To think that people like anti-abortionist Kristan Hawkins are the enemy of women and feminism everywhere

[Purplefoxes]

Maybe extreme but..I was just reading this BBC article (link below) on Kristan Hawkins and it made my blood boil as I am pro choice. She is the woman from the US organisation Students for Life of America and has been instrumental in over turning Roe v Wade. She is now on the back of this 'success' campaigning for total abortion ban across America . The overturning of Roe V Wade is a decision which will likely result in the death or debilitation of many pregnant women who either cannot access much needed abortions for health reasons or try to access back street illegal abortions or could even commit suicide as a result. Not to mention there could be many unwanted children dumped into the care system or brought up in abusive environments. I just cannot fathom why anyone, let alone a woman would do this. I'm sure if it was one of her kids who was pregnant and needed a medical abortion to save their life she'd change her tune! How blinkered does a person have to be to not think of the impact of banning abortion on both women and children! And how has such medieval policy been allowed to happen in modern day America..could this happen in the UK?! Are we losing our rights as women? When did the life of a fetus become more important than the life of its mother?

BBC article

Agree, she’s a monster. I’m pro choice to the time limit (and afterwards if the mother’s life is at stake), and I’m very concerned their awful rhetoric may spread here.

I don’t think recent calls for decriminalisation by some here are at all helpful though; we don’t want abortion to fall to the culture wars.

I just finished reading that article. The fact that she describes her group as an army is quite chilling. And the fact she sends fake spines to politicians who don't back her extreme views. There is probably blood on her hands.

I just don’t understand the mentality. If she doesn’t agree with abortions, she should just not get one herself?!

How blinkered does a person have to be to not think of the impact of banning abortion on both women and children!

I find it ironic that you mention children - considering how many children are killed by abortion every year. Surely education and good contraception are a better alternative than the kind of abortion numbers which happen in this country.

No children are killed by abortion. Plenty of women and girls are killed by the lack of it.

starrynight21, no “children” are killed by abortion. Embryos and fetuses are not children until after being born alive.
Every form of contraception has a failure rate, including both male and female sterilisation.

It’s difficult though isn’t it because she herself was shown anti abortion videos of fetuses in severe pain during their abortion. In her eyes a baby is always worth more than an adult woman, so I do get it. She also agrees that a baby is worth more than a child in the horrific event a child is raped and impregnated. There was a thread recently which sadly got pulled stating how when a woman chooses to get pregnant it’s a baby from conception and when she doesn’t choose, it’s seen as ‘nothing’. So I think it really all comes down to how you view life and when it starts and who is more important.

Personally I think up to 12 weeks the woman comes first, sadly. And yes it’s always sad no matter your view, as someone always has to suffer.

I read that article with horror. There is no room for compromise in her stance or debate. Dangerous woman.
Her view means miscarriage cannot be treated or managed which can be fatal.

Personally I think it is still a baby which is why it’s such a big decision. It’s ok to admit that.

I don't disagree with you. Also I don't think it's helpful to apply US rhetoric and debates to the UK and I think the BBC is grossly irresponsible by giving these loons a platform.

Oh please. One woman isn't so powerful as to be able to overturn legislation like this. She's just the person tapping on the door when American politicians found it prudent to pull that particular string.

I'm pro-choice but I can see how individuals come to a place where they take an anti-abortion stance and advocate for that policy.

Roe v. Wade held for decades. It's the changing political landscape that ought to give you the heebee-jeebies not the bit players who are being moved around the chess board.

Hardline anti-abortion view points are always pro the life of the child until it is born and then they couldn't give a fuck.

I'm yet to see a 'pro-lifer' who also campaigns for better paid maternity, subsidised childcare, who doesn't demonise single mothers etc

The videos she was shown were fake. She now spreads these lies at the cost of the rights and safety of women.

I strongly suspect this person is neurodiverse (I'm ND myself). I'm not sure many people will understand, only that she seems to have made this a lifelong hyperfocus beyond what most people are capable of. A bit like Greta Thunberg with climate change or Elon Musk with business. It is a trait I recognise in some of the people around me (and to some extent myself) but can be deeply disordered when not tempered by empathy and lived experience.

The telling bit for me was the fact she has no friends, especially female friends. I would very much like to be a fly on the wall in her family RV observing the island mentality of her home with a homeschooling dad and 4 homeschooled children.

Is that true? Do they feel pain? I thought they were already dead when extracted out. Are there videos of crying fetuses?

100% of unwanted pregnancies are caused by men. By her logic, we should criminalise the men who cause the pregnancies with a lifelong punishment method.

Yes I agree, I have been pregnant 4 times last one unplanned at a very advanced age and always felt this was a baby. I would like to see more support for pregnant women and a recognition that women can be pressured into abortion and that abortion is a multi million industry with vested interests.

There's no reasoning with this sort of person. Her beliefs have an absolute internal logic to them - a 6 week old embryo (to her) is of equal worth to any other human on the planet. The death of the woman is equal to the death by abortion of the 6 week old embryo. She would accept any number of deaths of women in childbirth or by suicide or by botched backstreet abortion as worth it.

Even if you could give her a fail safe crystal ball and show her images of women dead from illegal backstreet abortions, babies with lethal congenital anomalies dying in agony shortly after birth, women dying from lack of medical treatment during pregnancy forced to term, children unwanted and abused in the care system, she'd still count the absolute numbers and say she'd save millions.

You can only sideline these people by mobilising the silent majority. You can't argue them out of their belief system.

From the article:

Before she was allowed to start work, Hawkins had to learn what abortion was, to understand what it looked like. Someone at the clinic gave her a VHS tape of the Silent Scream, a controversial 1984 anti-abortion propaganda film that purported to show a foetus on ultrasound experiencing distress during an abortion at 12 weeks. The film, denounced as a fraud by abortion rights activists, runs counter to findings from leading scientists who say a foetus does not have the capacity to feel pain until at least 24 weeks gestation.

All of this available by sometimes women still.do get pregnant and are either unwilling or unable to continue with a pregnancy what do suggest?
There is a very interesting documentary on sky, documentaries called The Jane's about a group of women in America who provided safe illegal abortions ,prior to The Roe versus wade
I have no doubt themselves countless lives

Would you rather all those children were born into a cruel world full of suffering with parents unable to take care of them? What do you think, realistically, will happen then? "Education and contraception" isn't going to stop rape is it, it will go some way but if you think that is all it takes to stop abortions you're mistaken

No - not just women and ‘feminism’ she’s antipathetic to the human race 👍🏿☘️

There are plenty of people who would adopt new born babies.

Kristan Hawkins, as the president of Students for Life of America, advocates for a pro-life stance, which means she supports the protection of unborn life. While her views may differ from those who advocate for reproductive rights and access to abortion, it is essential to engage in constructive dialogue and understand the reasons behind her position. Click Here

@FourTeaFallOut is right in my opinion. I’m more worried about the changing political landscape. Female anti-abortionists don’t seem to realise that the agenda is ultimately control of women, and their daughters and granddaughters will bear the brunt of this retrograde political climate.