Whatever their justification for their actions doesn’t mean that they are not fundamentally interested in controlling the bodies of anyone who is not a white man. It’s STILL controlling the bodies of others. And now they are attempting to foist that on people who are not of their faith.
It’s about control. Let’s stop sugar coating it and taking their justifications seriously. If they only focused on themselves, that would be one thing, but they are actively pushing this onto the rest of us. It’s fully about control. Their religious veneer does not change that.
That might be their justification, but ultimately IT IS about control.
Because they buy into the justification, and often women who are part of abusive systems like this seek to impose that abuse on others (their children, other women they have control over for whatever reason, etc). They have internalized their proscribed role in Christian Theocratic thought - they are meant to be moral paragons and to help other women and children be good Christians and to submit to their husbands.
It’s still about control.
Which is about controlling others. They are not just using this to organize their own social lives, they are looking to impose it on people who are not them. They want to make this the ruling ideology of the US. They are looking to impose a theocracy.
Plenty of men get away with all sorts of behavior specifically labeled “sinful.” Just look at how they worship Trump, even though he’s an incredibly sinful person who has never made a public profession of contrition. He’s in fact said the opposite. They are massive fucking hypocrites, because they are using their faith to control others.
Yet if you listen to the rightwing echo chamber, 36 to 40 week abortions are commonplace, happening every day, even! They are not. I have never heard of one actually happening, but you couldn’t convince the fascists of that. Facts, man. Whatcha gonna do?
Which is, in itself, sinful. Both scary Old Testament God and hippy New Testament Jeesus make it really clear: punishing sin is God’s job. Punishing sinners on earth is itself sinning.
The Bible also points out repeatedly that most people calling themselves Christians (or in the OT, variously rabbi, prophets, etc) are not what they claim and will be the first chucked into the lake of fire.
It’s no coincidence that organized evangelical opposition to abortion happened at the height of the sexual revolution, as women were challenging the prevailing patriarchy and entering the workforce in “direct challenge” to men.
Once women started demanding equal jobs, equal pay, and equal treatment to men, and more importantly, started getting it, that’s when the right lost its shit over abortion.
They haven’t kept it a secret that they believe a woman’s place is barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. They think getting rid of birth control and abortion is the quickest way to achieve that outcome.
That’s true, but we should also remember that this came later, like starting in the late 70s/ early 80s:
I’d argue that what really motivated them was the gay rights movement (as pro-gay laws in local government was where that really began). They picked up an alliance with the pro-life movement and later the white supremacist movement, and have been moving further right on women’s rights ever since.
And get away with worse behavior. See the report about the Southern Baptists for example.
Even if the man is caught, the man gets to say “oops. I messed up” in front of the congregation and everything is good for him again. But that temptress? Even if she was a child? Nope. She has to carry that fetus to term.
Yeah. It’s about controlling sinful behavior. But only sinful behavior of women whether they consented, whether they were raped, whether they are women or AFAB and not women, or whether they were a child who was raped. If it was actually about sinful behavior regardless of gender, it would be bans on Viagra and decent rape laws as well as abortion.
Heather Cox Richardson makes a compelling argument that it’s all about racism. Post-Brown v. Board bigots were looking for how to regain power and re-establish segregation. The “single-issue voter” issues were concocted out of that underlying purpose - to align all the bigots into a big voting block behind Republican politicians.
You are making the wrong assumption that all sides will be treated fairly. In reality Republicans get soft ball questions, while everyone else gets bodyline.
Thanks for the great article! I hadn’t thought about the gay rights tie-in/catalyst, though I am not surprised, and should have seen it.
The sixties and seventies (and on) were pretty much the apocalypse for the religious right. So many non-white, CIS, men wanting to be treated fairly and with dignity and respect.
On this point, it becomes increasingly frustrating to me that the right can rally folks around any number of hatreds, and they’ll gain support. Meanwhile, on the other side some folks will use every “ism” under the sun as an excuse for not supporting liberal candidates or policies - especially if they are women or involve women. IMO, sexism is the first (and worst) issue we’ve yet to resolve.
I’m not sure about all of it. But racism definitely plays a big role. For an awful lot of them the only thing more important than controlling women is controlling women of color.
Homophobia plays a roll too. Because when you drill down, it’s all hate, and fear, and controlling the “other.”
Yep. Find a sexist? Dig a little deeper and you’ll find they are racist too. Find a racist? Dig deeper and they are a misogynist as well. Find a misogynist? Dig a deeper and see the homophobia.
But forced-birth is very much based on a hatred and need to control women or those perceived (however wrongly) as women.
Thanks for the reference, I just reserved “ To make men free : a history of the Republican Party” from my library.
I haven’t read Ms. Richard son’s work yet, but wouldn’t be surprised if there is a bit of “letting the genie out of the bottle” involved with the whole project. I agree with @anon23281680, @PsiPhiGrrrl and:
There’s plenty of hate a bigotry to go around. If we really want to go for the hat trick, we can blame the wealthy and powerful who have been stoking bigotry, hatred, and fear in order to stay in power and avoid accountability.
