Some Women are “Bragging About Countless Abortions as Though They Were Pedicures”

Almost always, the comments that follow an op-ed are more intriguing that the opinion piece itself. A classic example is “Abortion is no joke: Flippancy can be a gift to activists,” by Poppy Sowerby. It appeared today in Unherd , “a British news and opinion website founded in July 2017.” I am unfamiliar with both Sowerby and Unherd, but it describes itself as “not interested in contrarianism, or opposition for its own sake; but we make it our mission to challenge herd mentality wherever we see it.” Thus the name, Unherd.

Understanding the setting is important. Britain has gone off the deep end with abortion. Recently, the House of Commons overwhelmingly ended the “ban” on abortion after 24 weeks. (The measure is before the House of Lords where it is expected to be readily approved.) In reality it has long been open season throughout pregnancy on unborn children diagnosed with disabilities, the notorious “Ground C.” Even attempts to prevent self-induced abortions using the abortion pill have gone down to defeat. And only the House of Lords can prevent the other shoe—assisted suicide—from dropping. Resistance on assisted suicide, however, is much more pronounced.

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Sowerby is a powerful feminist writer, pro-abortion from her head to her toes. What worries her, however, are feminists who are “bragging about countless procedures as though they were pedicures.”

Sowerby begins

“I’m pregnant! Having a scan soon to find out if it’s a girl or an abortion.” You might have seen this post before; it’s been doing the rounds on X since at least 2020. If not, you might well see it again, among the exhibits which in a few years’ time could be used to justify scrapping a woman’s right to terminate at all. This would be not only a victory for evangelical and populist pressure, but a punishment for the crime of feminist flippancy.

Hence the title of the post.

Then there is the singer Lily Allen who, between giggles, sang how she used to “get pregnant all the time.” She then, Sowerby writes, “added a line that Frank Sinatra did not sing: ‘Abortions, I’ve had a few. But then again, I can’t remember exactly how many.’”

But so what? Abortion would seem to be deeply, irrevocably ensconced in Britain—indeed, abortion “seems to be at a high point of reproductive laissez-faire.” What’s the worry?

But opening up the abortion debate in Britain risks providing ammunition for an insurgent Right, given that Nigel Farage had already pledged to restrict terminations to under the present 24-week limit. The Conservative father-of-the-House, Sir Edward Leigh, told the debate that “sex-selective abortion” could be an unintended consequence of the amendment, while another MP, Rebecca Smith, warned that the legislation would be used to “further… expand abortion time limits”.

The American “boogeyman”—the Dobbs decision that toppled Roe—has made its appearance. Writing in Christianity Today, Madeleine Davies quotes Julia Lopez

an MP representing an outer London suburb, [who] suggested that “the boogeyman of the US right” had made a return to the chamber. “Apparently, unless we agree to these amendments, evangelical religious groups paid for by US cash are going to start rolling back women’s reproductive rights in this country,” she told MPs. “This is utter nonsense.”

But that doesn’t deter Sowerby. She warns, “The arguments that toppled Roe in America are closing in here.” This is probably preposterous but, just to make sure, Sowerby advises

There is wisdom in avoiding being flippant about abortion. …

A self-aware, credible feminism is one which handles this question with moral curiosity and empathy, rather than dangling our rights as rage bait, ready to be snatched away, or bragging about countless procedures as though they were pedicures.

Ah, yes, “moral curiosity and empathy.” Sincere? Barely. More covering her bases.

I mentioned in the introduction that the comments were better than the opinion piece. There were many examples.

One poster began by quoting a sentence I didn’t: “For American Gen Z-ers, edgy abortion jokes are an attempt at defiance in the face of ever-eroding rights: Roe v. Wade was repealed in the US in 2022.” She writes

This sentence glosses over the fact that Roe v. Wade was never on a solid legal footing and was always susceptible to attack. RBG [Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg] criticised it as too sweeping (trying to do too much, too fast) and because it was based on the right to privacy rather than the right to gender equality.

I wonder how many American Gen Z-ers have considered or absorbed that.

Abortion flippancy is simply indecent, a toxic overshoot of the TMI millennial feminism that [television writer] Lena Dunham exemplifies. I want no part of it. I saw that clip of Lily Allen and felt myself get more conservative.

LifeNews.com Note: Dave Andrusko is the editor of National Right to Life News and an author and editor of several books on abortion topics. He frequently writes Today’s News and Views — an online opinion column on pro-life issues.

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