In Texas, it’s only a matter of hours until abortions are banned at 20 weeks. It’s a popular bill amongst those residing in The Lone Star State – with 62 percent supporting the law. Nationally, 50 percent of women and 52 percent of Millennials also want abortions to be banned at 20 weeks. Overall, only 14 percent of Americans support late-term abortions. The public is not with them, so pro-aborts vent their rage.
How do they do that? By salivating over women who don’t care they had them in the first place – and celebrating their courage in carrying out the dirty deed. On Tuesday, MSNBC featured New York Times op-ed contributor Beth Matusoff Merfish, who was “incredibly proud” of her mother’s abortion. Today, Jessica Grose of the Washington Post-affiliated Slate news site, who now writes a monthly column for the "Motherlode" blog at the New York Times, wrote that we need to hear more unapologetic voices for abortion because that’ll influence the fight “leftward.”
The public is against untrammeled abortion without any exceptions. And screaming that you’re proud to have undergone one isn’t the best way to “nudge the battle back leftward.” Nevertheless, Grose, a former Jezebel editor, seems to be irritated that all of the “I had An Abortion” essays feature women, who describe the decision as horrible or gut-wrenching. She notes that this goal of trying to change the minds of so-called “anti-choice” crowd will only benefit them politically.
Instead, we should focus on those who feel joy from the experience.
When I was an editor at Jezebel, there was a Tumblr that made the rounds called “What to Expect When You’re Aborting.” The 23-year-old anonymous author put the site up because when she needed an abortion, she tried googling “abortion blog” and only came up with anti-choice nonsense and women who regretted their terminations. So she wanted to publish something servicey that explained what an abortion was like and how to go about getting one. But what I liked best about the site was how blithe and unapologetic she was about her choice. She described the aftermath of her abortion like this:
By monday my hormones were a little wonky but in all i just felt like this parasitic creature that burrowed its way into me and fed of my energy, apetite, [sic] and joy was removed. And I had been restored.
This kind of honesty might not change any anti-choice minds. But it pushes forward the idea that there isn’t one right way to feel about terminating a pregnancy. And it has the potential to nudge the battle back leftward after ceding so much ground.
So, if the grueling, emotionally charged essays aren’t going to change “anti-choice minds” and jumping for glee won’t change their minds, then what’s the point of doing so? Besides showing that your viewpoint is well outside the mainstream.
There’s a reason why pro-life legislation is successful across the country. The American people generally agree with it. In all, Grose’s little tirade about how pro-aborts fail at the messaging game seems to miss how callous it can sound to dismiss an unborn child as a invasive parasitic creature.
