In the new book Feisty & Feminine: A Rallying Cry for Conservative Women, author Penny Young Nance encourages females tired of the feminist War on Women rhetoric to make their voices heard. Nance covers a range of topics, from sexual assault to anti-Semitism, from Islamic extremism to the daily Mommy challenge of balancing work and family.
In a chapter on “Abortion and the Sanctity of Life,” Nance says that nothing could have prepared her for the day her daughter Claire was born:
“Suddenly, everything I knew about love changed. I can only describe it as feeing like that scene in How the Grinch Stole Christmas: my heart grew three times its normal size.”
Nance argues that an unwanted pregnancy does not mean an unwanted child—that many women struggle with their feelings on pregnancy and parenthood. But those feelings can be vetted and effectively dealt with through the support offered by organizations such as pregnancy care centers—centers staffed by, in Nance’s words, “compassionate, caring people who are there to love you, not to judge.”
The Concerned Women for America CEO notes, “We are told that abortion is not a big deal; that it’s a humane choice for the unborn baby; and that to be anti-abortion is to be anti-women. Guess what? None of this is true. And it’s time we got the facts straight.”
Nance goes on to discuss the development of the unborn child and that viability is “a moving target,” since premature babies can live outside their mothers’ wombs at earlier stages than ever before.
She also talks about the risks of abortion—including the fact that a number of abortion centers operate outside normal medical care standards because they are so often unregulated. Nance writes that Americans United for Life has reported that, over the past seven years, “at least 86 abortion providers in 29 states have faced investigations, criminal charges, civil lawsuits, and administrative complaints for substandard treatment (for) violating state abortion laws.”
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Of course, the most famous of these lawbreakers was abortionist Kermit Gosnell, the Pennsylvanian suspected of killing hundreds of full-term babies and maiming scores of women. He was ultimately convicted in the deaths of three infants and one woman, because charges could not be filed in many instances since he had destroyed records.
One of the most pointed sections of the book deals with the abortion giant Planned Parenthood, which, Nance states, received $1.18 billion in state and federal Medicaid dollars between 2010 and 2012. One of every four abortions takes place in a Planned Parenthood facility, causing them to perform more than 324,000 abortions in a given year.
“Planned Parenthood is not a guardian of women’s health,” Nance writes. “They don’t help women choose from a range of options. When a pregnant woman comes to Planned Parenthood for help, 98 percent of the time she aborts her baby, and they make a profit,” Nance adds.
But Nance does not simply point to a parade of grim realities. She also offers advice to women who are tired of Planned Parenthood’s rhetoric and empty promises:
“It is with compassion that we must share the facts and speak our minds. This is not about winning a theoretical argument; it is about the suffering of women, the loss of children, and the need to find compassionate, effective answers to a terrible national stain.”
By relating scientific facts—about what exactly takes place in an abortion, what it does to the child, and what impact it can have on the mother—women can provide valuable information to other women.
Finally, Nance calls on women to vote their values. “If someone running for public office does not understand or believe in the necessity of respecting life from conception to natural death,” Nance writes, “then he or she does not possess the judgment required to lead our nation.”
