According to the website, Live Action: Talk about human rights, abortion and the right to life and author Ana Benderas, vegetarians should be pro-life (assuming) that a person would choose to maintain a vegetarian diet because they:
"...believe that their [animals'] lives are valuable and worthy of respect. The fallacy of thinking that pro-lifers should be vegetarian is founded on the false premise that the lives of non-human animals are equal in value to that of human lives, or that animals are entitled to an equal or greater protection than humans. But I will never accept that killing a chicken is equal to the moral degradation of murdering a person unless someone can clarify what makes non-human animals equal to humans that their lives need to be protected in the same way? Unless someone can prove that non-human animals are equal in value to people, I make the claim that pro-lifers do not need to be vegetarian. "
Let's just get the most obvious argument out of the way: not all vegetarians do it for moral reasons. I am a vegetarian, and have been for over 2 years for a few reasons. At first, when I began reading more about what I was actually ingesting and supporting as a meat eater I was HORRIFIED. I don't need to go into detail about hormones and chemicals, or how disgusting animals are treated on factory farms. However, I will say that when I started my new diet a good 60% of the reason for it was a result of how I was feeling about animal rights. The rest was a health decision, but since I couldn't see a direct improvement or change by just stopping my meat consumption it was mostly the immediate result of thinking about animals not being harmed, esp. in such an inhumane way. Over 2 years later, I've had some health benefits that are invaluable; health benefits that I never had before and most importantly, health benefits that have made my life significantly less stressful. Honestly, at this point I find the benefits to be 70% health related, and 30% animal related. I'm sure other people who have made this change in their diet have experienced benefits as well so in summation, not all people who give up meat do it for the animals.
Second, the fact that this writer, Ms. Benderas, sees animals as worth less than humans is her own take on life. I find it hard to believe that someone who 'values' life so much can say that one is more important than the other. I'd argue, who's to say that it stops at animals? Does she also think that people of a certain income or background are less valuable? Where do we draw the line? So basically, life is precious as long as you're human? I'm not sure how I personally feel about it and I won't lie and say that I'd be the first person to attend an animal rights demonstration, but I do think that one cannot pound their fist, preaching about life and how it should be cherished only to follow it up with, "...unless you're not human: then you don't really count."
Third, she is assuming that because there may be a fetus inside of a woman that the woman is then merely a house; a protective barrier; a thing, and not a human being with her own body, agenda and rightful autonomy over what happens within her body. For a female to reduce other women to just a case of some sort is absolutely appalling.
My argument supports the belief that women are individuals, capable of making their own moral decisions without the government or anyone else present to make judgements and infiltrate our uteruses. Furthermore, my pro-choice point of view fully supports my vegetarian view that we should stay out of the lives of animals and stop trying to force them to exist in our world merely because they are weaker and don't have a voice. Similarly, pro-life ideological propaganda is based on the same ideas of attacking the weaker members of society and calling the shots for them. With my mentality, it actually makes PERFECT sense why I would be a vegetarian who is pro-choice.
I want to clarify that by no means do I think that all meat eaters share a pro-life view, nor do I believe that all of them want to repress women and their anatomical rights. Some people just like meat! Some people are not bothered by what happens to the animals, and I will never fault or judge a meat eater for feeling that way. As I stated before, I was a meat eater for 26 years and never for a moment supported pro-life politics. However, the poor and hypocritical argument that Ms. Benderas makes is an indication that she does not, in fact, value life as much as she claims to.
As a vegetarian, I don't preach my diet choices to people. My choice not to eat meat (red, poultry or fish) is exactly that: a choice. I don't press my views on others because at the end of the day, we all live with the choices we make and if we're happy with them (diet or reproductive related), it's no one's business but our own.
If you are just beginning to read my blog, here is the first post that briefly describes the purpose.
