OPINION | This article contains political commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Yesterday, Joy-Ann Reid took to social media to say that pro-life conservatives are hypocrites. But I’d like to respond to that accusation with some important clarifications that she either doesn’t understand or would rather ignore. Here’s her tweet.
There is no “pro life movement.” Pro-life would be pro-healthcare, school lunches for hungry kids and mercy for migrants fleeing literal death. Pro-life would fight poverty and fund kids education and kids and maternal healthcare. Call them what they are: a forced birth movement.
— Joy-Ann (Pro-Democracy) Reid 😷 (@JoyAnnReid) May 10, 2022
She’s blasting pro-life conservatives as hypocrites for only pretending to be pro-life while apparently not being “pro” other things like healthcare, hungry kids, endangered immigrants, poverty, education, etc. She’s saying that if we were really pro-life, we’d care about those things. What she doesn’t understand is that most pro-life conservatives ARE in favor of all those things, just not in the way that she believes they should be addressed. She’s failing to distinguish the issues from the policies created to address the issues. Let me explain how this works.
- Pro-healthcare, but not taxpayer-funded abortions as “healthcare,” nor child mutilation as “healthcare,” nor universal government healthcare with substandard care and outrageous wait times.
- Pro-helping-struggling-low-income-families (like those with hungry kids needing school lunches), not by handing out free money indefinitely, but by providing opportunities for success and access to quality programs for personal growth and development which can improve the family situation.
- Pro-legal-and-efficient-immigration to a free and prosperous nation with endless opportunities and to which they can contribute productively, as so many immigrants have before, not opening the southern border, excusing/rewarding lawlessness, abandoning all standards, and prioritizing non-citizens.
- Pro-kids-education, not by forcing people to attend low-quality schools based on geography, but by allowing funding to follow families so kids can have greater educational opportunities, often tailored to individual needs or skills, rather than the “lowest common denomenator” style education provided by hyper partisan failing public schools.
She thinks we’re inherently against these things and thus believes us to be hypocrites for calling ourselves “pro-life,” but it’s really just the leftist policies and methods for addressing these issues that we’re against, because we see them to be ineffective, inefficient, and ultimately counterproductive.
What she doesn’t understand is that pro-lifers probably ARE in favor of all those things, just not in the way that she believes they should happen.
Pro quality healthcare, just not taxpayer-funded abortions, child mutilation, or Obamacare. https://t.co/gZH5bLQP3g— Natalie Argyle (@NatalieArgyle) May 10, 2022
Unfortunately, the path to fixing these issues requires patience, hard work, and sacrifice, all things that don’t translate well into political “wins,” and all of which are in short supply in today’s society. Politicians like the “quick fixes,” slapping a bandaid on a major issue and then touting their “accomplishment,” while the underlying problems continue to fester. If more people were willing to do the hard work and take the time to fix these issues correctly and address the root of the problems rather than the side-effects, our country would become more prosperous and its citizens would thrive.