Abortion is an anti-woman philosophy, said Alexandra DeSanctis Marr, the fall visiting Pulliam Fellow, in her lecture, “The Direction of the Pro-Life Movement after Dobbs.”  

DeSanctis, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and staff writer at the National Review, presented her lecture to a crowded room of donors and friends of the college in Plaster Auditorium on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

The thesis of her speech rested upon two fundamental ideas: abortion is a fundamental threat to society and pro-lifers must show what a good life is. 

“They said abortion would be good for all of us and especially women,” DeSanctis said. “And, instead, it’s created endless problems and destroyed entire aspects of our society, such as unborn children, first and foremost, as well as relationships between men and women, their interest in families, our medical system, our politics, our law, and our culture.” 

Junior Cecilia Gulick, who attended the lecture, appreciated DeSanctis’ insight.

 “I thought it was incredible to see at what level abortion has affected our culture and what ideologies stand at the root of the problem,” Gulick said. 

DeSanctis attributed the societal need for abortion to the sexual revolution of the 1960s which promoted “consequence-free sex as a necessary part of human flourishing.” DeSanctis said this view of sex was a departure from first-wave feminism in the early 20th century. 

“Women’s rights advocates were without exception opposed to abortion,” DeSanctis said. “They believed that it placed the responsibilities of pregnancy, childbearing, and childrearing even more on a woman’s shoulders, rather than requiring men in society to do more to support mothers and children.” 

DeSanctis said the sexual revolution made women think their bodies are inferior to deal with the immediate consequences of hook-up sex and promoted male abandonment as the “standard.” 

“This world demands that women be let in on the ability to walk away from those who depend on them,” DeSanctis said. 

This view, according to DeSanctis, clashes with both the empirical and metaphysical claims about the nature of human interdependence. 

“Human beings all enter the world in a state of radical dependence,” DeSanctis said. “It was never possible for human beings to live fulfilled as entirely independent creatures who can follow our whims without experiencing brokenness or natural consequences,” DeSanctis said. 

Because the world promotes “radical independence” for women, society blinds itself to the emotional and psychological pain which women experience after having an abortion, DeSanctis said. 

Licensed Professional Counselor and Director of Health and Wellness at Hillsdale College Brock Lutz agreed compassion must be shown toward those who have received abortions. 

“Part of being pro-life is really being people who have mercy and grace for others,” Lutz said. “We want to have grace for people who have made decisions that they’re now hurting from, and that means we really love those people and encourage them.” 

The solutions to abortion involve both political and cultural action, DeSanctis said. Politically, she urged pro-lifers to go door knocking and write to representatives, but she also asked them to consider more permanent cultural solutions, such as providing a “healthy dating culture” and looking toward “marriage and commitment as the building blocks of flourishing life.” 

DeSanctis encouraged pro-lifers to be wise. 

“I certainly would not advocate that we should let the perfect be the enemy of the good,” DeSanctis said. “But I think we’re at a moment where pro-lifers have to be discerning about what it is we want.”