U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg joined a “White Dudes for Harris” fundraising call in an effort to raise money for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, during which the subject of abortion was unsurprisingly mentioned. But what was perhaps less expected were some of the remarks made by Buttigieg.
During the call, which – according to the New York Times – was attended by over 20,000 men, Buttigieg promoted the frequently echoed ‘abortion-as-freedom’ message. “I’m so glad that she has made freedom the theme of her campaign because in so many ways, that’s what is at stake,” Buttigieg began. “And yes, women’s freedom is Exhibit A, after Donald Trump demolished the right to choose. But of course, men are also more free in a country where we have a president who stands up for things like access to abortion care. Men are more free.”
Pete Buttigieg says that men are freer when abortion is legal because men can have consequence free sex and simply kill their unborn babies instead of taking responsibility for them.
But J.D. Vance is weird or something.
pic.twitter.com/4Mj24p3USK— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 30, 2024
Abortion has often benefitted dishonorable men at the expense of women. It allows them to enjoy sex without consequences, leaving women to navigate the systemic injustices pregnant women face alone (many which lead women to think abortion is their best, or only, option), if they resist the father’s desire for an abortion. Abortion allows certain types of men to use women for pleasure and then throw them away if they, and the children who are created, suddenly become inconvenient.
And Buttigieg is somewhat correct; abortion does give men a certain liberty — one that comes at the expense of women and certainly at the expense of the child’s life. But one must ask: is it truly freedom if the means to obtain it is to perpetuate an injustice (the abandonment of a woman and the death of a child) against another individual or multiple individuals?
The majority of abortions in the United States — about 87% — are obtained by unmarried women. And a national study on forced/coerced abortion in America found that 64% of women who obtained abortions felt pressured, and sometimes even experienced violent coercion, to undergo the procedure. In that study, a former abortion facility security guard’s testimony before the Massachusetts legislature was cited, in which he said that women were frequently brought in by the men pressuring and coercing them into the abortion, so they could make sure the women went through with the procedures.
Further research published by the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons found that 73.8% of women have experienced “at least subtle forms of pressure” to abort.
But what isn’t often discussed is that many men never wanted their children aborted in the first place. Many men are hurting either because they regret pressuring their past partners into abortion, or because their children were aborted despite their desire to protect the woman with whom they were involved, along with their child. These men know that abortion didn’t bring them “freedom.” It brought them heartbreak and regret.
Tragically, abortion does allow certain men to do injustice to women and their own children, should they so choose to exercise their liberty in such a manner. It’s a problem that has been around for a very, very long time.
As Susan B. Anthony famously said (emphasis added), “Guilty? Yes, no matter what the motive, love of ease, or desire to save from suffering the unborn innocent, the woman is awfully guilty who commits the deed. It will burden her conscience in life, it will burden her soul in death; but oh! Thrice guilty is he who, for selfish gratification, heedless of her prayers, indifferent to her fate, drove her to the desperation which impels her to the crime.”
