You know what really pisses me off about the whole “Women should be punished” for having an abortion comment made by Donald Trump to MSNBC’s Chris Mathews? It’s all these pro-lifers who have come out screaming about how terrible of a thing that was to say. These women are “victims” they tell the media. They are “broken people who should be saved, not punished.” They are “animals who are locked in a cage and have no choice.” 

Bullshit.

I had an abortion. I went to a Planned Parenthood, they had me pee in a cup and then they confirmed what I already knew: I was pregnant. The problems was, I did not want to be pregnant. I talked with their counselor about options. I talked with her about risks. I talked with her about my physical well being and my emotional health. I talked with her about my worries and fears and trepidations. And then, I went home and I read the literature she gave me, and I spoke with my husband, and then we, together, made a difficult but well informed decision. 

Never, not one day since my abortion, have I ever considered myself a victim. Or broken. Or an animal in a cage. And I am not alone. In a 2015 longitudinal study out of the University of California, San Francisco, ninety-nine percent of the women surveyed said they had no regrets over having an abortion. Also, interestingly, in a survey conducted last year by Lifeway Research, seventy percent of women who had abortions identified themselves as Christian.

So how dare these holier-than-thou-types like Mike Huckabee or Ted Cruz claim that people should be held responsible for their actions, yet eagerly jump to the conclusion that reproductive aged women should be treated like children who must be protected from themselves. 

But, of course it is all just crap. These pro-life junkies don’t care about women. If they did, where are the masses of pro-lifers calling for parental leave, or working wages, or affordable childcare, or Head Start, or better schools, or any of the programs that would make a difference in the lives of woman and their children? Their silence on these quality of life issues is profound. 

What all their “don’t punish the women” rhetoric is really about is distraction. The reason they abhor Trump’s comment is that it is true. When abortion was illegal in this country women were punished. Up until 1960, many were arrested and threatened with prosecution if they did not reveal who did the procedure. They were demonized, their names printed in the paper with their crime. Abortion was a metaphorical scarlet letter. M for Murderer. 

This is the reality the Forced Birth movement does not want you to know. They are very well aware that the American public would not stomach a march to make abortion illegal. People do not want their moms, or sisters, or daughters or cousins or co workers not just persecuted but possibly prosecuted for terminating a pregnancy.

So they come on stage all puffed up in fake outrage, telling anyone who will listen that they would never want to punish the women. They are just victims, after all. We just want to save them, and their babies. 

Like bloody hell.