January 3, 2013

"40 years ago, abortion-rights activists won an epic victory with Roe v. Wade..."

"They've been losing ever since," says the new cover of Time Magazine:



You need a subscription to read the article, but here's a shorter post by the author, Kate Pickert:
The pro-life cause has been winning the abortion war, in part, because it has pursued an organized and well-executed strategy. But public opinion is also increasingly on their side. Thanks to prenatal ultrasound and advanced neonatology, Americans now understand what a fetus looks like and that babies born as early as 24 weeks can now survive....
The prochoice establishment has also been hampered by a generational divide within the cause. Young abortion rights activists today complain that the leaders of feminist organizations, who were in their 20s and 30s when Roe was decided, aren’t eager to pass the torch to a new generation whose activism is more nimble and Internet-based.
In what form are these metaphorical torches passed? When and where do elder leaders step down and cede power to youngsters? If their activism is so "nimble," why can't they grab the power they want? Or is this a special "feminist" theory that the older women ought to get out of the way? Back in the day, expecting older women to get out of the way was regarded as an anti-feminist notion. Well, too bad I don't have a Time subscription or I'd investigate the details of these young activists and their whiny ways.

101 comments:

Michael K said...

The women's movement, including the pro-abortion segment is all about money. Ralph Nader said so some years ago. The reason why the alleged tea party organization and Dick Armey parted is the same. It's all about the money. Why should those older women allow the young ones to get their rice bowl ?

jd said...

Does the library at your school not provide free access to Time?

Pete the Streak said...

I think your headline has a typo.

Methadras said...

Does the article state at all how Roe v. Wade is just bad law?

TosaGuy said...

Young and nimble activists don't read TIME.

pdug said...

"And pro-life state legislators are passing laws that require clinics to comply with arcane requirements—such as a hallway having to be more than five feet wide— that make it difficult for them to stay open."

Next they'll require them to comply with the ADA and install wheelchair ramps! Will justice never be done!

Nonapod said...

There are certainly a lot of abortions going on for a side that is ostensibly losing according to this headline.

TosaGuy said...

Wide hallways are paternalistic.

Levi Starks said...

Many of the children who might have "carried the torch"
Were "torched" before they became children.

Baron Zemo said...

I think all the dead babies are the real losers but you guys don't care about them.

sdharms said...

could it also be the "Roe effect" on demographics? If you favor killing your offspring, there are fewer of your kind to pass the torch to. Their numbers must necessarily asymtotically approach zero. As the KS prosecution of the semen donor to a lesbian couple will have the same effect....math catches up with them.

Anonymous said...
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Levi Starks said...
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Brew Master said...

The pro-life position is demographically favored over the long term. Those with moral objections have more children, and teach them the moral objections.

Those who think it is a fine method of birth control have less children.

Carry that out several generations and of course you have more support for the pro-life position, it is called evolution.

test said...

pduggie said...
"And pro-life state legislators are passing laws that require clinics to comply with arcane requirements—such as a hallway having to be more than five feet wide— that make it difficult for them to stay open."


Personally I love watching leftists frothing at the mouth when tactics they invented are used against them. It would be even better if they learned from the experience and agreed to legislate honestly, but there's no point in fantasizing.

Anonymous said...
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Ann Althouse said...

"I think your headline has a typo."

Oops. Sorry. Fixed.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

So ever since a political decision by the court 40 years ago they have experienced politics eroding what they thought they had "won" at the time? Imagine that!

Now, others may think the law has been strengthened and improved by additions like parental notification or use of Plan B.

Anonymous said...

Just took a calculated risk with a risk adverse bureaucracy. For what it's worth, I asked my class of inner city teenagers if they knew of anybody who has had an abortion. ZERO hands went up. And these are kids who'll tell me anything and everything.

test said...

Brew Master said...
The pro-life position is demographically favored over the long term. Those with moral objections have more children, and teach them the moral objections.


That's why they prioritize converting school curricula from the traditional understanding of education to political indoctination.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

The problem is the established feminists won't pay the young activists to go to med school, is my guess.

Peter said...

There are really two issues here:

1. The morality of abortion, and

2. The legitimacy of the Court's decison.

Even if you are convinced that abortion should remain legal in all cases, how many truly accept the "emanations from penumbras" hocus-pocus used to find this right in the Constitution?

garage mahal said...

Seemingly nothing can be done to curb gun deaths. Just a fact of life.

However, there are no limits on ways to curb abortion.

Amartel said...

Oh, fetch the smelling salts, somebody's feeling faint and farty. Nothing is the fault of progressives; it's all procedural and external. Sexist Generational divides.

Brew Master said...

Marshal said...

That's why they prioritize converting school curricula from the traditional understanding of education to political indoctination.


They think that is a winning strategy, but it is still failure in the long run. You can convert others to self select for their own destruction, but the end result is their own destruction.

Evolution favors those that reporduce successfully. Killing your own offspring is a one way road to extinction.

The people who reproduce will own the future, those that do not, will not be around to contest it.

Chip Ahoy said...

Tell your class Chip sez hey

TosaGuy said...

Boomers will try to stay in charge and in power as long as they can. It is what they do. Younger generations simply are there to serve them.

This is no different, and perhaps even more powerfully so, for the political activist types.

Michael K said...

garage, if it is any consolation, the gun ban issue is all about the money, too. Don't you think Feinstein knows her ban won't pass ? That won't stop the flow of money to her. Ditto for the NRA but they have a president who is doing the fund raising for them. What luck !

Abdul Abulbul Amir said...


Whatever. The powerful abortion industry lobby still calls the shots on capitol hill.

Wisco Gal said...

they won't give up the torch b/c there is a generational lag between the original pioneers and the newly indoctrinated children...what's left of them that is.

Wisco Gal said...

Not sure who is left to keep us "progressing" as a society with 40 million dead babies since Roe v. Wade.

Seeing Red said...
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Seeing Red said...

Wait until they come for the hammers. LOLOL

Bryan C said...

How are prenatal ultrasound and improved medical care for premature infants a "loss" for the pro-choice cause?

Brian Brown said...

There will be over 3,000 abortions done in America today and yet good leftists bemoan about the pro-abortion movement: "They've been losing ever since"

Of course while said good leftists are pretending to care that a mere 20 children were shot dead in a school a few weeks ago.

I won't be lectured about gun control from these ghouls.

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...
Seemingly nothing can be done to curb gun deaths.


Nobody, anywhere, has said any such thing.

You fat, fucking idiot.

n.n said...

Peter:

The court's decision in Roe vs Wade is unconstitutional. America's national charter, The Declaration of Independence, recognizes an individual's unalienable rights from "creation", which may be considered biological, or perhaps conscious. The Constitution, with the Fourteenth Amendment, confirms that no citizen shall be deprived of their life without due process. Elective abortion, certainly, is illegal under our law. Abortion in general is execrable. The choice, with rare exception, occurs before a man and woman have sex.

All of the abortion policies practiced in this nation, including: Eugenics, Roe vs Wade, the euphemistic "reproductive rights", are illegal under our law. First, because our right to life is inalienable. Second, because our right to life cannot be taken without due process. The mother has no right to elective abortion of her child under American law. The State cannot sanction the termination of a life without due process.

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...
Seemingly nothing can be done to curb gun deaths. Just a fact of life.


As usual for the brain dead left, your timing is impeccable:

While Chicagoans saw the city's homicides rise past 500 last year, residents of the state's second largest city, Aurora, quietly observed a milestone of their own — a year without a slaying.
...
During the city's more violent years, Aurora police and city officials blamed gang tensions, in part, for higher slaying totals, according to media reports. Thomas attributed the drop to "proactive police work."

"We changed our tactics up and have been successful," he said


Does it bother you that you're so fucking stupid?

SGT Ted said...

Seemingly nothing can be done to curb gun deaths. Just a fact of life.

Yes, because we certainly don't have any laws about criminal use of firearms and theres no background check on purchasers of guns.

Oh wait, yes there is. The shooting still happened where no guns are allowed.

Boy, that law worked so well.

Based on the current failures of the laws we've already passed at the behest of the gun control crowd, why should anybody listen to what they have to say anymore on the matter?

I think abortion should be legal for the 1st 90 days. After that, tough shit, it's a baby.

Seeing Red said...

Seemingly nothing can be done to curb deaths by fists or hands, either.

garage mahal said...

There will be over 3,000 abortions done in America today

Did you get that from Glenn Beck's website, noted math guru?

Again, your work from the election was really impressive. Future Nate Silvers will be combing these archives looking for clues on how you put it all together.

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...
Seemingly nothing can be done to curb gun deaths.


Hey stupid shit:

A mass shooting took place in a state with an Assault Weapons ban, gun sale background checks and waiting periods, along with registration.

Does it bother you that you're so fucking stupid?

Seeing Red said...

Hallways need to become wider, we're wider.

Seeing Red said...

Hmmm, interesting, the hotbed topics of compassion (taxes/spending) & abortion and most on the other side are quiet.........

n.n said...

Brew Master:

With eugenics, it was an involuntary generational genocide. However, with Roe vs Wade and "reproductive rights", it has become an elective generational genocide. All the various incarnation are promoted by the same class of people with the same motive: remove undesirables and competing interests.

Presumably, this is why we invite excessive legal immigration, which exceeds the rate of assimilation, and illegal immigration, which is unmeasured and wholly disruptive. The redistributive change schemes in this nation are simple pyramid schemes. They cannot survive without a compliant and growing population. The key in this is compliant. Authentic Americans, who are true to the founding principles of this nation, do not generally yield to minority control and subjugation (e.g. government).

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...
Did you get that from Glenn Beck's website,


No stupid shit, I got it from the Guttmacher Institute.

It is an actual fact.

Does it bother you that you're so fucking dumb?

garage mahal said...

Does it bother you that you're so fucking stupid?

I called 49 states out of 50.

You called for a "Mondale type landslide".

I could have gotten a more accurate prediction from a Ouija board.

mccullough said...

I think the torch should be passed after menopause. The last of the Boomer women are pretty much incapable of getting pregnant. Just as no man would be allowed to head one of these pro abortion rights groups, no woman who can get pregnant should head one either.

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...

Again, your work from the election was really impressive. Future Nate Silvers will be combing these archives looking for clues on how you put it all together.


Keep trying to change the subject, you silly, fat clown.

I guess you really can't take the idea of over 3,000 pregnancies ending per day due to the policies you support.

I'd also note your continued insistence that I made some sort of predictions on the election is absurd.

Of course you're fucking dumb.

So there is that.

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...

You called for a "Mondale type landslide".


I did no such thing.

But see stupid shit, even if I did, that doesn't refute the fact that there are over 3,000 abortions done per day in America.

You fat idiot.

Baron Zemo said...

The future belongs to the immigrant families who have a bunch of kids. Or those that do it for religious reasons. Not to the fish belly white family that has one precious flower.

The Mexicans and the Mormons will be the last ones standing.

Brian Brown said...

garage mahal said...

I called 49 states out of 50.


HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA HA HA HA
HA HA HA HA HA HA

I bet you did!

And because you made all these super-duper "calls" everything you type is like true stupid shit! Really, it is!

Baron Zemo said...

That will not be such a bad thing.

SJ said...

I wonder if the article mentions Kermit Gosnell as a factor.

That news story was horrifying. However, it wasn't followed by several weeks of news/commentary over how licensing/inspection for abortion clinics is handled.

n.n said...

As for the generational conflict, today's "progressive" is tomorrow's conservative. The "progressive" movement is unqualified and unprincipled. It was and is a reactive movement, which should have ended shortly after its first expression.

Its enduring nature is explained by people exploiting differentials and gradients, and appealing to men and women's base nature, in order to advance their political, economic, and social standing. In short, it is profitable to exploit dreams of instant (or immediate) gratification, whether it is material, physical, or ego.

the wolf said...

And what lack of torch-passing is stopping these young nimble activists from getting on the internet and promoting their pro-choice position?

President-Mom-Jeans said...

More of the same from Garage,

I don't have anything to say about the topic, but let me throw out an easily disprovable and stupid statement about Guns!

And Glenn Beck!

And Squirel!

You detestable piece of filth. Didn't see your tubby ass have anything to say about fellow chubster Manbearpig selling out to that dirty carbon filled oil money either.

You are worthless, you will always be worthless, and you will die worthless. No one will miss or mourn you.

Forward!

garage mahal said...

I bet you did!

I did! Right here on this blog.

And you predicted a Mondale type landslide for Romney!

But you read the Blaze, so no big surprise.

Roux said...

You certainly would hope that killing babies would be on the wrong side of history.


FWIW The way to win is changing hearts and minds and spend less time worrying about the law.

Renee said...

Even if you're pro-choice, abortion isn't associated with positive memories. Do we really want to dwell on it?

Sometimes when I'm dealing with a foster care case, I can get fact the teenager had one without being said and do I really need to know considering what my goal is at the meeting?

Too painful, no need to talk about it. It just shuts everything down in the room.

Victor Erimita said...

The Court, in Roe vs. Wade, based its rationale mainly on public sentiments, historical and contemporary, about first trimester pregnancies. It's been awhile since I last read the opinions, but my recollection is that the Court "found" it unconstitutional to ban abortions in that first trimester, not in the third, and maybe not even in the second. Since then, abortions have been performed later and later in the pregnancy. As far as I know, there are no legal barriers in any state to performing an abortion one second before birth....and there are even cases of "abortions" being performed after birth (because it's just a "medical decision" between the mother and her doctor.) So how has the pro-abortion movement lost ground?

Amartel said...

SHARE the power, ladies. Or the torches. Whatever.

Amartel said...

"Young and nimble activists don't read TIME."

Nobody reads TIME. They put stupid provocative stuff on the cover then we all stand around and read excerpts of the stupid provacative stuff.

Amartel said...

My parents used to get Time and not read it, back in the 1970s-80s. Then one day my dad read it and canceled the subscription.

edutcher said...

After ultrasound, when women could see the baby and not the foetus, it was over.

Jay said...

You called for a "Mondale type landslide".


I did no such thing.


No matter, their big "win" was stolen, anyway.

X said...

Amartel said...
Nobody reads TIME.


you're thinking of LIFE. LIFE is for people who can't read.

TIME is for people who can't think.

acm said...

Thanks to technological advances, we all now know what a fetus looks liks and children who are born shockingly early survive, no longer hopeless...

And the party of science and progress sees this as "losing". What a world. Those little micropreemies growing into happy healthy productive citizens just chaps them so.

Anonymous said...

The fight for "abortion rights" is what defines these folks and they've haven't had the foresight to build a lasting organization that is healthy enough to cultivate younger people and give them increased responsiblity over time.

Also, these types of movements are so very emotional and the younger feel they should take leadership roles right away, so they gravitate towards creating their own parallel organizations that are in competition with longer established organizations.

It's a pretty hard argument convincing people to terminate life, as a moral choice.

The only consistent, moral argument is that if you want to have sex, there is a risk that contraception will not prevent a pregnancy and you should take responsibility for your actions by growing up and raising the child, or placing it for adoption.

Saint Croix said...

1000 to 1 they don't actually have a photograph of an abortion in that abortion article.

Levi Starks said...

As long as there are coat hangers,
No unborn child is safe...

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Victor Emerita,

It's been awhile since I last read the opinions, but my recollection is that the Court "found" it unconstitutional to ban abortions in that first trimester, not in the third, and maybe not even in the second.

It wasn't quite like that. Roe said that there could be no state regulation of of first-trimester abortion; that it could be regulated in the second trimester, but only in order to safeguard the woman's health; and that it could be prohibited in the third trimester, albeit with exceptions for the health of the woman, including mental health.

caplight45 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
caplight45 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
caplight45 said...

This is a test

Birches said...

The only young women I know who are hardcore prochoice are all lesbians.

I find it amusing that lesbians are the people most concerned about accidental pregnancies.

Alex said...

What losing battle? All young women who live in big city areas like Seattle are pro-choice.

Alex said...

It's not all so black & white. There are plenty of leftist women who have had abortions and children.

Deirdre Mundy said...

In my experience, the people who are most hardcore pro-abortion are depressed and wished they'd never been born, that their mothers had exercised their own 'rights to choose.'

They support abortion because it's more socially acceptable than threatening suicide....

caplight45 said...

I would like the abortion community and their activists to admit that partial birth abortion is infanticide. I would like them to "Woman Up" and "hear them roar," that hell yeah it's infanticide and we're damned proud of it too! Own it!

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/baby-grabs-doctor-finger-c-section-article-1.1232114

Deirdre Mundy said...

And that's also why delivering the baby alive at 25 weeks and putting her up for adoption isn't an option... because it's not about 'ending a pregnancy' it's about 'ending a life'

Deirdre Mundy said...

In fact, I wonder if the pro-choice movement might be why there are more male mass murderers than female mass murderers.

A woman who wishes she never existed can fight to keep others from being born. An extreme pro-choice man comes across as creepy and exploitative, so he has to focus his elimination of other lives on those who've already passed through the birth canal...

caplight45 said...

I think we need to ease up on abusing Garage Mahal. I was in Milwaukee this summer and saw a picture of one of his relatives. Not a lot of depth in that gene pool. But on the other hand he really is a nice guy.

Look at my profile picture and you will see what I mean.

harrogate said...

Conversely, one common complaint we often hear from the older generations is that today's young women take their reproductive rights for absolute granted, because they have never known any other reality. Thus, the argument goes, they are laconic, not inclined to stand their ground with the necessary energy.

The argument Ann links to is the first I have seen in mainstream discourse, that suggests younger people are energetically engaged with this issue but that they are not represented in the leadership of women's rights organizations.

Personally, I suspect both arguments are true and oversimplified at the same time.

One "interesting" thing about the lion's share of the comments in this thread and others that approach the abortion issue, is that they so often depend on the assumption that the women who have abortions are politically motivated, and that they are of course liberals. Stupid assumption, that.

n.n said...

Deirdre Mundy:

That's an interesting theory. It offers insight into a distinguishing feature between male and female murderers: access. They enjoy the control they can exert over other people's lives, up to and including its elective termination. However, even psychopaths (e.g. Sandy Hook lunatic) consider opportunity costs when they need to express their degenerate will. The female's physiology imposes constraints on physical expression of their will, which would suggest they prefer their victims to be unarmed and compliant, and ideally incapable of either verbal or physical protest. This makes a human life in the womb an ideal candidate to suffer from their psychotic behavior.

raf said...

Seemingly nothing can be done to curb gun deaths. Just a fact of life.

However, there are no limits on ways to curb abortion


That's true, if we are talking about mass abortions in a school (or other "abortion-free zone) by a deranged "doctor" I suppose.

Crimso said...

"So how has the pro-abortion movement lost ground?"

It seems to be the same "logic" whereby if the government was going to increase spending next year by 10%, but then they decide to only increase it 8%, they've cut spending.

Gahrie said...

Folks, the problem is people like Ann have backed themselves into a corner. They have to defend abortion at all costs, or risk the awful realization of just what it is that they have been supporting for so long. I imagine it must be something like the dupes in Germany who supported the NAZIs, only to finally realize the evil they had helped bring about.

Alex said...

n.n - you're the psycho.

Hyphenated American said...

Garage: "Seemingly nothing can be done to curb gun deaths. Just a fact of life."

Law and Order seems to work just fine when you get rid of liberal mayors and governors, and punish the criminals. That's how you can lower down the crime rate, including the gun deaths. Surely we can get back to 1960ies crime rates - but we need to abolish a lot of liberal laws and get rid of liberal judges.

If garage opens his mind he will find out that the GOP specifically proposed numerous ways to cut crime rates, and it was the liberals who proclaimed that nothing good be done to stop the criminals - except hugging him and giving him a flower.

Alex said...

liberals like garage mahal believe in rehabilitating violent, psychopathic criminals.

Theranter said...

For a superb "road map through the supreme court's back alley" of the (bad) law of Roe v. Wade, see http://www.law.villanova.edu/lawreview/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Forsythe-Vol57-1.pdf. Great read.

On another note, yes, young people are trending towards being pro-let-it-live, suck it up not out etc. It's just that they are not heard over the loud ugly screeches of the aged, bitter spinsters in academia.


jr565 said...

Just today there was a story about a baby that was being delivered through a Caesarian section and while it was happening it reached out and grabbed the doctors hand with its tiny fingers.
Ad all the reporters oohed and ahheded about the miracle.

I bet if you scooped out its brains and had a camera on it while you did it it might reach out its cute little hands too, while it was writhing in its death throes.

Just showing the optics of what being pro choice is all about. We should have the media show us THAT image and then ooh and ash about the glory of choosing to kill it.

What would be really nice would be ripping the baby apart, then before dumping the body parts in a plastic bag you could have a picture of the little baby hands gripping the hands of the doctor who killed it.




Methadras said...

jr565 said...

Just today there was a story about a baby that was being delivered through a Caesarian section and while it was happening it reached out and grabbed the doctors hand with its tiny fingers.
Ad all the reporters oohed and ahheded about the miracle.

I bet if you scooped out its brains and had a camera on it while you did it it might reach out its cute little hands too, while it was writhing in its death throes.

Just showing the optics of what being pro choice is all about. We should have the media show us THAT image and then ooh and ash about the glory of choosing to kill it.

What would be really nice would be ripping the baby apart, then before dumping the body parts in a plastic bag you could have a picture of the little baby hands gripping the hands of the doctor who killed it.


Remember, it's still a 'fetus' because only one arm was sticking out. You see what I did right there?

Big Mike said...

Well, too bad I don't have a Time subscription ...

Well, you can always buy a copy at the UW bookstore, can't you?

I'm sure Meade can recycle it into good mulch come spring with all the bull***t spread around inside.

AJ said...

touch a nerve, Ann? Boomer feminists, like Boomer anything, are loathe to pass the torch to anyone younger than themselves.

AJ said...

touch a nerve, Ann? Boomer feminists, like Boomer anything, are loathe to pass the torch to anyone younger than themselves.

Revenant said...

Or is this a special "feminist" theory that the older women ought to get out of the way?

Well it IS pretty silly that the ostensible leaders of the fight for birth control and abortion rights/privileges are post-menopausal women.

Clyde said...

Liberals have "choices", while conservatives have children. For the past 40 years, liberals have been aborting their future voters. Had they had all of the babies they chose to abort and indoctrinated them, there would be a much larger cohort of liberals. This doesn't show up at the presidential level, where Obama and his handlers managed to bamboozle the American people again. However, at the state level, Republicans made significant gains in governors and majority-Republican legislatures.

Wisco Gal said...

Clyde....but while the liberals kill their future voters they indoctrinate ours...and quite well I might add. Check out America-lite. A great read about how the American education system and "intellectuals" have transformed this country. Our conservative children are not safe from this culture. Try as we may as parents, they will inevitably fall prey to these methods.

mikee said...

1. Time is still publishing? Who knew?

2. Althouse, your denial of knowledge about how to pass a torch to the younger generation of females is touchingly unconvincing, but fear not - your mad internet skillz will keep you relevant for some time to come.

sabeth.chu said...

of course the boomers won't let go.
they have decided they are the young ones.