An MSNBC columnist used his platform on Tuesday to tell pro-life Republicans that they are no better than the women-hating Taliban.
“Look, nobody is saying the GOP and the Taliban are equally bad,” Dean Obeidallah wrote. “But in just the past few months, we’ve seen Republicans champion measures to deprive women of freedom over their own bodies, as well as oppose laws to protect women from violence and ensure that women are paid the same wages as men. And they’ve done so, at least in part, to impose their religious beliefs on all others.”
Obeidallah not only labels some pro-lifers “extremists” for their convictions that a woman should carry her baby to term even in the case of rape, but also says it’s a result of “a narrow reading of their religion’s beliefs” much like the Taliban’s ideology.
While Obeidallah agreed that “we all must be alarmed about what the future may hold for the women of Afghanistan,” he said Republicans who value life in the womb should have no say in the matter because they have yet to “prove they are sincerely concerned with defending women’s rights.”
In addition to indicting lawmakers such as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Elise Stefanik for voting against partisan bills disguised as help for women and refusing to eliminate the mythical “gender pay gap,” Obeidallah claims that “the ability of women to control their own bodies should be a guaranteed human right, yet most of the GOP seems desperate to withhold it from them.”
“If the GOP wants to show that it is sincerely concerned with the rights of the women in Afghanistan, it can start by first championing the human rights of women in the U.S. But instead, it is doing all it can to prevent gender equality while oppressing women based on its members’ extreme religious beliefs. Sound familiar?” he concluded, noting that many House Republicans signed a legal brief in support of overturning Roe v. Wade.
Pro-life advocates slammed Obeidallah and MSNBC for the offensive column, calling him out for exploiting Afghan women and smearing pro-life Republicans.
“America is one in seven nations that allow abortion on demand for any reason up to birth, we’re in the company of China & North Korea. Pro-life lawmakers are to be commended for their courage in challenging this extreme status quo – and they should be emboldened by the truth that the majority of Americans are on their side eager to humanize our laws,” SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement.
