Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Distinctions

Stoller's right that EJ Dionne is off base here, though I think there's a simple explanation. Dionne writes:

I have more sympathy than most liberals with the right-to-life movement because I believe most right-to-lifers are animated not by sexism or some punitive attitude toward sexuality but by a genuine desire to defend the defenseless.


The key thing is the conflation of "right-to-life movement" with "most right-to-lifers." The anti-choice movement is without a doubt animated by sexism and a punitive attitude towards sexuality. Are there plenty of "right-to-lifers" motivated by a "genuine desire to defend the defenseless?" I imagine so, but the movement is profoundly sexist.