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Pro Life or Pro Choice?

By DANIELA RIBITSCH Lock Haven 2 min read

"Vote Pro Life" is a call we have been hearing a lot.

If we examine the term "Pro Life" in isolation, it creates the notion that all life on Earth is holy, thus suggesting that people voting "Pro Life" are against the death penalty, euthanasia in human and nonhuman animals, hunting and killing nonhuman animals for their meat, leather, or fur.

However, as we all know, we are not that straightforward but rather complex creatures, and so Pro Life voters might be avid hunters, meat eaters, or believers in the death penalty. Consequently, their vote doesn't mean to protect all life on Earth but the lives of human embryos.

In contrast, the counter term "Pro Choice" implies that each woman can freely choose whether to have an abortion or not. Just because the law permits abortion, this doesn't mean that women are forced to have one.

Still, "Pro Choice" is not as straightforward a term either because again, people are complex creatures.

People voting "Pro Choice" might be strictly against suicide, hunting, buying fur coats, or eating meat, even though "Pro Choice" suggests that it ought to be my individual choice whether I want to live or die, shoot bears, buy fur coats, or eat steaks.

So rather than offering free choices to everyone regarding all areas of life, their vote addresses a woman's free choice for or against having an abortion.

As our individual values range along a continuum, none of us fall into a clear-cut category and can thus be easily judged. Rather than ranting about each other, we Pro Life and Pro Choice voters need to recognize that we ourselves might not automatically advocate for every living creature or always support free choice despite believing life or free choice to be our most important value.

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