June 10, 2019 | Reading Time: < 1 minute

Anti-Abortion = Fascism. Seriously.

I’m going to offer a thesis that’s familiar and (perhaps) unfamiliar. The familiar part: that anti-abortionists do not seek to protect the rights of “the unborn.” They seek control women and what they choose to do with their own bodies. Now the second, perhaps unfamiliar part: that seeking control women and what they choose to do…

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I’m going to offer a thesis that’s familiar and (perhaps) unfamiliar.

The familiar part: that anti-abortionists do not seek to protect the rights of “the unborn.” They seek control women and what they choose to do with their own bodies.

Now the second, perhaps unfamiliar part: that seeking control women and what they choose to do with their own bodies is a quintessentially fascist tactic.

John Stoehr is the editor of the Editorial Board. He writes the daily edition. Find him @johnastoehr.

4 Comments

  1. John Stoehr on July 30, 2021 at 7:47 am
  2. John Stoehr on July 30, 2021 at 7:47 am

    From a reader: Great piece. I’ve labeled abortion as a male and female issue for years. However, it is primarily Public Male Voices that shame women and seek to punish both abortionists and women who use that service. This is more a pierce-worthy veil than genuine “morality”. I know many girls/women who have had abortions from the 60s and on. (No cancer, no problem with future wanted pregnancies, no justice against the partner.) Each had a male present for the “procedure”, in agreement with it, transporting the woman and paying for the abortions.

    I’ve also known very young women whose partner or family demanded No Abortion! only to abandon the her, shame her unwed status, deny paternity and/or refuse financial support.

    Abortion primarily is a public soapbox based on false or delusional beliefs about control of others’ personal decisions.

  3. BettR on July 30, 2021 at 7:47 am

    I have always seen the abortion “debate” in terms of power, not anything to do with the sanctity of life. I have never had an abortion, but I feel that was my decision, not the government’s. I know women who have had to make this difficult, dare I say, impossible, decision. How they decide is up to them. They have come to me to discuss their dilemma, and I always have encouraged women to do what they feel is right for them and their families and to be guided by a doctor. No one else’s business.

    The men who want to enforce their power on women will always want to keep them pregnant and out of the workforce, elections, holding office, gaining power of their own. That is the rationale. Nothing less nothing more. Until we recognize this, the “debate” is built on false premises and does not warrant an honest hearing. I no longer believe I need to listen to the anti-abortion arguments. They are dishonest and ancillary to the real purpose.

    The draconian laws instituted since the Roe v Wade decision are beyond a reach for power: they debase women and family and drive a wedge of unreason between whole segments of our society.

    I see there are women on the “pro-life” platform, but they are pawns. They are not calling the shots as they march to the mysogynist tune called by their fathers and husbands.

  4. John Stoehr on July 30, 2021 at 7:47 am

    A reader: What a great but sad comparison about a fertilized egg being a person only if it is inside a woman’s womb. And just another example of how invisible that woman is to the control oriented, power seeking folks who have trouble living and accepting people with different opinions from their own. True freedom is living together in peace, and even trying to have some sense of comradeship with people who have different dreams and values. I have never heard a prochoice advocate ask for a law that says a person has to have an abortion in any instance. But pro life people ask for laws that are unfair to females, fetuses and the population in general.

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