Every movement has some people involved who do not represent it well. Representative Tim Murphy of Ohio was recently revealed as one of those people inside the pro-life movement. Rep. Murphy had an affair and then tried to cover it up by suggesting his mistress have an abortion.
Abortion rights activists cried, “hypocrite,” and potentially rightfully so, because Rep Murphy voted for the Pain-Capable Child Protection Act (which would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy). The news of his affair and apparent support of early-term abortions was disappointing to pro-life advocates across the nation.
The fundamental position of the pro-life movement is that every single human being is inherently valuable, no matter the circumstances in which that life was created. The pro-life community responded correctly to Rep. Murphy’s actions by demanding that he step down from office. Unfortunately, Rep. Murphy is not the only man who is pushing women into choices they would not otherwise make.
There are countless women and minor-age girls who are being coerced into having abortions. Whether the pressure comes from parents, significant others, peers, or society, statistics are clear that women choose abortion as a last result. Additionally, the mainstream feminist agenda compounds the pressure with messaging that being a mother is practically suicide to a woman’s future and financial stability.
Abortion supporters were correct in declaring “hypocrisy” in Rep. Murphy’s case. However, they are missing the hypocrisy in their own movement. They claim to support women, but they actively resist any and all laws that would restrict abortion, including laws against coercing women into abortion.
Here in Oregon, there are no laws restricting abortion, including no law requiring abortion providers to report when they see a woman they suspect is being pressured or forced into an abortion. In addition to calling out hypocrisies by people in power, we also need to continue to draw more attention to the legal holes that leave women, and their unborn children, vulnerable.
