Few people in the U.S. know how to talk about abortion. Nikki Haley is one of them.
Whoopi Goldberg? Not so much.
Speaking at an event for the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, Haley said on Monday that real feminism would allow women to choose their own side of the abortion debate.
“Women are expected to support choice simply because we’re women,” said the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. “That’s just wrong. We all have to be true to ourselves and to others. Unfortunately, many on the Left use the abortion debate to divide women and demand conformity. They do this in the name of feminism. But that is not real feminism.”
The debate about abortion is so emotionally charged that it can be difficult for someone to take a stance without mudslinging. Haley did so, echoing a refrain for forward-thinking, pro-life women: Feminism should give us choices, and one of those choices is to be pro-life.
She even addressed a common fallacy lodged against people who oppose abortion: “Being pro-life is not about being for or against women. It’s about being for a baby’s right to live.”
If more people involved in the abortion debate could understand where the other side is coming from — pro-lifers believe the unborn deserve the rights of any other human, and pro-choicers believe unwanted pregnancies will hurt women or hold them back — they might have constructive conversations about the issue.
Haley tried to start one, and then Goldberg appeared. The next day, on “The View,” Goldberg addressed Haley’s speech with a bit of a tone shift. “So let me get this straight, so giving a woman a choice about what to do with her body is anti-feminist?” she said. “To me, you taking choice from people is anti-human.”
And this is why the abortion debate in America is going nowhere. Among U.S. adults, abortion opinions are split about 50/50, according to Gallup, which reports that 48% are pro-choice and 48% are pro-life.
But when Haley defends a view held by half of Americans, she’s “anti-human.” When pro-abortion activists talk about the other side “trying to police” women’s bodies and anti-abortion activists call people who’ve had abortions “murderers,” something is wrong. No mind was ever changed through sheer contempt.
