(National Review) On Monday, I wrote about Joe Biden’s decision to tap Xavier Becerra, an unqualified abortion enthusiast, as his secretary of health and human services. For deeming Becerra an enthusiast of the procedure, I received considerable pushback from some readers on Twitter.
To call Becerra a zealous crusader for abortion was “vitriolic,” “irresponsible,” and “incorrect,” and I had outed myself as a “drooling mouth breather” and “ghoul,” per these critics. Some suggested I had unfairly smeared all pro-choicers as enthusiasts, while others argued that there was “no such thing” as an abortion enthusiast.
To those who read the piece, it should have been obvious that I was attributing enthusiasm to Becerra, not everyone who shares his general approach to the issue. As for the suggestion that there’s “no such thing” as an abortion enthusiast, well, that’s simply not true. After all, there exists an organization called “Shout Your Abortion” that encourages women to, well, shout about their abortion without “sadness, shame or regret.” Unreservedly, it declares that “Abortion helps countless people live their best lives. We are the proof.” These certainly don’t sound like the sober sentiments of advocates who view abortion as a dilemma or necessary evil.
VIDEO: ‘Shout Your Abortion’ activist tells kids abortion is great, adoption isn’t
Michelle Wolf salutes abortions
Michelle Wolf, the comedienne who saw her star briefly rise after she took the brave and unorthodox step of targeting President Trump during her routine at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, is similarly gung-ho about the procedure. Take the ghastly “Salute to Abortion” to which she dedicated part of one of the ten episodes of her since-canceled Netflix show. In a quasi-religious ceremony, Wolf struts across the stage wearing red, white, and blue parade attire and an enormous grin. Accompanied by a miniature marching band, Wolf announces, somewhat uncreatively, “Abortion, I salute you!” before going on to call it “a great deal” to cheers from the audience. (Wolf is not alone among celebrities: In a December 2016 podcast appearance, actress Lena Dunham infamously admitted that she wished she could say she’d had an abortion, before extolling the “bravery” and “self-knowledge” of women who had.)
Abortion exaltation isn’t confined to fringe activists and comedians, either; it’s widespread among mainstream Democratic officials. Take for instance the median position of Senate Democrats. In February, only three Democrats in the upper chamber — Bob Casey, Joe Manchin, and Doug Jones — voted for cloture on Ben Sasse’s Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would merely have “prohibit[ed] a health care practitioner from failing to exercise the proper degree of care in the case of a child who survives an abortion or attempted abortion.” For the vast majority of federal officeholders in the Democratic Party, it is not enough that abortion is de facto legal at any stage of a pregnancy. They don’t want to merely leave women’s options open; they want to protect and encourage one option above all the others. That isn’t grudging acceptance; it’s reverence.
Editor’s Note: This article was published at National Review and is reprinted here with permission.
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