Following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, anti-abortion activists are rallying even more for stricter policies against abortion. While these “pro-life” individuals are spread across the country and range in their description, one trend seems to be common—they are mostly men. For generations, men seem to be making the decisions regarding the reproductive health of all individuals, with abortion being no exception.
Despite several conservatives making headlines for their lack of understanding of reproductive health yet wanting a say in policies impacted by it, two have recently garnered exceptional attention. According to CNN, a businessman turned state representative from Louisiana, alongside a Baptist pastor, have been adamant that a person who receives an abortion should receive the same treatment as one who kills a live infant.
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The two have come together to promote a bill that could have pregnant people face murder charges for abortions, even if they were raped or if doctors determined the procedure was needed to save their life. But abortion is not the only target of the bill. The bill also suggests that doctors who attempt to help patients conceive through in-vitro fertilization, a fertility treatment used by millions of Americans, could also be jailed for destroying embryos.
"The taking of a life is murder, and it is illegal," state Rep. Danny McCormick told a committee of state lawmakers who considered the bill in May, CNN reported.
"No compromises, no more waiting," Brian Gunter, the pastor who suggested McCormick introduce the legislation, added.
During the committee women, CNN reported that only women—four members—spoke up. Pleading with lawmakers, former state representative Melissa Flournoy noted that such a bill would punish pregnant people and place no responsibility on men.
"We need to take a deep breath," Flournoy said.
Despite the pleas from some lawmakers, in the end, only one man and one woman voted against the bill in the committee.
Those who identify as men are leading abortion bans across the country. According to CNN, while three male lawmakers from Indiana attempted to change the state's criminal statutes to apply at the time of fertilization, in Texas, five male lawmakers authored a bill that, had it been made law, would make getting an abortion punishable by the death penalty.
But of course, it doesn’t end there. A representative in Arizona suggested homicide charges for those undergoing an abortion while some in other states compared getting an abortion to the Holocaust.
Luckily most Americans seem to think differently about abortion laws. According to the PEW Research Center, most Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.
Additionally, a majority of Americans said in a Pew Research Center poll they don't believe men should have a greater say on abortion policy.
Despite this, experts told CNN that “male dominance fits within the anti-abortion movement's current framing as being focused on ‘fetal personhood’ and ‘fetal rights’ as opposed to maternal rights.” An Arizona State University professor who has studied gender differences in anti-abortion activists, Eric Swank, noted that while his research found that men aren't necessarily more likely to consider themselves to be "pro-life" than women, they "are more willing to take the adamant stance of no abortion under any conditions."
Most laws passed against the rights of the pregnant individual are often passed by male legislators—even Republican females don’t always vote in favor of the legislation. According to CNN's analysis, gender imbalances within state legislatures often field voting gaps when it comes to reproductive health issues. An example noted was the Texas Heartbeat Act, while men made up nearly three-quarters of the 177 lawmakers who voted—and nearly 90% of those who voted in favor of the bill were men.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research group, more than 20 states are “certain or likely” to ban or limit abortion due to the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling, while 16 states have laws that protect the right to abortion. This link shows how far patients in each state have to drive to access reproductive care.
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Read related: Abortion clinics nationwide face backlogs as bans force people to travel out of state for care
Since Dobbs, women have registered to vote in unprecedented numbers across the country, and the first person to dig into these stunning trends was TargetSmart CEO Tom Bonier, who's our guest on this week's episode of The Downballot. Bonier explains how his firm gathers data on the electorate; why this surge is likely a leading indicator showing stepped-up enthusiasm among many groups of voters, including women, young people, and people of color; how we know these new registrants disproportionately lean toward Democrats; and what it all might mean for November.
