If one watches the forced birth / “pro-life” talking heads long enough, one starts to notice something a little strange.
But that’s not what we get.
One would imagine that people who define themselves by wanting to reduce the number of embryos that aren’t brought to term would be passionate opponents of rape, harping on consent and demanding that rapists be prosecuted aggressively in the name of making every fetus wanted.
But that’s not what we get.
One would imagine that people who want to restrict women’s bodily autonomy in the name of protecting children would want to make the world a more welcoming place for children, by advocating for healthcare availability, child-care services, maternity and paternity leave, assistance for low-income households with children, and funding for education at all levels.
All by itself, one could almost find something laudable in the “pro-life” stance, framed as trying to protect “children” from harm.
But that’s not what we get. Instead, a very different picture emerges. They are not pro-life. They are pro-forced birth.
The anti-abortion position is part of a spectrum of stances that, all together, point at a movement that could not possibly care less about children. They don’t care about preventing unwanted pregnancy, or making sure that every fetus is a wanted fetus. No, they have a different agenda.
The anti-abortion position seeks a world where a uterus-bearer has no say in whether they give birth after they get pregnant, no say in whether they get pregnant after they have sex, and no say in when they have sex.
The anti-abortion fantasy is a world where women have no sexual agency whatsoever, and every part of a woman’s biology is given over to the task of carrying and bearing children. But not her children—his. Nothing is hers—not her body, not her mind, not her life. Nothing but the burden of carrying out the sexual and reproductive will of those who would look upon her with desire.
The anti-abortion vision is a world of men and ambulatory uteruses to be acquired and put to use.
It is in this context, and this context only, that the pro-forced-birth position makes sense. These are their objectives. Only when the whole package is viewed at once does the true picture emerge.
It’s not about fetuses, not about babies, not about death or murder or morality.
It’s about destroying the very idea that women have a place in this world that isn’t on the shelf next to the other appliances.
Never forget that.