Some Women's Quotes Regarding Abortion
Past and Present

PAST
Today's feminists are often pro-choice, but the founders of feminism didn't feel that way:

Victoria Woodhull
"Every woman knows if she were free, she would never bear an unwished-for child, nor think of murdering one before its birth." Woodhull was the nation's first female presidential candidate, who ran under the banner of the Equal Rights Party in 1872. Wheeling, West Virginia Evening Standard, November 17, 1875

"We are aware that many women attempt to excuse themselves for procuring abortions, upon the ground that it is not murder. But the fact of resort to so weak an argument only shows the more palpably that they fully realize the enormity of the crime. Is it not equally destroying the would-be future oak to crush the sprout before it pushes its head above the sod, as to cut down the sapling, or cut down the tree? Is it not equally to destroy life, to crush it in the very germ, and to take it when the germ has evolved to any given point in its line of development?"
Victoria Woodhull and Tennessee Claflin - Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly, 20 June 1874

Susan B. Anthony
In her publication The Revolution, was written:
"Guilty? Yes. No matter what the motive, love of ease, or a desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; But oh, thrice guilty is he who drove her to the desperation which impelled her to the crime!"

"All the articles on this subject that I have read have been from men. They denounce women as alone guilty, and never include man in any plans for the remedy." The Revolution, 4(1):4 July 8, 1869

Abortion was referred to as "child murder." The Revolution, 4(1):4 July 8, 1869

Elizabeth Cady Stanton
"When we consider that woman 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."  Letter to Julia Ward Howe, October 16, 1873, recorded in Howe's diary at Harvard University Library

"There must be a remedy even for such a crying evil as this. But where shall it be found, at least here begin, if not in the complete enfranchisement and elevation of women?" The Revolution, 1(10):146-7 March 12, 1868

She classified abortion as a form of "infanticide." The Revolution, 1(5):1, February 5, 1868

Sarah Norton
"Child murderers practice their profession without let or hindrance, and open infant butcheries unquestioned...Is there no remedy for all this ante-natal child murder?...Perhaps there will come a time when...an unmarried mother will not be despised because of her motherhood...and when the right of the unborn to be born will not be denied or interfered with."
Woodhull's and Claffin's Weekly, November 19, 1870 

Mattie Brinkerhoffn
"When a man steals to satisfy hunger, we may safely conclude that there is something wrong in society - so when a woman destroys the life of her unborn child, it is an evidence that either by education or circumstances she has been greatly wronged." , The Revolution, September 2, 1869, pages 138 and 139.


Mary Wollstonecraft
As early as 1792, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote "A Vindication of the Rights of Women," which Susan B. Anthony admired enough to serialize in The Revolution. After decrying, in scathing 18th century terms, the sexual exploitation of women, she stated:

     "Women becoming, consequently, weaker...than they ought to be...have not sufficient strength to discharge the first duty of a mother; and sacrificing to lasciviousness the parental affection...either destroy the embryo in the  womb, or cast if off when born. Nature in every thing demands respect, and those who violate her laws seldom violate them with impunity."


PRESENT
Kathy Ireland, Supermodel
"I was once pro-choice. And the thing that changed my mind was, I read my husband's biology books, medical books and what I learned is simply what it states - this isn't even morally -- this is pure biology.  At the moment of conception, a life starts. And this life has its own unique set of DNA, which contains a blueprint for the whole genetic being.  The sex isdetermined.  Now people ask the question, well, is it a human being?  We know there's a life because it's growing and changing."
From ABC's television weeknight show, "Politically Incorrect", May 1, 1998
Country singer Naomi Judd appeared on the Sally Jesse Raphael show on March 6, 1998 She explained that when she became pregnant as an unwed teenager, abortion was "not an option for me."

She went on to say that she has "worked as a labor and delivery nurse...I've seen ultrasounds...you know that those babies are real." She reminded the audience that if she had had an abortion, the world would have been deprived of the great singing talent of her daughter and fellow performer Winona Judd. 

Dolores O'Riordan: Lead Vocalist, The Cranberries: "I am in no position to judge other women, you know. But I mean, why did she get pregnant? It's not good for women to go through the procedure [abortion] and have something living sucked out of their bodies. It belittles women. Even though some women say, 'Oh, I don't mind to have one,' every time a woman has an abortion, it just crushes her self-esteem smaller and smaller and smaller." (Source: You! June/July 1996)
Related Links:

Renaissance Suffragettes - This is an online zine dedicated to carrying on the traditions of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and other early feminists who saw abortion as a means of controlling women

Apologia of a Pro-Life Feminist

Confessions of a Misfit Prolifer

Lynne's Pro-life Feminism Page

Feminists For Life of America - This organization was founded in 1972 by two women who were expelled from NOW because of their pro-life views. Feminists for Life carry on the feminist tradition of working for a society in which women can choose reproductive alternatives that are truly life-affirming for themselves and their children.

Feminists for Life of New York

The Feminism and Nonviolence Studies Association Journal Home Page - The Feminism and Nonviolence Studies Association has been dedicated to publishing an academic, interdisciplinary journal which explores the long but vital tradition of prolife feminism and related life and death issues. Initially a print journal called Studies in Prolife Feminism, in 1997 the journal changed to an online format and was renamed Feminism and Nonviolence Studies.

The Logic of Pro-life Feminism

Voices of our Feminist Foremothers

Abortion - the Black Woman's Voice

The Susan B. Anthony List A political Action Committee For Pro-life Women