As SallyStrange has pointed out in the comments here, quite a few MRAs seem to have a bad case of “womb envy” – or, more specifically, “abortion envy.” That is, they envy the ability of women to abort fetuses that they – the guys, as sperm providers — have had a part in creating. And since they don’t get final say in whether or not the woman in the equation gets an abortion, many of these guys claim they should have the right to a “paper abortion” – that is, to wash their hands financially of the baby once it is born.
But for every MRA demanding their own right to an abortion, there’s another MRA who thinks abortion is an unmitigated evil, which in essence means that they think pregnant women should be forced to give birth to babies they don’t want. The guy behind The Life Zone evidently thinks this way. And so does one New Mexican pro-lifer named Greg Fultz, who has launched a bizarre campaign designed to shame the woman who aborted what he thinks of as “his” baby – the highlight of which is a giant billboard depicting him holding what looks like the blackened carcass of a baby under the headline “This Would Have Been a Picture Of My 2-Month Old Baby If The Mother Had Decided To NOT KILL Our Child!”
I’ve been meaning to write about the Fultz thing for some time, but haven’t, because frankly the whole thing makes me depressed. Over the past day or so three separate Man Boobz readers have brought the subject up, so I figure it’s time to deal with the subject. My solution? I’m going to punt, and rather than post about it specifically I’m just going to point you to an excellent, and nicely sarcastic, post on the subject from Jill on Feministe.
Since Jill wrote that post, Fultz has been ordered by a judge to take the billboard down or face jail; he says he won’t. Details here.
NOTE: I originally ended this post with a 1200 word dissertation spelling out my take on abortion. But reading it back over again I realized that many of the points I made in it had already been made, in many cases more deftly, by various commenters in yesterday’s 800-plus comment thread (which actually stayed on the topic for the first several hundred comments, until more or less everything that needed to be said on the subject had been said). The tl;dr summary: her body, her choice. “Paper abortions” only work if the government is willing to step in to make up for the loss of child support, and that isn’t going to happen in the US any time soon. (And I don’t see many MRAs calling for increased support for single moms.)
So instead of abortion, let’s talk about Fultz. What a dick.
I have discovered that the key to the world’s most kickass sangria is canned Lychees in syrup. Seriously, try it sometime, it is amazing. Works in both red and white. I like to use 2 Buck Chuck Syrah or Merlot as my base wine ’cause it’s so cheap, but Bonny Doon Big House Red is even better (and still not all that expensive).
Ami, I think with your coloring the navy would work best.
Katz, the kittehs are adorable. And the Sangria looks delicious.
This seems to be Fultz’s twitter account:
http://twitter.com/#!/prdpgn
I’m a little surprised that he’s UU. Well, assholes are everywhere.
Plymouth- I bought Vella boxed wine 🙂 And while I love Lychees, I don’t know anywhere here that carries them. Strawberries, watermelon, lemons, oranges, and a nectarine will have to do :/
Hellkell- they’re my critters and foods. But thank you 🙂
@Snowy that’s actually my concern! That I’d look like a sailor xD And I often am jealous about how nice grey looks on some other girls w/ blonde hair, but it could be the skin tone difference…
Swedishfish’s pupzzors also looks like a sweetheart.
Zombie: He’s a giant, giant baby. He thinks he’s a lapdog. Also, he will do anything for buttscratches and bites of fruit and vegetables.
*drooling*
Pig and sangria are two of my favoritest things in the world, and here I am stuck with pug and wine. I could chop up strawberries and oranges and put them in the wine, I guess, but I am sadly out of brandy and club soda.
I has a sad.
Maybe there will be enough for enough to drink their faces off?
I recommend starting now.
And pugs, despite their porcine little bodies and tails and weird grunty noises, are deceptively NOT delicious. Again, sadly.
But yeah, I don’t understand why it’s so hard to get these people (MRA’s) to agree that this dude is, yes, a dude, and just a shitty person. What part of harassment, attempted coercion, and just general shit-bag-itude is EVER ok?
No matter how horrific a particular man’s behavior gets, you will never get an MRA to say anything more critical than, “Well, sure, maybe it was a LITTLE over the top to call for the mass execution of all women/gang-rape a female journalist/stalk an ex-girlfriend to the point of erecting billboards about how much you hate her, but I can totally see where he was coming from, because WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES”
Sounds about accurate on the MRAs talking about men. Yet they demand that all feminists immediately jump to their side against women when a woman is just accused of doing something bad.
And if a man is convicted of some kind of harm to a woman, obviously the entire world is against him and feminists are wrong to support the woman.
Club soda? Huh. I never put that in Sangria. Interesting idea.
I’m lucky to live in an area with lots of Asian people so there are lot of Asian markets that sell lots of lychees! Hell, I’m lucky to live in an area where I can pretty much get any kind of food if I look hard enough 🙂
And bitches! Don’t forget bitches.
Fultz’s lawyer plans to argue that the billboard is protected speech, using the Supreme Court decision on the Westboro Baptist Church funeral picketing. Are there any lawyers in the house? I don’t see how stalking is a free-speech issue . . .
I ain’t a lawyer, Hippodameia, but my guess is that the focus is on the bill board, which is free speech, not stalking.
Except that free speech doesn’t usually protect incitement, and I wonder if you could argue for that based on the whole “KILLED MY BABY” thing and the similarity between organization and name… Though if the WBC can say “God Hates Fags” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers…” Then again the billboard isn’t religious, its slander. But yeah, if anything, they should ignore the billboard and focus on the stalking.
Also, sorry to sidetrack, but everyone should post at least one more time on the Life Zone thread! Only 32 comments before it reaches 1000! You can do it, friends, I believe in you!
@ Shaenon
I see what you did there.
I’m fairly certain that the Snyder v. Phelps case hinged on whether or not the WBC’s posterboards could be construed to be personally directed, and whether the issue is of public or private concern. The case is an easy read. I don’t think Snyder v. Phelps protects a man from erecting a billboard accusing his ex (personally directed) of having a medical procedure he finds distasteful (private concern).
http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/10pdf/09-751.pdf
One thousand mutual admiration posts. So impressive. I see all of you are still making piss poor excuses to terminate another life. Oh wait thats right, you’re terminating a pregnancy. Unfortunately litlle Johnny fetus has no choice but to go along for the ride.
Personally I hope Fultz goes to jail and every man, (myself included) who dares to stick up for the right of the unborn to live. It’s not as far fetched as it seems, last year a bill was tabled that would make anyone who voiced an opinion against abortion an act of terrorism. It got shot down but it’ll be back, just like the dream act is back once again on the table.
How wierd that men are fighting to keep their children alive and women are fighting to kill them. It’s like the whole world has gone topsy turvy, wrong is right and good is evil.
I love this outfit.
last year a bill was tabled that would make anyone who voiced an opinion against abortion an act of terrorism.
As ever, Slaver, cite or it didn’t happen.
I want to know exactly how many cells a fetus has to have before we name it “Johnny.”
I mean, one cell, that’s a bit over the top, right? One cell isn’t even cute.
How about a gastrula? That’s kind of a ball of cells with a tube that will become the gut, but no organs or such. No brain, no heart, not cute. I wouldn’t call that “Johnny.”
Now, I would call a newborn infant “Johnny” (well, I wouldn’t, I’d call them “Jack” or “Rachel” but anyway).
When exactly does a fetus become “Johnny”?
I didn’t become Johnny until I was in my thirties.
Not sure if it’s been posted/mentioned yet, but Nani told him she miscarried (which doesn’t seem unlikely given her medical issues). So here’s the fucked up cherry on this shit sundae:
http://s1101.photobucket.com/albums/g424/theinternetpolice/Gregpocalypse%20Now/?action=view¤t=NANI_KNOWS.jpg
Stellar human being.
@Holly:
Some time after conception, just before a woman decides that she can’t afford to raise a child and goes to get an abortion. Actually, I think its about three seconds before the procedure starts
Mr. Slave, you’ve been told over and over again the difference between a fetus/zygote/gastrula/whatever and a baby. You continuously calling a small bundle of cells without organs or even a brain doesn’t make you sound intelligent, it makes you sound like a broken record.
“How wierd that men are fighting to keep their children alive and women are fighting to kill them.”
How weird it is that you think men are fighting to keep children alive, when once the children actually ARE alive the men want to have nothing to do with them…