The right-to-life movement or pro-life movement opposes

abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...

assisted suicide Assisted suicide, sometimes restricted to the context of physician-assisted suicide (PAS), is the process by which a person, with the help of others, takes actions to end their life. Once it is determined that the person's situation qualifie ...

, and

euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...

on moral grounds. It is closely related to the

anti-abortion movement Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in response to the leg ...

and anti-euthanasia movement. The difference is that while the anti-abortion focuses on abortion and anti-euthanasia movement focuses on euthanasia and assisted suicide, the right-to-life movement covers all three issues. The terms "right to life" and "pro-life" are generally associated more with opposition to abortion than to assisted suicide and euthanasia, and many right-to-life organizations primarily focus on abortion, but most organizations oppose all three. The

consistent life ethic The consistent life ethic (CLE), also known as the consistent ethic of life or whole life ethic, is an ideology that opposes abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. Adherents oppose war, or at the very least unjust war; so ...

, held by some in the right-to-life movement, opposes not only abortion, assisted suicide, and euthanasia, but also

capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...

and

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

. In the United States, the

National Right to Life Committee The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) is the oldest and largest national anti-abortion organization in the United States with affiliates in all 50 states and more than 3,000 local chapters nationwide. Since the 1980s, NRLC has influenc ...

is the largest right-to-life organization. The right-to-life movement is often associated with

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

(especially

Catholicism The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

) and the Republican Party, but groups such as

Secular Pro-Life Secular Pro-Life (SPL) is an American secular anti-abortion organization. SPL argues against abortion and conducts advocacy, including on university campuses. History Secular Pro-Life was founded in 2009 by Kelsey Hazzard, who serves as the ...

and

Democrats for Life of America Democrats for Life of America (DFLA) is a 501(c)(4) American political advocacy nonprofit organization that seeks to elect anti-abortion Democrats and to encourage the Democratic Party to oppose euthanasia, capital punishment, and abortion. DFLA ...

hold anti-abortion and anti-euthanasia views for other reasons.

Notes and references

Social movements 20th-century social movements 21st-century social movements Anti-abortion movements {{poli-stub