Yes, it generally is associated with a fundamentalist religious views. This is because in the USA it is almost entirely associated with a fundamentalist religious view. We might argue that John McCain, who is 100% against abortion and contraception, is not a fundamentalist religionist, but even tho' that makes him an exception amongst "pro-lifers", he's certainly a strong believer in some form of christianity.
Now, I personally don't like to call them "pro-lifers", which is why I put them in quotes, because coupled with a strong belief in the sanctity of life before birth is a strangely callous indifference to life after birth. Most of them are also militarists who are strongly in favour of capital punishment and the ownership of guns. Not exactly pro-life in many of the senses I understand the term. If these religionists were strongly in favour of Jesus' actual message in the gospels I might give them more credence, but fundamentalism seems to edit compassion and forgiveness out and stick to the Old Testament vengeance and wrath.
Then we have the problem that nobody is actually pro-abortion. Not really. It's a ghastly procedure with genuine risks to the health and future reproductive well-being of the mother. Nobody in their right mind is pro-abortion. I'll repeat that : Nobody in their right mind is pro-abortion. Abortion is a failure of education and health care.
All children, once they get anywhere near being interested in sex (which in the UK can be as young as 8 !!) should be educated into what sex is about. Not just having sex, but what it's for, how a loving relationship occurs and why. And especially why they shouldn't venture into one too early. And yes, they should be taught about condoms and contraception and the day-after emergency contraception (which is NOT an abortificant). It is notable that in countries where sex education is comprehensive, open and honest, they have the lowest incidences of teenage preganncies. It's countries like the UK and the US which remain totally messed up about sex where it remains problematically high.
And finally, when fundamentalists are against contraception as well, then we are entering into the freedom of choice for women about how they live their lives. It comes down to whether or not we feel women should be treated as living incubators with the "on/off" switch located in the state legislature. Anti-choicers are all about humanizing embryos, but somehow, they have no problem dehumanizing women in the process. If women are free to act in this world, then they must have a choice about being pregnant beyond not having sex. Unless of course they're willing to hold men to the same account. Not likely judging by the number of scandals we hear about. And so when they feel that sexual maturity for women equals their enslavement to motherhood, then they're saying they have a problem with women that's way bigger than we can deal with here. keep to the Fen Causeway
It's pure Darwinism - wanting to make sure that you have as many off-spring as possible.
A pro-choice culture limits abortion naturally. When it's one choice among others, it's going to be one of the less popular options. While I disagree with Helen because some women do make a point of being casual about abortion they're not in a majority.
A pro-life culture increases the risk to everyone. Without choice, you're stuck with a child you may not want, may not be equipped to parent maturely, and may even have been forced into.
This is great news if you're a man, because you can be sure that women will carry your offspring to term and most likely be mother afterwards.
But the end result of a culture with those values is brood-slavery for women, and insitutionalised sexual abuse. A fundamentalist cult was raided a few months ago, and that's exactly the life style they'd created for themselves.
Specific pro-lifers may be appalled by that possibility, but even so - that's the direction their view pushes the Overton window.
