In the assault on reproductive freedom in the United States, there’s one thing I can’t wrap my brain around. According to the people who claim to be “pro-life,” being a mother is a gift from God; the most esteemed role a woman can ever play. (And, yes, I know that not everyone who can get pregnant is a woman. But those who are against abortion generally don’t acknowledge that such people exist, which means the very real existence of someone with a uterus who does not identify as a woman doesn’t change their “motherhood is a calling from God” calculous.)
And yet, these same people are against abortion, birth control and comprehensive sex education. Which means if a person gets pregnant and, for whatever reason, doesn’t want to be pregnant, then becoming a mother/parent isn’t a gift, it’s a punishment. A baby is, essentially, a penalty.
Forcing someone to carry a child and give birth against their will is essentially saying, “You got yourself into this mess, so enjoy the gift of a child, you reprehensible slut.”
Obviously, the United States has long since had a problem with the idea of women having sex. Men can have it and love it and seek it out all the live long day (so long as it is with a cisgender woman partner), but if women have sex for any other reason than to create a baby for the lord, well, that’s disgusting. (And, yes, this goes for LGBTQ+ people, too. Non pro-creative sex of all kinds is a no-no.)
Even people who consider themselves moderate on the issue of abortion are still expressing this very extreme view. People who say they support abortion so long as it’s not used for birth control are also saying: You f***ed up and got pregnant, now live with the consequences. Regardless of whether or not the pregnant person wants to, can, or is able to carry a baby to term. Again, baby as retribution.
Of course, what’s the big deal when someone can “just put the baby up for adoption”? The word “just” is very telling here. Being pregnant is hard. Giving birth is hard. Telling someone, “You have to put your life on hold so you can carry and give birth to a baby as a gift for someone else” is pretty gross. We don’t force people to donate kidneys (though making our organ donation system opt-out rather than an opt-in would mean a lot more organs would be donated and a lot more lives would be saved. But for some reason you don’t hear the “pro-life” contingent making noise about that). But apparently there are plenty of folks who are cool with forcing people to donate babies.
Then there are those who make exceptions for abortion in the case of rape or incest. Sounds pretty reasonable! Except what they’re saying is a pregnant person should not have control over their own body until and unless someone else has violated it first. Which is not reasonable at all.
And then, of course, there are those who say that abortion in all cases is wrong and must be completely banned. No exceptions. Tudor Dixon, the idiot running for Michigan Governor on the Republican ticket, actually said that an underage rape victim would find healing in having that baby. You know what would be more healing? Having unrestricted access to medical care, including abortion and trauma counseling. Not having some nutcase telling you that this is God’s plan.
These are the same people who call teachers and LGBTQ+ people “groomers.” If they were really so concerned about children being sexually abused, you’d think they’d actually want to stop the abuse by focusing on the places where it’s actually happening. And it’s happening!
It’s a very big problem that far too many of our children have to suffer through and learn how to live with. But for some reason, the self-proclaimed pro-life Christians don’t make nearly as much noise about this actual problem as they do about drag queens and books with transgender characters in school libraries.
Across the country we’re seeing the very things that we were warned would happen if Roe v. Wade was overturned. And it seems like the vast majority of Republican leaders are having the time of their lives living out some kind of sick God complex control fantasy.
It won’t stop here. If Republicans take control of the U.S. House and Senate (which currently have slim Democratic majorities), a nationwide abortion ban will happen. They’re downright giddy at the prospect. We can’t let that happen. Talk to your people. We’ve got to vote. Every one of us, everywhere we live. Register to vote and get others to do the same: vote.gov/.
We aren’t going to get another chance to stop the Republican crusade of cruelty.