On this alone, the pro-choice movement would seem closely linked to the feminist one which argues that this patriarchal society is insensitive to the feminine perspective. Yet a feminist in favor of abortion is nothing more than an oxymoron says Celia Wolf-Devine, a philosophy professor from Stonehill College, speaking on behalf of Brown for Life last night to about a score of listeners in Wilson 102. Reading quickly from a prepared argument, the soft spoken Wolf-Devine first sought out to present various definitions of feminism in hopes of delineating a common link among these often conflicting models. The common link, according to Wolf-Devine, is anthropological. She cited that most girls form their identity growing up in close contact with their mothers while boys gain theirs through a separation process from their mother.
Abortion is further a failure to provide for one specific being in an interpersonal relationship.
But she said that you must look at the specific act itself to see why it is such hypocrisy to be a feminist and pro-choice as the physical termination of a pregnancy represents a bloody, ugly, and violent ordeal. This injustice against the fetus, she added, mirrors the very masculine perspective of using violence to maintain control. So in fact, she argued, the pro-choicers are enacting the male logic of subjugating something that is getting out of control. After laying out her basic argument, Wolf-Devine addressed the various counterarguments that have been used against her thesis, such as the claim that the unborn is not a person. It becomes actualized over time because it is there.