By Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director
Fear is a powerful weapon. And it is being employed full force right now.
Some feminists are forecasting that the appointment of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court will “turn back the clock” on women, erasing any progress made toward equal opportunities in education, the job market, and the public square.
What could possibly lead them to launch such a claim?
Ironically, a brilliant, successful woman. One whom they should be celebrating with abandon, for she represents so much of what the feminist movement has strived to accomplish.
Although she has had the highest possible rating from the American Bar Association, stellar recommendations from colleagues and former students, an unmatched intellect, and the ability to be both simultaneously assertive and saintly, she has failed to win the approval of hard-core feminists, who fear that she will be the tipping point to the end of Roe vs. Wade.
It’s really all about abortion.
While Amy Coney Barrett has expressed pro-life views in her personal life, no one knows for sure how she or the rest of the Court would rule as jurists in upcoming cases. She has pledged to interpret the Constitution as written and not legislate from the bench.
But fear is the focal point of those clinging to the distorted notion that women need to end a life in order to succeed. Everyone from Senators to singers are sounding the alarm of panic.
What these faux feminists fail to acknowledge is that their abortion mindset is limiting to women, not empowering. It says that you aren’t “enough” to have a child and pursue your dreams. That the very essence of your femininity is a detriment. That we must mute our body’s beautiful capability to bring forth new life in order to achieve.
Amy Coney Barrett’s life says otherwise. The mother of seven children and a former college professor, she is the epitome of empowered. She is the new face of feminism.
Her life itself is a message to present and future generations of women. True feminism is not an either/or proposition that limits your roles, but an and/both invitation to fulfill your potential.
We as a society owe it to all women to pursue true feminism, not one that pits us against our own children or limits our career choices. But one that honors our natural and unique role as life-bearers alongside anything else we aspire to be. A giant leap forward!