Ft. Interview with Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa
Women want “half the pie,” and abortion doesn’t give it to them. That’s what Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa, founder and president of New Wave Feminists, asserts in this episode of the Know Why podcast.
Feminism is defined as “belief in and advocacy of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes expressed especially through organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.” Today, however, it can seem like the word “feminism” has a lot more attached to it.
For instance, modern feminism is seen by many as inextricably linked with abortion. This was made clear in early 2017, when pro-life organizations like New Wave Feminists were publicly booted from the sponsor list of the historic Women’s March on Washington. (Destiny and New Wave Feminists went to the Women’s March anyway. She shares the full story in this episode.)
But that event also highlighted the growing number of women who consider themselves “pro-life feminists.” Like other feminists, they fight for equality of the sexes. But they argue abortion contributes more to women’s inequality than liberation.
“That’s why society as a whole thinks we need abortion, cause it’s a cop-out,” Destiny said. “It allows us to retain these patriarchal structures of a world that was built for men, by men, and doesn’t accommodate womanhood.”
Women’s Rights in the Workplace
Feminists for Life, founded in 1972, claims that “abortion is a reflection that we have failed women — and women have settled for less.” For instance, pregnant women and mothers often face workplace discrimination. Some women are fired, passed over for promotion, or mistreated when they announce pregnancy. Others are explicitly pressured by their employers to abort. Pro-life feminists believe women’s rights in the workplace, from equal pay to parental benefits, will empower women more than legal abortion.
“There is this level of underlying resentment towards women in corporate America and in Academica whenever they do continue a pregnancy,” Destiny told Know Why.
Bodily Autonomy From Existence?
But what about the argument that women have a right to bodily autonomy? Pro-life feminists agree, but point to scientific evidence that from fertilization, the fetus is a genetically unique human being, with a body distinct from its mother’s.
“When it comes to issues like bodily autonomy, I think you should have it the moment your body first exists,” Destiny said. “Women have been treated as property for most of millennia, and so you have this new kind of rise of rights and liberation, but are we becoming the patriarchy ourselves? Are we now treating another subset of the human family as property based on their vulnerabilities?”
Seeing Them Both
On its website, New Wave Feminists asserts that “no woman ever wants to have an abortion.” A study by the Guttmacher Institute found that most women abort because “having a baby would dramatically interfere with their education, work or ability to care for their dependents, or they could not afford a baby at the time.”
“The pro-life side, a lot of times they see one person; they see the unborn child. And the feminist side sees one person; they see the woman,” Destiny said in a documentary called “Pro-Life Feminist.” “But pro-life feminists see two people. We want to protect and support two people.”
Find links mentioned in this episode below:
Have a topic or interview guest you’d like to suggest for the podcast? Submit it here.