Amanda Marcotte: ‘Terrorism’ the ‘Logical End Point’ of Conservative ‘Deep Sense of Entitlement’ to Women’s Bodies

December 1st, 2015 12:56 PM

Anyone fascinated by strident pro-choice rhetoric finds that Amanda Marcotte seldom disappoints in that regard. In a Monday Salon piece pegged to the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood shootings, the lefty pundit asserted that “terrorism…is the logical end point of [the pro-life movement’s] deep sense of entitlement over others’ bodies,” and that the movement “has been built on a lie: That it is about ‘life,’ when it’s clearly a movement of religious prudes who want to sneer at women they think are sluts.”

Marcotte added that “a movement built on a lie is bound to be one that’s wicked and dishonest in all its tactics, and that is what we see with the anti-choice movement. People who are willing to lie to get their way are not going to apologize and grow a conscience just because some people get killed for their lies…This shooting should be a reminder that the pro-choice side is the moral one, and not just because you never have to worry about some pro-choicer shooting up a crowd under the delusion of religious righteousness.”

From Marcotte’s article (bolding added):

The anti-choice movement is rotten to its seedy core. The movement, since its inception, has been built on a lie: That it is about “life,” when it’s clearly a movement of religious prudes who want to sneer at women they think are sluts…A movement built on a lie is bound to be one that’s wicked and dishonest in all its tactics, and that is what we see with the anti-choice movement. People who are willing to lie to get their way are not going to apologize and grow a conscience just because some people get killed for their lies…

This shooting should be a reminder that the pro-choice side is the moral one, and not just because you never have to worry about some pro-choicer shooting up a crowd under the delusion of religious righteousness.

Anti-choicers…belie[ve] that they have more right to control your body and your private life than you do, on the grounds that some god told them so. Once you embrace that level of entitlement, it makes sense that you also think you’re entitled to lie to gain the control over people you think is yours.

That’s why it’s wasted time ever expecting anti-choicers to take terrorism—which is the logical end point of that deep sense of entitlement over others’ bodies—seriously at all…

…On every level, pro-choicers have the moral high ground. It’s not just that they value things like scientific evidence, proper health care, freedom and honesty…

...The anti-choice rejection of sexual freedom is inherently immoral. It’s about denying people their right to self-discovery and pleasure…The moral choice is the one that allows people to be free and have fun without running unnecessary health risks. The moral choice is one that holds that children should be wanted, not imposed on women as punishment for the non-crime of having sex.

Liberals are the good guys here, and people waving Bibles should not intimidate us out of saying just that.

In a piece posted several hours earlier than the one discussed above, Marcotte stated that pro-lifers are “about punishment and rage [and] making women cry. About making them pay, for being free, for being young…It is disingenuous in the extreme for the same people who profit, politically and financially, off stoking this rage to act like it’s a surprise when one of these men takes it to the next level, would want to graduate from making women cry to making women and those that help them bleed.” (Italics in original.)