How We Know ‘Pro-Life’ People Don’t Actually Care About Reducing Abortions

December 20, 2016 / Barry Deutsch

There are plenty of good reasons to want to reduce the rate of abortions – like wanting to reduce hardship, costs, and stigma for people who might already be struggling.

But wanting to shame people who have abortions and force people to have unwanted births? Those are terrible goals.

So which goals do you think the so-called “pro-life” movement aims for? This comic drops in on a “pro-life strategy meeting” to reveal the hypocrisy of anti-choice rhetoric seeking to reduce abortion rates just for the sake of punishing people – when there are plenty of alternative solutions for support instead.

With Love,
The Editors at Everyday Feminism

Click for the Transcript

Panel 1

(A middle-aged bearded man, in a jacket and necktie, is sitting at the head of a conference table, In the foreground, we can see that there are others seated at the table.)

Man 1: We have to bring down the abortion rate! I want to hear some new ideas, people.

Panel 2

(Seated at the table, a woman in a striped shirt holds up a forefinger as she speaks.)

Woman: Here’s an idea: What if we focused our time and energy on accessible birth control? Because reducing abortions would reduce hardship, costs, and stigma for people who might already be struggling.

Panel 3

(The woman keeps talking, In the foreground, we can see the bearded man listening to her.)

Woman: This is exciting: A study in Colorado showed that teens given free long-term birth control were four times less likely to have an abortion.

Panel 4

(A large panel shows the woman, warming to her theme, spreading her arms wide as she speaks.)

Woman: That’s huge! If the US provided free long-acting birth control nationwide, it could prevent half a million abortions per year! And it would actually save money, by lowering unwanted births!

Panel 5

(Another shot with the bearded man in the foreground, questioning the woman. She looks puzzled at his question.)

Man 1: I don’t get it. How are people punished or humiliated in this plan?

Woman: Umm… They aren’t. They just don’t get pregnant.

Panel 6

(A shot of the bearded man, and the pro-lifers sitting to his left and right at the table, as they continue asking questions. Of the five pro-lifers we see in this panel, four are men.)

Man 2: So we don’t require doctors to lecture their patients?

Man 1: We don’t mandate painful and intrusive ultrasounds?

Woman 2: We don’t close down any health clinics?

Panel 7

(The woman in the striped shirt leans forward eagerly as she talks, grinning.)

Woman: We don’t have to do any of those things! We can prevent half a million abortions per year without any coercion at all! Isn’t that great?

Panel 8

(Shot of the bearded man, as he speaks thoughtfully, one hand stroking his beard.)

Man 1: I think I see what the problem here is…

Panel 9

(Final panel. We are outside the building; the woman in the striped shirt is on the ground, unhurt but looking a bit dizzy, as if she’s just been thrown out of the building. Through a window, we can hear the bearded man, still inside, speaking.)

Man 1: Okay, gentlemen, let’s get on with the meeting.

Kicker Panel

(This is a small “extra” panel, inserted into the lower-right-hand corner of Panel 9. We see the woman in the striped shirt talking to two other femme-presenting people…)

Woman: And that’s how I became pro-choice.

To learn more about this topic, check out:

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Barry Deutsch creates political cartoons with the help of his supporters on Patreon. He also creates Hereville, a comic about an 11-year-old Orthodox Jewish girl who wants to fight monsters, and (with Becky Hawkins) SuperButch, a comic about a lesbian superhero in the 1940s. Check out his blog and follow him on Twitter and on Tumblr.