In a statement that pro-lifers are branding “creepy and disgusting”, the US Secretary of Transportation has said abortion makes men “more free”.
During an online fundraiser for Kamala Harris’ presidential bid at the end of July, put on by a group called “White Dudes for Harris”, the once vice-presidential hopeful and Transport Secretary, Pete Buttigieg, said that Donald Trump had “demolished the right to choose” and that “men are also more free in a country where we have a president who stands up for things like access to abortion”.
Buttigieg’s comments have led to a backlash among pro-lifers in the US. Author, Ashley McGuire, said “Buttigieg is just admitting what we have always known about abortion: that it empowers men to exploit women”.
“Buttigieg’s male ‘freedom’ comes at the cost of women’s freedom. It creates a world where men are ‘free’ to use women and women are coerced into abortions they don’t want to have”, McGuire said. “That’s not authentic freedom. It’s just domination by another name”.
President of the National Right to Life Committee, Carol Tobias, said Buttigieg’s comments on abortion were “creepy and disgusting”.
“Pete Buttigieg is recklessly suggesting that legal abortion makes men ‘more free’ as they can push a woman into having an abortion in order to shun responsibility”.
“If men are part of creating a new life, they should accept the responsibility that goes along with caring for their child and the child’s mother”.
Emily Davis, communications spokeswoman for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, added her voice to criticise Buttigieg, suggesting that his comment applies to her ex-boyfriend, who, she said, tried to pressure her unsuccessfully into having an abortion after she unexpectedly became pregnant.
“Not only have I experienced this firsthand”, she said, “but every day more women come forward to talk about how they were pressured or coerced into unwanted abortions, often by male partners”.
Harris’ radically pro-abortion VP pick
While Buttigieg was not ultimately selected as Harris’ running mate, the person selected, Tim Walz, has extremely radical views on abortion. Walz once joked that his voting “record is so pro-choice, Nancy Pelosi asked me if I should tone it down”.
Walz has made abortion a cornerstone of his legislative agenda while in office and has consistently voted for radical pro-abortion legislation, including against legislation that sought to prohibit abortion on the basis of the race or gender of the baby, as well as voting against legislation that would have required health care practitioners to provide the same medical care to babies born alive after an abortion as they would to any other baby born at the same gestation.
In January 2023, as Governor of Minnesota, he signed a bill into law that was described by pro-life group Susan B. Anthony List as the “most extreme abortion bill in the country”. He also voted against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which aimed to restrict abortion after 20 weeks.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “Pete Buttigieg has said the quiet part out loud: men want abortion because it enables them to be free of their obligations to their unborn child and his or her mother. It allows men to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. It allows men to exploit women by not giving any support to mothers or their children”.
“As disgusting as Buttigieg’s statements are, they likely reveal the sad truth about many men who support abortion”.
