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Love bombed at the March for Life
A few priests took the stage to talk in dark, scary terms about sin, one shouting hoarsely, "We've shed the blood of 45 million children and their blood cries from the ground!" And, sure, a handful of people in the crowd had signs claiming that the "abortion holocaust" dwarfed the work of Hitler and Stalin combined. (One of these messages was on the shirt of a 16-year-old boy. When I asked him whether he was aware that many Jews found such comparisons callous, he shrugged and said, "We're just trying to compare the numbers.") But mostly the fetuses were depicted as cute, not bloody, and the talk was of compassion for women and creating a culture of life, as if the prospect of a Thomas-Roberts-Scalito court had given those assembled a new generosity toward those whose reproductive rights they may soon be poised to destroy.  For years, watchers of the far-right have been tracking this shift in the anti-abortion movement. The rise of so-called "crisis pregnancy centers," which deceive women but project a veneer of concern; the launch of Silent No More and other organizations that focus attention on the regrets and ambivalence of women who've terminated their pregnancies (not uncommon, given that the life circumstances surrounding abortions are often far from ideal); the creation of such organizations as Feminists for Life, which assert themselves as the true defenders of women's rights against the voracious "abortion industry"--all have been part of a carefully planned strategic shift by a pro-life movement desperate after its clinic bombings and abusive "rescues"in the `80s and `90s thoroughly alienated most of America.
What I saw in Washington today was the fruit of this strategy. And you could see it in the beaming faces of the tens of thousands of teenagers who populated the march, most of whom likely know Randall Terry only as the defender of poor, beleaguered Terri Schiavo, whose name came up like a mantra throughout the day, and not as the man who spent years of his life coordinating mass assaults on the dignity of women.
Love bombed at the March for Life | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 hidden)
Love bombed at the March for Life | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 hidden)
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