Feminist commentators have hissy fits when Dem candidates don’t mention their very favorite topic of conversation: abortion
Hell hath no fury like a feminist commentator when the Dems don’t focus on her very favorite topic of conversation: abortion.
Here’s Cristina Cauterucci at Slate hitting the ceiling over the abortion omission at the third Democratic presidential debate on Sept. 12:
In post-debate tweets, Sen. Kamala Harris and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke both scolded the moderators for neglecting to ask a question about abortion. But there’s no reason why either of them couldn’t have brought it up on their own. Sen. Cory Booker somehow managed to pivot a question about his vegan diet into an appeal for better health care for veterans. At a moment when states in the South and Midwest are outright banning abortion, when Republican legislators are floating the idea of the death penalty for women who terminate their pregnancies, when conservative news outlets—inspired by actual lawmakers—are suggesting that women with life-threatening ectopic pregnancies simply wait them out until they naturally miscarry, anyone on the debate stage would have been forgiven for changing the subject from their own “professional setbacks” to women’s lives…
With that in mind, and considering the fact that our current president is an accused rapist,….
Kate McDonough goes ballistic at Jezebel:
[T]he candidates don’t actually need to be asked a question about abortion in order to talk about abortion. They can just talk about it. It’s a really common medical procedure.
They could have talked about abortion in the first major exchange of the debate, when George Stephanopoulos brought out the inevitable question how to pay for public programs like Medicare-for-All.
Elizabeth Warren gave a moving answer about the painful costs of a for-profit healthcare system—“Families pay every time an insurance company says, sorry, you can’t see that specialist. Every time an insurance company says, sorry, that doctor is out of network, sorry, we are not covering that prescription,” she said—that could have just as easily included a reference to abortion restrictions currently in place in some state-regulated private insurance plans….
Harris could have brought up the gag rule in her response about how the current administration is whittling down patient protections, and O’Rourke could have easily talked about abortion while discussing the lack of access to care people in Texas are living through right now….
Anna North has a hissy fit at Vox:
Most of the 2020 Democrats agree on a few broad policy proposals on abortion: repealing the Hyde Amendment, which bans federal funding for most abortions; codifying the right to an abortion in federal statute if Roe v. Wade is overturned; and repealing the domestic and global gag rules to allow recipients of federal family planning funding to perform and refer for abortions.
But that doesn’t mean that every candidate, if elected, would make reproductive health a priority. To judge how committed the candidates are, voters need to hear them speak. And on Thursday, they didn’t get that opportunity.
The Democratic debates started out well for people concerned about reproductive health. In June, Democrats tried to outdo each other as advocates for abortion rights, with Washington Gov. Jay Inslee raising some eyebrows by claiming to have the best track record on the issue. Meanwhile, Julián Castro told the crowd, “I don’t believe only in reproductive freedom, I believe in reproductive justice….”
From angry bird Chloe Angyal at Marie Claire:
As Media Matters noted, despite not saying the word “abortion” (or even its politically palatable euphemisms, “women’s health care” or “reproductive choice”), the candidates did manage to mention The Day After Tomorrow, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s hair, and “17th century philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.” Also, penguins….
In addition to the lengthy discussion about health care, there were plenty of opportunities to make sure abortion, and reproductive rights more generally, were part of the conversation. Abortion is a racial justice issue. It’s an economic issue. It’s a Civil Rights issue. People who risk their lives every day to provide abortions will tell you it sure as hell is a gun control issue. It’s an immigration issue. If, like Joe Biden, you’re going to tell a live TV audience that the most important thing in life is family, you better be ready, willing, and able to talk about family planning.
Anyone wanna guess what the No. 1 topic will be at the fourth Democratic presidential debate in mid-October?
I’m willing to bet it’s going to be three hours of nothing but.
Posted by Charlotte Allen
Stupid Girl 
Contrast the Democrat candidates, who don’t want to talk about abortion, with libertarian commentators like Glenn Reynolds, who also doesn’t want to talk about his personal abortion views. It seems that Glenn supports the idea that a woman has the right to get pregnant, have an abortion and sell the resulting fetal body parts if she wants. She can turn herself into a fetal body part farm, and Glenn will be four-square behind her as she does.
Glenn Reynolds and the Democrats have that much in common: they both know which positions they can publicly defend and which positions they support, but cannot be seen as publicly defending.
I know there are some who read this who won’t believe it.
Simple test: If you don’t believe me, just ask Glenn.
As Glenn has previously said when I pointed this out “He’s not wrong”
I have never figured out why so called feminists are so in favor of abortion. It seems like quite a slap in the face to actual women.
” People who risk their lives every day to provide abortions . . .” Interesting choice of words/argument. When was the last time anyone was killed because they provided abortions?