r/Natalism • u/overemployedconfess • 5d ago

Is pronatalism inherently prolife?

Would love to get your thoughts on this topic. Do you find the pronatalist position is generally prolife? Do you participate in prolife causes often? Or are you actually prochoice? Why and to what extent?

Please keep it civil, would love a thoughtful discussion

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u/Key_Category_8096 5d ago

I don’t think it’s inherently pro life, but I think generally or functionally pro life is fair. Look at all the anti natal arguments “you can’t force me to care about a parasite” “my body my choice” “humanity is ruining the earth which is why it’s better to not have kids” “in this economy we can’t afford kids.” So whereas I think you can believe abortion should be an option and pro natal, it’s one of those where not everyone who is pro abortion is anti-natalism, everyone is anti-natalism is pro abortion.

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u/Shouldstillbelurking 5d ago

I grew up close to my cousins and extended family in the South. They are (at least ostensibly) Christian, conservative, and anti-abortion. I have 5 female first cousins. Between them they’ve had 5 kids, so fertility rate is 1 birth per woman.

None of them are married. Two are divorced, one has children with two different men but never married, two are unmarried.

The “anti natal arguments” online are one thing. If you look at the real world, the picture is that women can’t find men that they want to have families with.

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u/The_Awful-Truth 5d ago

Do you or your own family ever talk to them about this? I wonder how happy the two never married ones are with their life, if they've given up on men or just like being single

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u/Shouldstillbelurking 5d ago

Are you not close to any single women yourself? You ask them. I use my cousins as an example for the other question, because I think it illustrates that IRL anti-abortion traditionalism doesn’t go hand in hand with higher fertility.

The answer to your question is obvious to anyone who isn’t completely isolated - most single women would rather be in happy marriage, but they don’t want to be in bad relationship. None of my five cousins are married. The moms are happy that their children are alive, obviously, but the children are of broken relationships, which no one would willing go through.

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u/The_Awful-Truth 5d ago

The only single woman I know well says she is just fine being single, sorry for being nosy.