By DONALD DeMARCO
The Canadian press has found recent pro-life gains in Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Mississippi, Kentucky, and Ohio to be revolting. The Toronto Star, in particular, the nation’s most widely read newspaper, has printed a series of articles that have condemned these American gains.
Given space considerations, I will present just three of them, all written by feminists who are completely immersed in political correctness. All of them express a certain animus against the United States and a rather hostile attitude to American pro-lifers.
Heather Mallick’s article is the most vituperative of the trio. She titles her May 18, 2019 piece, “Hateful, punitive men hear abortion dog whistle.” “Primitive men,” she writes, “are dog whistling to Canadians and there will always be a few hateful, punitive men to hear it.” Among these men are “crying Brett Kavanaugh, creepy Neil Gorsuch, and madman Trump.”
In Mallick’s mind, anyone who is on the side of protecting life is misguided, oppressive, or worse. And she does not spare the United States. The “anti-choice” brigade is strong in what she tactlessly calls “the armpit Southern States.” What she paints as “the fetid South” is responsible for “guns for everyone, government ownership of women’s bodies, criminalizing medicine, crude and violent racism, and other horrors.” Her intemperance is exceeded only by her incivility. If a law professor is looking for textbook examples of slander, prejudice, and character assassination, Mallick’s article will supply his students with an overflow of material.
Rosie DiManno’s article, “Anti-abortion activists wrong….” (May 15, 2019) labels pro-life people as “anti-abortionists” and even “absolutists.” She gives added invective to her accusation of absolutism by defining it as “the tyranny of fanaticism.” It is hard to defend such a charge. Can it really be tyrannical to protect life? It would appear that DiManno’s jaundiced view of those who seek to protect the life of unborn children is itself on the fanatical side. When feminists talk about “zero tolerance” of sexual harassment, they do not see themselves as absolutistic. The essence of DiManno’s piece is to poison the well so that pro-life people are discredited before any rational discussion can begin.
Emma Teitel (“Sex strike an ineffectual gimmick”) refers to the fact that Alyssa Milano has urged women to abstain from sex until Georgia rescinds its “heartbeat legislation.” While Teitel does not agree with the Hollywood actress, she does regard the Georgia bill as “a cruel piece of legislation.” She argues that “this law should outrage” all women who believe that they are “masters of their own bodies.” She urges people to elect politicians “who believe in bodily autonomy” and that “industry leaders in film and elsewhere should continue to refuse to take their business to Georgia until Georgia refuses to deny its citizens the right to choose.”
Teitel has little substance in her appeal. There is no such thing as “bodily autonomy.” If there were, women would never have an unwanted pregnancy in the first place. Moreover, the “right to choose” is no right at all since choice can be directed just as easily to an evil.
On May 15, 2019, Kay Ellen Ivey, governor of Alabama, signed into law a near total ban on abortion. But her understanding of the law is entirely positive. “Today, I signed into law the Alabama Human Life Protection Act, a bill that was approved by overwhelming majorities in both chambers of the legislature.”
“To the bill’s many supporters,” she wrote, “this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians’ deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God.”
As far as Mallick is concerned, Gov. Ivey is an “Aunt Lydia,” the oppressive character from TV’ The Handmaid’s Tale. Mallick is unsparing.
The Canadian press no doubt feels secure in its venomous attack on people who want to protect life. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has made his intolerance of the pro-life movement clear on many occasions. The Liberal Party wants all Canadians to think and act in the same way. Abortion is a “right,” Trudeau insists, and therefore all Canadians must honor that “right.”
What the prime minister refuses to acknowledge, and what many have brought to his attention, is that in Canada (unlike the U.S. where there is a “constitutional right”), there is no right to abortion (although abortion is permitted when approved). Apparently, if Canadians think there is a “right” to abortion, it is a simple step to think that they also have a “right” to a misstatement of fact.
Castigating pro-life advocates is not logical argumentation. It is an attempt to dismiss an argument by discrediting the opponent. But the argument still stands. Abortion remains the unjust killing of an innocent human being. Nor does the endless reiteration of the word “choice” constitute a rational argument. The essential importance of choice is not in itself — it is not a terminal value — but in its capacity to choose what is good. Life is good and therefore protecting it is also good.
A revolution is surely needed, but not one that is achieved by way of slander, insult, prejudice, and a warped view of the issue. The revolution that is needed is a moral one that recognizes the sanctity of human life upon which rest all other rights. When that right is violated, all other rights are endangered, including the right to be treated justly and to have one’s opinions presented fairly.
The pro-abortion feminists who write for The Toronto Star (along with others who find the defense of life to be fanatical) are revolting against their own existence, for in each case, their mothers allowed them to be born. It is counterproductive to war against the Golden Rule.
(Dr. Donald DeMarco is a professor emeritus at St. Jerome’s University, and an adjunct professor at Holy Apostles College & Seminary. He is a regular columnist for the St. Austin Review. His latest books, How to Navigate Through Life and Apostles of the Culture of Life, are posted on amazon.com.)
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