Rape is a horrifying crime, and we can all agree on that no woman should be subjected to it. Well, not quite all of us: some people think it could teach pro-lifers a lesson. A staff member at Purdue University recently gave that impression, anyway.
If you’re feeling unsure about what those remarks meant, here’s some clarification:
Jamie Newman is a former dance accompanist and composer in Purdue’s Visual & Performing Arts department; he left the comments above on a Live Action News article. Purdue condemned the statements, but took no further action. For his part, Newman resisted calls to apologize and instead demanded that the school apologize to him. That lasted until this week when he resigned before a public protest was scheduled to begin.
Sadly, it’s not unusual for pro-life women to be targets of sexualized hate. Sarah Palin has seen plenty, from Louis C.K. ranting about the former governor’s “fat t–s” to Bill Maher calling her words like “c–t” and “tw-t.”
Michele Bachmann has experienced her share too, like when comedian Marc Maron hoped Bachmann’s husband “f–ks her angrily because, that’s how I would. And I’ve thought about it.”
Then there was Playboy’s list of women to “hate f—.” Here’s what it had to say about pro-life author Amanda Carpenter: “You get this one pregnant, she stays pregnant. Karma’s a b—h, isn’t it?”
Please cite these examples the next time someone accuses pro-lifers of waging a “war on women.” But it’s really not surprising that misogynists would hate the pro-life movement. After all, abortion makes life easy for them.
Imagine you’re a man who’s just got done using a woman, only to find out she’s pregnant. How do you avoid paying child support? Well, a trip to Planned Parenthood is one popular solution. But what if she won’t go? Perhaps she’s seen research on fetal pain, or maybe she just doesn’t think it’s the right choice for her. Some guys take this approach:
The website Return of Kings offers additional ideas in an article called, “How To Convince A Girl To Get An Abortion.” Here’s one of them:
You need to bring up the subject of abortion with every ounce of verbal finesse and situation-appropriate sensitivity. You should sound as sincere as possible and tell her that you want her to be the mother of your children one day, but that now is not the right time to start a family. Explain you want to wait until you are further along in your career/life goals and you can afford to give your future family all the comforts of life you cannot deliver today. Finally, explain if she has the abortion now, you will be able to plan your lives together so that everything is perfect. Then, after she agrees and has the abortion, dump her.
Dubbed “The Hail Mary,” it’s explained that this strategy was pioneered by radio personality Tom Leykis. Leykis also laughed on air about a Florida man who tricked his pregnant girlfriend into taking an abortion-inducing ulcer pill. When a female visitor to his website expressed disapproval, Leykis wasn’t amused.
Other options include compelling her to abort via blackmail or financial coercion. Then there’s threats of physical violence: women have been shot, stabbed, bludgeoned, burned and smothered for refusing to visit a clinic, which is part of why the CDC lists homicide as a leading cause of death during pregnancy.
The abortion industry doesn’t seem too keen to change this situation. When Texas state representative Molly White proposed legislation requiring that abortion clinics have a private room with information about support services and a telephone to contact law enforcement, NARAL Pro-Choice Texas said it was “not needed.”
Of course, misogynists aren’t the only ones getting a hand here. While they’re being helped by the abortion industry, the abortion industry is being helped by you. Planned Parenthood is America’s largest abortion chain, and every year it receives over half a billion dollars in federal funding.
If you’d rather not make life easier for guys like Tom Leykis, tell Congress you want that money redirected to federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) instead. With over thirteen thousand locations, their services are far more accessible than Planned Parenthood’s are. The care they provide is more comprehensive, too. While FQHCs provided women with more than five hundred thousand mammograms last year, Planned Parenthood performed zero.
Naturally, defunding Planned Parenthood is going to leave fans of “The Hail Mary” technique a little unhappy. The good news? That’s just a bonus.
Author’s Note: If you are being pressured to have an abortion, go here to find out where to get help.
