Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics

by Carol A. Mason

How can those who seek to protect the "right to life" defend assassination in the name of saving lives? Carol Mason investigates this seeming paradox by examining pro-life literature―both archival material and writings from the front lines of the conflict. Her analysis reveals the apocalyptic thread that is the ideological link between established anti-abortion organizations and the more shadowy pro-life terrorists who subject clinic workers to anthrax scares, bombs, and bullets. The portrayal of abortion as "America's Armageddon" began in the 1960s. In the 1970s, Mason says, Christian politics and the post-Vietnam paramilitary culture popularized the idea that legal abortion is a harbinger of apocalypse. By the 1990s, Mason asserts, even the movement's mainstream had taken up the call, narrating abortion as an apocalyptic battle between so-called Christian and anti-Christian forces. "Pro-life violence of the 1990s signaled a move away from protest and toward retribution," she writes. "Pro-life retribution is seen as a way to restore the order of God. In this light, the phenomenon of killing for 'life' is revealed not as an oxymoron, but as a logical consistency and a political manifestation of religious retribution." Mason's scrutiny of primary sources (direct mail, internal memoranda, personal letters, underground manuals, and pro-life films, magazines, and novels) draws attention to elements of pro-life millennialism. Killing for Life is a powerful indictment of pro-life ideology as a coherent, mass-produced narrative that does not merely condone violence, but anticipates it as part of "God's plan."

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Feminism, History

264 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Tucker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mason writes of anti-abortion groups with an "apocalyptic narrative" and a "paramilitary" fetish. I learned that some groups, the ones that work within normal liberal paradigms, focus on the "human rights" of the fetus, while others — the kind in which Mason is most interested — focus on holding sacred whatever God has created, independently of any concept of human rights, in which they may not actually believe. That allows for the paradox of "killing for life," that is, attacking doctors in abortion clinics in defense of the unborn. She explores how some men seem to fantasize of returning to the womb as revealed by their imagination of and identification with the fetus' suffering. She talks about contradicting attitudes toward the respective worth of healthy fetuses and "crack babies" (leading to campaigns that pressured drug-addicted black women to choose sterilization) and the anti-abortion movement's use of Jewish and lesbian stereotypes to depict doctors and nurses.

This is academic and packed with colorful info although it may now be dated since its publication in 2002.

One of her main questions: Does the thirst for violence imply that the movement is weakening or strengthening? She concludes that it is "strong enough to flaunt its relativism.” The relativism in question has to do with an inconsistent definition of the kind of life that is sacred. This was discussed in the last chapter before the conclusion, but I didn't find that discussion very clear. I wouldn't apply the term "relativism" to someone's accidentally mushy terms or inconsistent values, but that's a personal pet peeve that is nitpicky and off-topic. Overall this was a strong book.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Without considerable insight and respect, Carol Mason examines the right-wing powderkeg that combines apocalyptic Christian religious traditions with misogyny and racism. Within this nexus lie the roots of the pro-life movement.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although this book is more than 20 years old, it's so incredibly relevant and informs much of the rising white supremacist movements we're seeing today. A must-read.