One of America’s earliest founding mothers was Elizabeth Cady Stanton.
Stanton may be best known for helping with abolishing slavery and giving women the right to vote.
Along with these amazing accomplishments, she also supported the pro-life movement.
Stanton believed that women needed to help the baby rather than kill him or her.
She once wrote:
“When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit.” [1].
When Stanton wrote this in a letter to a friend in 1873, women were viewed as property of a man. Likewise, some women viewed their preborn as property as well.
She strongly disagreed with treating any person as property, whether it be a woman, a preborn child, or any other human life.
She wrote:
“There must be a remedy even for such a crying evil as this. But where shall it be found, at least where begin, if not in the complete enfranchisement and elevation of women?” [2].
Stanton believed that abortion had to stop before it got out of control, and clearly her advice was not heeded.
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References
[1] Feminists for Life of America. (2011). “Voices of Our Feminist Foremothers.” Feminists for Life of America, n.d. Web. 4 Jul 2011. http://www.feministsforlife.org/history/foremoth.htm
Letter to Julia Ward Howe, October 16, 1873, recorded in Howe’s diary at Harvard University Library
[2] Ibid
The Revolution, 1(10):146-7 March 12, 1868
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