1. This @DouthatNYT column tries to do something valuable (distinguish between reasonable anti-abortion case & Williamsonian bloodthirsty desire for retribution) but it's far too short & raises more questions than it answers.
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4. But the pre-Roe world was very different, had many more levers of paternalist control. And in meantime we've had decades of "abortion=murder" rhetoric. Williamson is the product of that.
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5. I'm not sure Williamson can be dismissed as just outlier (although grant that most serious anti-abortion people wisely avoid talking about draconian punishments). He's the reductio ad absurdum of a common rhetoric.
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6. Also, the historical record is that contemporary regimes that adopt anti-abortion policies do end up extremely punitive. El Salvador is a prime example.
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7. Anyways, I'd like to see
@DouthatNYT try & explain the mechanics of how his position works, perhaps ideally in debate with someone versed in the history & policies (like@KathaPollitt).Show this thread
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Before Roe vs. Wade, obtaining an "illegal" and therefore unsafe abortion often resulted in the death penalty for the woman.....
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Don’t need a law to punish women explicitly when the higher rate of mortality in the back alley does it for you.
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The whole problem that everybody is dancing around is that it’s nearly impossible to land on a standard of language that everybody agrees on.
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Williamson's position is insane. Douthat references extreme left positions (abortion through the entire 9 months is OK). Can we pay more attention to the sane people in the middle? Also, no more opinions on this from MEN, thanks.
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Literally no one proposes ninth month abortions. It’s the biggest straw man.
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Williamson's position is actually the rational position to have if you truly believe a 1 month old human embryo is equivalent to a human baby. That would necessarily make abortion murder, and the perpetrators should be subject to the same punishments any other murderer would get.
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