the angels and the other side not.
  • Ask them to come up with a more accurate definition of the movement now calling themselves pro-life.
  • Ask them to consider that support for gun regulations and gun violence prevention is part of the real pro-life movement.
It’s up to us to change the label and we can do it.  But it will take effort and pressure from us to make it happen.

Thank you for being an activist and being part of WAGV!

Stay safe, stay healthy, stay informed!

Margot Bennett

Executive Director, WoMen Against Gun Violence
WoMen Against Gun Violence is a Member of States United To Prevent Gun Violence

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Margo Bennett - Executive Director
Margot Bennett
Executive Director

Margot Bennett's Signature

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