Pro-Life Feminism is Inherently Contradictory and Has Failed the Pro-Life Movement
Source: Carrie Gress. "There's No Such Thing As Pro-Life Feminism." May 29, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that trying to combine pro-life beliefs with feminism doesn't work because feminism itself is what drives women to have abortions. She claims feminism teaches women to hate men and see children as obstacles, so the pro-life movement should abandon feminist ideas and return to traditional roles where women focus on being mothers.
Conclusion
Pro-life feminism is a failed strategy that should be abandoned because feminism is fundamentally incompatible with pro-life values and has actually harmed the pro-life movement
Premises
- Feminism is built on condemning men and promoting envy to make women become like men, which is inherently sterile and anti-family
- Pro-life feminism has distorted women's human nature by denigrating motherhood and the home as obstacles rather than fulfillment
- The strategy has created deep confusion among Catholic women, leading to fewer women attending Mass and embracing faith
- Despite pro-life feminist efforts, Catholic women abort and use contraception at the same rates as the general population
- Feminism is the ideological fuel that drives abortion by positioning children as obstacles to women's equality with men
- The pro-life movement has suffered numerous losses since Roe despite decades of pro-life feminist organizing
- Traditional gender roles where men protect and provide while women embrace motherhood would create a truly pro-life culture
Assumptions
- There are essential, God-given differences between men and women that should be embraced rather than minimized
- Women's primary fulfillment comes through motherhood and marriage rather than career achievement
- Feminism as an ideology is inherently opposed to Christian anthropology and cannot be reformed
- The decline in birth rates and religious participation among women is primarily caused by feminist ideology
- A return to traditional gender roles would solve the abortion crisis and cultural problems