Last year I watched in horror as the pro-life movement desecrated a corpse and threw in their lot with a man who has acted in pornography, run strip clubs, had “improper relationships” he didn’t bother to hide and boasted about walking into the locker room on naked teenagers. Yes, I know that President Trump was running against the wife of that horrible womanizer from my teenage years, but we’ve no evidence that Hillary herself was ever unfaithful to her husband or sexually abused anyone. The choice was between a lecher and a sexual predator in the Lincoln Bedroom or in the Oval Office, and the conservatives made their choice. That horrible week before the election, we had the FBI notice about emails from Anthony Weiner (also a pervert), and next thing you knew the cad was in the oval office and Hillary was done for. With Hillary vanquished, I waited for the staunch right-wing oldschool pro-life Christians to address the fact that they’d elected a womanizing scum bag to the highest position of the land as a means to an end, but they doubled down. They’re still doubling down. They honestly seem to like the man.
The other week, I said something negative about the president in a group of Catholics and was admonished to “stay focused.” Trump was taking great strides to end abortion, if only we’d choose to ignore everything else about him. Mike Pence spoke at the March for Life, which means we have to ignore everything his odious boss is doing and has done. “Stay focused.”
This week, I’m watching the staunch conservative pro-life crowd defend a man accused of sexually abusing a teenager. Many are saying that Roy Moore is “innocent until proven guilty,” something that was never a concern for them during the Clinton years to my recollection– and anyway, “innocent until proven guilty” is a solid reason not to put someone in jail, but not at all a reason to elect him to congress. But some people are taking it a step further; they’re coming right out and publicly saying that there’s nothing wrong with abusing teenagers. Some are going so far as to compare Roy Moore to Saint Joseph. It’s “biblical” to force yourself on young women now. Women are coming out of the woodwork to say that this is normal in their community and that they themselves were subjected to the same and worse. Nearly 40% of the evangelicals in Alabama say that this incident has made them even more likely to vote for Moore. As far as I can find, the National Right to Life has not walked back their endorsement of Roy Moore. I could be wrong, but if they’ve released a statement they’re not making it easy to find. He’s still considered the pro-life, family values Christian candidate. And he still stands an excellent chance of being elected.
I remain opposed to abortion. I believe the fetus has personhood and ought to be protected; I am committed to creating a society that protects the rights of all of its members, from conception until natural death, and the most helpless members most of all. I used to tell people that the National Right to Life and the whole mainstream pro-life movement wanted to create a society like that as well, and that it was only liberal propaganda that said pro-lifers were anti-woman. But I don’t say that anymore. I can’t. I don’t think anyone can, when they witness what the mainstream pro-life movement has been willing to overlook or excuse in the past several years.
I don’t know if the indignation and concern I saw around me 20 years ago was feigned, or if the Right really think it’s only wrong to be a sexual predator if you’re also a democrat. But the fact is, they are actively abusing women and girls, praising the abuse as “biblical,” and then shielding the abusers in the name of a pro-life agenda. If a woman points that out, we’re told to “stay focused” on the off-chance that the perverts keep some of their promises about saving unborn babies somewhere along the way.
Well, I won’t stay focused. These people are actively sacrificing women and girls, and indeed the whole country, to sexual predators in exchange for favors. That’s not good, it’s not “biblical;” it’s not even the lesser evil. It’s anti-woman and anti-child, and certainly not pro-life.
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