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Why Are Abortion Proponents So Emotional?
Proponents of abortion get quite emotional, many to the point of irrationality. Their reactions to the potential that there might be even the slightest constraints on abortion are way over the top. We have seen quite a bit of hysterics on display the last couple of months.
Why? I can’t think of another issue that generates such a high level of emotion, even supposedly existential issues like “climate change.” The weird sex advocates get emotional and are very persistent, but even they don’t get hysterical in the same way that abortion advocates do.
What is it about abortion that causes such reactions?
For this discussion, I am referring to the extreme activists who put themselves on public display, not the vast muddy middle of people that @susanquinn addresses below.
[I operate on a theory that the more I understand the other party’s motivations, the more likely I can help either find a workable solution, or convince them that they might be mistaken.]
Published in Culture
I would say the emotions run high because it is a ‘gut’ feeling- pretty much wherever you are on the abortion spectrum. Towards the middle people are ambivalent, towards the ends they are certain and very much want to stay certain in order to not come in conflict with their co-believers. And so they are fervent in their beliefs and absolute in their faith.
Yes, they burned down Portland again last night, even though Oregon is one of the most leftist, pro-abortion states. Its just a reflex reaction, and they are always “angry.” Must be a miserable way to live.
Yes. They are on the wrong side of this century’s slavery debate and the realization is not welcome.
Counselor, are you playing devil’s advocate here? Just wondering.
Re : “…without abortion rights, women exist in a state of sexual slavery.”
Maybe I’m just dense today, but I don’t understand. Somebody has to explain that to me.
That’s okay. Even the grandmothers of most people alive today didn’t experience anything close to sexual or political slavery.
I should add to this. Abortion is the sacrament but the faith is in sexual freedom. Sexual freedom is their spiritual connection with whatever they consider divine. It’s actually quite a pagan outlook.
Yes, of course. I strongly oppose abortion myself. I just think that the viewpoint that I outlined explains the anger of many people on the other side.
Because, no matter how irrational it clearly is, that doesn’t stop it from being their viewpoint. It’s just more evidence of how off-kilter they are.
Sorry but “it seems to me”, and “recognize” speak to one’s own voice, rather than play-acting for effect or clicks or whatever.
If you would walk a fine line, you should focus better.
Yeah, and even more puzzling is that all this is happening in spite of the widespread availability of birth control, including the “morning after” pill. Given the emotional effect of abortion on a woman, how is abortion such a popular abomination? Well, just another thing I’ll never understand.
One thing I’ve noticed about the pro-abortion memes that have been popping up lately (and that they all seem to have in common) is this bizarre obsession and/or fetishization with the uterus (and reproductive organs in general), sprinkled liberally with the f-word. I observed something similar when I participated in a political “dialog” a number of years ago at my local public library (minus the vulgarities) in which the strongest abortion proponent kept talking about her uterus as if it was her identity. Strange, I thought. It’s gotten worse over time. I think that ties in with previous comments about elevating their reproductive organs and sexual obsessions to a religious significance. I can’t imagine any well-adjusted individual (of either sex) so identifying with a body part.
The other facet of this phenomenon is the sheer number of abortions since Roe was handed down. Almost everyone knows someone who’s had one, and may well have aided and abetted in some fashion. That really takes its toll on eroding one’s conscience and doing everything possible to shine the light away from the horrific act. There’s a lot of pain and denial there. A lot. Roe was a backstop for all of that. Now that it’s gone, so is the backstop.
I think it’s simple. It’s the only issue that doesn’t work against them today. They want open borders, most of the population does not. They want high taxes, but that only works for people who don’t pay taxes and a few who can use corporate taxes to their advantage. They want to give free stuff to folks but’s that’s more for the same folks who don’t pay taxes. They don’t want to confront China, but most folks don’t want to fight with Russia and many know China is the threat. They want no guns, but guns have bi partisan support. They want to keep spending but inflation is destroying the economy. The only issue, big or little that works for them is abortion. Folks don’t want to make it illegal and all they have to do is lie about what the court decision was. I don’t think that works either as folks will learn before the election that the court did not make abortion illegal. But for now it works and that’s all they got.
But a significant majority are okay with restrictions after fairly early on.
Maybe they need to be reminded that there is such a thing as contraception. Also, I wonder if these young women have any idea of what the dark ages actually were. Someone once said, the left knows an awful lot, But so much of what they know is wrong.
It was Reagan. more or less, “It’s not that our friends on the left are ignorant, it’s that they know so much that isn’t so.”
I’d like to expand on this a little. Contraceptives have done two destructive things: 1) they have people convinced of the Big Lie of consequence-free sex, and 2) they have detached women from their biology, their reproductive capacity, and their maternal nature. Abortion is the natural follow-on to the contraceptive mentality.
So, while feminist pro-aborts are adamant about their bodily autonomy and seem inordinately fixated on their uteri and vulvas (think of the “costumes” at the women’s marches — or try not to), they’re actually quite hostile to their natural bodily functions. The women who have the most knowledge of and most appropriate response to their reproductive faculties are women (and their husbands) who practice Natural Family Planning (NFP).
Nope. You are projecting a moral framework onto an immoral group.
Their conditioned to get emotional because getting emotional has gotten them their way on this and other issues in the past. I’m not exactly saying all of them are consciously manipulative. But I am saying that they wouldn’t be getting this emotional if getting emotional in the past hadn’t, much more often than not, gotten them cover for presenting pro-choice arguments that are recognized as stupid and monstrous when made with less emotion, and gotten them a pass for asserting falsehoods, and gotten them the reward of getting their way.
While I’m not saying they consciously get emotional to get their way, I would say they have consciously prevented people from seeing, or being reminded of ultrasounds. They’ve consciously worked to prevent people who were once babies who survived late term abortion from being widely seen or heard.
Why?
Because they very unemotionally realize that when a person sees those pictures, or sees and hears those people, there’s a danger that person might suddenly think: “God help me. I’m putting the emotions of whoever it is who wants abortion (or an abortion) ahead of an innocent human being’s right to live. That’s insane.”
“What gets rewarded, gets repeated.”
I think an additional factor is that they’re not accustomed to losing.
They’ve bought into the Progressive idea that history trends in one direction only and conservatives are on “the wrong side of history.” Things might not be moving as fast as they would prefer, but they assume that victories once won will be permanent. They are now freaking out at the realization that if conservatives can undo one major pillar of their agenda, what might be next?
Maybe they should be thinking about, if their leftist leaders have lied to them about the “arc of history” etc, what else have they lied about?
I try not to respond to comments that are just being contrarian for the sake of being contrarian. But I have a lot of young women in my life, and I’ve touted Camille’s talking points more than once. Not sure I’ve changed any minds (yet) but it gives them pause.
To quote the movie “Dark Star,” “The concept is valid no matter where it originates!”
The anger is looking for an outlet. But why are they angry? There’s a different answer for every person. Daddy issues is a big one (even I don’t have enough guts to say that to their face). A lot of them are angry at the guy who didn’t call.
My cliche is that every woman loves every guy she has had sex with. Either before, or after. So with more sex, there’s more rejection. I’ve spoken with a few woman who claim to be cavalier about sex; they’re not. There are wounds not healed.
At 63 I am gobsmacked by the women who have shared with me their abortions. I told JY the women I know who have shared that information (about my age), and he was gobsmacked. I ran out of fingers without trying.
JY’s opinion (which I’d never thought of) was that they were looking for absolution. Wanted me to share something that would make them feel better. He might be right. I don’t know.
BUT, my daughter, at 31, has one friend who has had one abortion (that she knows of). Younger women are a lot more pro life, for a lot of reasons. One, they grew up with ultrasound pictures of siblings on the fridge. Two, having a baby out of wedlock is not ideal; also not a big deal. (disclosure: my oldest granddaughter was eight months old when her parents got married.) Three, it’s easier to not get pregnant. Four, blessings and gratitude to all the people who have fought the good fight for decades. Planned Parenthood built a clinic in my little town, and that was a Hell No. It never opened, thanks to a dedicated group who made it loud and clear they were not welcome.
If it were easy, we’d have it figured out. It’s not. And we’ll continue to struggle. But we all have a role to play. I considered it at calling to model a good marriage, to raise sons who understand that sex means more to women, and teach my daughter to have sex with only someone who would be a good father.
There’s a biochemical side to it too, apparently especially for women. If someone tells someone something personal/secret/embarrassing/whatever about themself, it releases endorphins (oxytocin for one) that makes the teller feel better and closer to the person they told, even if the person told couldn’t care less or maybe wasn’t even listening. But HEARING something personal, doesn’t make you feel closer. TELLING does. Kinda weird when you think about it, but it’s been proven. So not just emotional validation.
The ability to have an abortion represents the ability to do whatever you want without consequences. In other words, the freedom to abort equates to freedom from responsibility. And having to assume responsibility is a frightening prospect indeed.
I hope you are right, for their sake. That is, I hope they have not so destroyed their own moral faculties as to be beyond recovery.
If you have not seen Matt Walsh’s show from last night, here’s your chance. He deals with the hysteria of the anti-life crowd in the first ten minutes, approximately:
“Teach it phenomenology.” – trying not to threadjack. Really hard.