You Really Got Me

[Content Note: Harassment; war on agency. I am republishing this piece after reading another ludicrous screed in which a conservative dude imagines he's really triumphed over a liberal woman by accusing her of "loving abortion."]

There are a bunch of things that harassing emailers and Twitterers and sometimes commenters like to say that they imagine are the greatest GOTCHAS that ever GOT.

There's the stuff about my appearance—"You're fat!" (yup) or "You're ugly!" (okay) or whatever, which ranges from statements of fact to matters of opinion—and there's the stuff that accuses me of having an agenda—which: yes I do, and I'm hardly circumspect about it—and some other broad categories, but the one I love the most is this: "You're pro-abortion."

I imagine they expect that I would vehemently deny being "pro-abortion." Or that it bothers me, really just gets under my skin, even if I don't reply.

Nope. Because I am pro-abortion.

I want every single person who wants and/or needs an abortion to be able to get one, easily and safely. And that makes me pro-abortion.

No caveats about how abortion is a terrible thing, but. No qualifications about how abortion should be rare, but. No lies about how no one wants an abortion, but.

I am pro-abortion.

And, yes, I am also pro- lots of other stuff that incidentally reduces the number of abortions. I am pro-comprehensive sex education. I am pro-contraceptive access and affordability. I am pro-employment policies that support expectant parents, including a livable wage, healthcare benefits, and paid family leave. I am pro-government assistance for poor families. I am pro-lunch programs for children. I am pro-comprehensive support for parents raising children with disabilities. I am pro-dismantling the rape culture. For a start.

And I am very much pro-acknowledging that, even in some more perfect world where unwanted pregnancies were more widely preventable and pregnant people weren't obliged to terminate wanted pregnancies for financial reasons and and and, there would still be a need for access to abortion.

So I am pro-abortion.

The people who levy this label like an accusation like to imply (even though even they know it is patently absurd) that being pro-abortion means some sort of agenda in which people who don't want abortions are coerced or forced into getting them. That's bullshit.

It's bullshit—and it's projection. It's a projection of the anti-abortion position which really and practically wants to deny abortions to everyone, to people who want them.

I am invested in providing meaningful choice. I am pro-choice.

And, yes, I am pro-abortion.