Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Women in Religion
Women’s Bodies: Empowered Not Impeded

Women’s Bodies: Empowered Not Impeded

Last updated on: January 23, 2022 at 8:19 pm by Lois Kerschen

Women’s Bodies: Empowered Not Impeded 2022-01-23T20:19:21-08:00 Lois Kerschen

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The most damaging lie of abortion advocates is that women need abortion to be successful in their endeavors. Their bodies and fertility have thus been targeted as impediments to be overcome rather than gifts to be celebrated.

Oddly enough, a movement that claims it is fighting for women’s “rights” has denigrated the remarkable abilities of women’s bodies. Being able to construct a whole new human is a superpower that only women have. We should be in awe of that fact!

Obviously then, establishing a culture of life will not be achieved unless we teach women to assert their unique reproductive function as valuable.

The Guiding Star Project

“For the Pro-life movement in America to be truly successful, we must convince women that their fertile and pregnant bodies are not and never were the problem,” said Guiding Star founder and CEO Leah Becker Jacobson.

The Guiding Star Project seeks to create comprehensive health centers that offer natural, wholistic and life-affirming services to women and families. https://guidingstarproject.com/

Jacobson has highlighted several actions that would make the culture more supportive of motherhood and family life. They include:

Laws and policies that make space for mothers in the business/corporate world
Children accepted as part of workers’ lives, not an inconvenience
Shame and stigma removed from women’s healthcare issues, with no secrets about menstrual cycles or menopause
Fertility, childbirth, and breastfeeding taught as natural biological processes that are empowering to women

To this list, other pro-life feminist groups would add paid maternity leave, maternity leave longer than six weeks, fathers taking paternity leave, workplace accommodations for pregnant women, and other family-supportive measures.

The goal of the Guiding Star Project is to bring together in one place all the health resources that women need. This plan includes:

A Pregnancy Resource Center – Counseling and material assistance for women with unplanned pregnancies.

A Prenatal Care and Birthing Center – Life-affirming care and natural support for pregnant and postpartum women and their families; this may include medical or midwifery care, doula support, lactation consulting, and perinatal hospice care.

Clinical Space – for mammograms, STD testing, well-woman yearly exams, etc.

Natural Family Planning – Training and support for women’s natural fertility care.

Drop-in Child Care – A safe, nurturing place for children to play while their families are visiting the center.

A Resource Center – Access to help with school or employment and information about outside resources.

Guiding Star is not affiliated with any religious organization, although its founder is Catholic, and all of its services reflect Catholic teachings about human dignity and social service.

For those Catholics who aren’t comfortable with other types of pro-life work but who want to support women in their roles as mothers, getting involved with a program such as Guiding Star is very meaningful and helpful.

So far, the Guiding Star network has just six centers nationwide, but the hope is that its philosophy and services will spread to every state and multiple cities. Existing medical facilities and service providers are encouraged to join the network.

Respectful and Real Healthcare

Leah Becker Jacobson Photo courtesy of Guiding Star

Until our culture accommodates women’s bodies—not the other way around—”we will not achieve a culture where abortion is unthinkable,” Jacobson believes. Instead, she warns, “We’ll see abortion pills going through the USPS as frequently as junk mail if women do not value and protect their own health.”

Jacobson adds, “Until the day comes that every little girl receives fertility education as part of her puberty talk and every little boy understands that fertility and family planning is a shared responsibility,” we will not see an abortion-free culture.

Abortion advocates are defeating the purpose of equal rights for women as women. If we accept that equality doesn’t mean sameness in race or creed, then in shouldn’t mean sameness in gender either.

Pro-life feminists understand that the patriarchy set the male body as the standard, therefore females cannot be considered equal unless they are as “unencumbered” by menstruation, pregnancy, childbearing, and breastfeeding as the male.

Abortion advocates have bought into this false narrative. While they rightfully promote women’s gender-neutral abilities—those that involve the intellect—they have, at the same time, failed to emphasize gender-specific abilities that are also important.

There are many pro-life endeavors across the country that have created women’s or family medical centers. Two excellent examples include Stanton Healthcare in Idaho http://www.stantonhealthcare.org/ and Abide Women’s Health Services in Dallas, Texas, https://abidewomen.org/ both of which were founded by pro-life feminists.

Abortion is not healthcare. A woman’s health does not improve after an abortion, but it does often get worse. We need to publicize and assist better, healthier alternatives that respect and empower women’s unique abilities.

Patheos Catholic

abortion is not healthcare

women's unique abilities

Previous Post

January 20, 2022

The Persecution and Resiliency of the Catholic Church

Next Post

January 26, 2022 Brave New World: Not Brave, Not New

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Patheos Catholic Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 July 2026 May 2026 December 2025 November 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 November 2023 September 2023 July 2023 June 2023 February 2023 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How old was Joseph when he became a ruler in Egypt?

Select your answer to see how you score.

30 years old 25 years old 40 years old 35 years old