Consistent Life Ethic: The, consistent life ethic is an ideology that opposes abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. Adherents are opposed, at the very least, to unjust war, while some adherents also profess pacifism, or opposition to all war. Vegans are now adding the idea that valuing other-than-human life is part of the consistent life ethic.
Vision for Our Community: Picture this as a future possibility:
We are happily active in the local 40 Days for Life activities, and we come and share vegan treats with the other pro-life people along with a handout which tells why pro-life is consistent with veganism. We do the same when we participate in activism such as opposing capital punishment and going on peace marches. We write up excellent literature which persuades people who are aligned with any of the areas of the consistent life ethic–to go vegan!
We are also happy to announce that we have inspired the Consistent Life Ethic Network to officially adopt animals as part of their definition of consistent life ethic! This has influenced thousands if not millions of pro-lifers to go vegan!
Isn’t exciting? Our work has made a substantial impact on uniting the pro-life and animal rights movement. Our conference about this topic which we co-hosted with others who have similar viewpoints was wildly successful.
I am so excited to share that Josh Brahm, a pro-life apologetics guy who I know personally, has become vegan. Due to our community’s influence, Josh and the Equal Rights Institute is now developing a course to teach pro-life people how to inspire animal rights people to be pro-life, and pro-life people to become vegan!
Resources:
This article talks about the similarities between the pro-life and veganism.
Pro-life vs. anti-abortion: Charles Camosy is a pro-life Christian and also an animal rights advocate. He talks about his pro-life views here.
Animal rights issues are similar to pro-life: Charles Camosy is such an eloquent writer. He does a great job of describing pro-life and animal rights similarities in this New York Times Op-Ed here.
Consistent Life Ethic Network: The definition of consistent life ethic does not yet include animal rights, but perhaps that will change. See website here.
Writings on the consistent life ethic: Read here.
Pro-Life, Pro-Animal: This in-depth article by conservative Matthew Scully would be good to share with pro-lifers.
Consistent Ethic of Life: A book by the cardinal who developed this outlook on life. “The debates sparked by Cardinal Bernardin’s gambit became one of the most productive dialogues between Catholics and the rest of American civil society in the two hundred years of this nation’s existence.”
Consistent Life Ethic is a reflection of our spiritual life: “Abortion is the original “Inconvenient Truth.” Without compassion for all life, we limit our spiritual convictions. Just as all things are connected, so is our compassion to every creation of life.” Read more here.
My story:
Ever since I met Cliff Mikkelson, now my former husband, neighbor and friend, I have been pro-life. I can’t exactly remember how he inspired me to change my view about abortion. I just know his reasoning was logical and I never changed my view. I just got stronger in my conviction over the years.
In addition, Cliff was a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War. He thought me the importance of nonviolence and how war is always wrong. My research has shown that assisted suicide and capital punishment are also very detrimental to life.
I was never strongly pro-choice. I was just ignorant about the fact that abortion kills a living being. I was quite promiscuous during my two college years. I had been on birth control since I was 17, getting my pills from Planned Parenthood. Once, my period was a few days late, and I thought I might be pregnant. I called PP to inquire about getting an abortion just like that. I never wanted to have children, and certainly did not want to have a child out of wedlock!
In 2013, I learned about the pro-life organization 40 Days for Life. I had never been active in the pro-life movement because I saw pro-lifers as being extreme and often violent. I had many other causes I was attracted to, anyway. My 13 year old daughter wanted me to take her to a rally that 40 Days for Life was having in Fayetteville, and of course I couldn’t say no.
I was inspired by the people who were so passionate about upholding the rights of the innocent, the vulnerable–the unborn. I loved the idea of praying in front of an abortion clinic, and being an activist. My children and I got very involved, and I inspired the church I attended at the time to be very active. My efforts recruited one woman who was willing to be praying during the 40 week, 12 hours a day, vigil, for every open slot that volunteers did not fill so that there could be a constant presence in front of the PP Clinic.
I came to a point where I thought this was going to be my main focus for the rest of my life. I wanted to create a community around the pro-life theme. A series of events happened that deeply disappointed me, and I was asked to resign a leadership position without any kind of due process.
I realized then that the hierarchical structure of leadership of 40 days for life organization, was opposed to my value of governances where every voice can be heard. I also realized that most people in this movement where Christians who were not vegan, and who had beliefs about Jesus that I did find to be true.
Then when I discovered the world of animal rights activism, I thought that for sure I found my tribe! The only problem was, 99% of animal rights activists seem to be pro-choice, many of them militantly so. However, I have been glad to see that an increasing number of vegans.
That is why I have adopted the consistent life ethic as one of the main values of the future community. This value is extremely important to me. I want people to know that ahead of time. Maybe a person who is on the fence might choice to become pro-life because they, as I was when I was in my teens, have been ignorant about the violence and tragic affects of abortion. A person who is determined to be pro-choice, and uncomfortable with others who are pro-life, would definitely not be comfortable in this community.
I thought for sure that I would spend the rest of my life focusing on animal rights working for Direct Action Everywhere. But now I see that it is more important for me to find others who share this value to build a community where we can promote the consistent life ethic where we can help the animal rights movement be more consistent in their ethical views. And help the consistent life ethic movement see the importance of adding animal rights to their list of concerns. This is how I think I can best help the animal rights movement.
More links about my experiences:
40 Days for Life: As you can see in this website, co-created Sheena Atkinson, I was willing pour my life into pro-life movement. Sadly, Sheena and I had a falling out, and she took away my editing privileges. However, I did write most of the articles.
