What card best represents the pro-life movement?

Death.

I must say, this one surprised me! I gave a little bark of a laugh when I turned it over. I was just not expecting something so incredibly blunt and seemingly contradictory, but there it is. It actually makes a lot of sense, so let’s talk it out a bit.

First of all, let’s address the fact that Death in the Tarot is not widely interpreted as ‘actual’ death. It’s metaphorical; it’s about ego death, it’s about transformation, it’s about the loss of something that we identified with deeply, etc. But sometimes, y’all, it is about actual death (the trick of course is not to freak yourself out and think that when you pull Death it’s portending your demise…. but that’s a whole ‘nother conversation).

Here, I think it is most appropriate to look at it as literal death. So, why would this best represent the pro-LIFE movement?

The pro-life movement, ironically, is obsessed with death. They are focused on the “death” of the fetus. They use images of “death” in their pro-life propaganda. (I put “death” in quotations here because I don’t want to give credibility to the idea that what happens in abortion is death in the way that we typically define it.)

But beyond that, the pro-life movement results in death. When abortion is not safe and legal, people die. Many, many pregnant people will die, and that is not conjecture. That is a fact, and we know this because it’s happened before and it will happen again.

The pro-life movement’s hyper-focus on death leaves no room for an honest conversation about life. Lack of abortion access means lives are lost. It means lives are irrevocably damaged. It means lives are brought into a society that gives lip-service to their sanctity, but offers zero support system for their flourishing.

The pro-life movement is a Death movement. We don’t need the Tarot to tell us that, but I’m glad it did.