One thing that the abortion movement has going for it is a Supreme Court that loves abortion so much it will do anything it takes to keep it legal on demand. Whether it’s Roe, Casey, or Monday’s Whole Women’s Health V. Hellerstedt, the rulings are a collection of incoherent assertions tied together with poorly executed insults. Another thing it has going for it is an abortion-enraptured media that loves all abortion and covers up negative stories about the practice.
The big thing that the abortion movement has against it is that everyone knows killing babies is wrong, no matter how much media-beloved Ruth Bader Ginsburg beats the drum for its eugenical powers.
The creative arts have trouble doing abortion advocacy because of that deeply held universal view that killing innocent, unborn children is not exactly heroic.
Comedians, who are dark people willing to joke about death, can’t even do it well. Here are a few examples.
Listen, I'm all for videos advocating for political causes, but this is…um. pic.twitter.com/F0jO8VKBZO
Tina Nguyen (@tina_nguyen) June 27, 2016
Yes, an “irreverent and lighthearted” look at killing babies! That sounds delightful. It was just last year that Philip Wegmann wrote up “‘Post Cards from The Vag’: A Tragic Abortion Comedy,” a look at a comedy night about abortion that was utterly heart-rending.
But these are better than the unwatchable “Daily Show’s” post-SCOTUS ruling tweet:
Celebrate the #SCOTUS ruling! Go knock someone up in Texas!
The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) June 27, 2016
Ah, what’s not to love about this comedic genius? Note that it’s directed at men and not at women, since only men can knock up only women. Note that the “joke” only makes sense if the woman is then aborting the child. And since the ruling was about whether Texas clinics should meet basic health and safety standards (SCOTUS says nope!), the joke is that the woman you abandon after impregnating her will have less-safe clinics to meet all her baby-killing needs.
[Insert big Ed McMahon ho-ho-ho laugh here]
Pro-lifers were aghast at the tweet but so were middle-of-the-roaders, leading pro-choice activists to freak out that the tweet wasn’t exactly helpful to the side that advocates unrestricted rights to end the lives of unborn children. So they pushed out another tweet asking viewers to pretend they didn’t understand the first tweet’s clear wording:
Friends, we’re certainly not promoting abortions. Just excited about #SCOTUS reaffirming right to choose.
The Daily Show (@TheDailyShow) June 27, 2016
Un-hunh. Sure. One might ask the brilliant comedic minds at “The Daily Show” why they wouldn’t be promoting abortions, exactly. Nevermind, they’re scrambling.
But kudos to “The Daily Show” for showing that abortion is something that is caused by men knocking women up without providing them the support and encouragement to gestate human life in the womb. I mean, read as subversive pro-life commentary on the violence and misogyny of abortion, the tweet actually works.
But, of course, that wasn’t the intent of the joke-stealers over at Comedy Central.
Another good example of abortion comedy going over like a lead balloon came from the enthusiastic, if dull, Zack Ford.
You get an abortion! And you get an abortion! And you get an abortion! pic.twitter.com/mOx4GfGjeQ
Zack Ford (@ZackFord) June 27, 2016
Many people complained about the vile ghoulishness of the tweet. But one and a half cheers for Ford just being honest about how some people really love killing little babies. “Safe, legal, rare”? I think you mean “Gosnell-like, unrestricted, and common,” amiright?
A special honorable mention for abortion-comedy goes to the Washington Post, a paper not exactly having a banner day on the abortion coverage front.
"science" pic.twitter.com/1rWNoVlZ8e
James Taranto (@jamestaranto) June 27, 2016
The story, by By Ariana Eunjung Cha, is an absolute hot mess, but apparently by “science” she means “a study authored by abortion activists that says abortion is no biggie.” She does not mean the type of science that tells us human life begins at conception.
Speaking of science and the Washington Post, they once tried to take Marco Rubio to task for the true scientific fact he mentioned about human life beginning at conception. It’s hilarious, but awful, but, again, hilarious, how they responded.
“Marco Rubio demanded people look at the science on abortion. So we did,” they all said. And, um, well, the Washington Post has no idea how babies are made and no idea that human lives begin at conception. Years later, they have still not corrected the piece, authored by Philip Bump, that snottily argues against this scientific fact.
Abortion: Still not funny to tear innocent human life from limb to limb. Never will be. But media idiocy on the topic is good for a morbid chuckle or two.