10 Classic New York Times Reader Comments on David Brooks Abortion Column
By NBP Editorial Board | February 2, 2018, 22:35 EST
David Brooks, a columnist for The New York Times, wrote a column in the form of a memo from what he called an “imaginary Democratic consultant” arguing that national Democrats ought to dial back their pro-abortion policies in order to meet more American voters where they’re at and improve their chances in elections and in delivering other pieces of their agenda.
Not all New York Times readers are happy about it.
1.
Ummmm, He’s Jewish … And He Voted for Obama
Wm Conelly
Warwick, England
“Whatever reasonable part Mister Brooks plays in print, on radio or television, like a majority of the Supreme Court Justices, he is at the core a Catholic Republican.”
2.
You Can’t Take Pieces of My Body – Only Pieces of My Baby
Diane
California
“Full bodily integrity is what’s at stake. The government should not be able to take pieces of my body against my will, nor should the government compel me to endure medical procedures against my will or prevent me from medical procedures I have decided to endure in consultation with my doctor. Is that too much to ask? It’s not that women are clamoring for late-term abortions. They just want to not have their personal corporeal existence legislated and regulated. You’d think Republicans would be all over that sort of thing, but of course they are not because it’s too easy to use as an emotional way to whip up their base and get them to vote for tax cuts for the rich and benefit cuts for the poor, of which most of us will be soon after the Kochs $400 million investment works its course through our political system.”
3.
Wait, I Don’t Understand What ‘Imaginary’ Means
Bruno
“I am stunned and dismayed that NYT would publish such a biased and misleading article. It is incredibly rare for a woman to choose to have a late term abortion unless there has been a terrible medical issue. The pain these families suffer is immeasurable. Beyond the actual issues he raises, Brooks is using a literary “trick” to pretend that he is a liberal democrat, when he is a conservative pro-life Republican. This article is absolutely terrible and unethical. I am sickened that the NYT chose to publish it.”
4.
Stop Thinking – Just Like I Did
Gretel Rodriguez
Miami, FL
“Men need to simply stop thinking, talking, writing, and, most of all, deciding about what happens to women’s bodies.”
5.
Contract Hits, Right or Wrong — Leave It Up To The Hitman
J.Sutton
“Abortion, right or wrong – leave it up to the woman. Government has no right to stick its nose in women’s business.”
6.
Time To Gag Men
Virginia Beringer
Chicago
“Only a man would write this. Men should have NO say in the abortion debate, since men will never need one.”
7.
Protection Through Scalpel, Chemicals, and Extraction
WomanUp
Houston
“Roe v Wade was passed in a big part to protect women from back-alley botched abortions. Especially teen-agers. We need to remember that. Protecting women. And protecting them from having to raise children on their own – men can walk away – expecially teen-agers – but women don’t often. I agree with Jane that late term abortions are rarely sought. It’s the 17 year-olds we need to remember. Yes, your child will probably dablle in sex before marriage too. She also could be in this position. Wouldn’t you like her to live through it.
And lets remember, too, that childbirth is dangerous and the US has one of the highest levels of birthing mortality of any developed nation. So we’re not spending money to save our women there, either.”
8.
Giving Birth Is Like Slavery
Jerry Engelbach
Mexico
“We’re learning how cognitively active fetuses are.”
=======================================
David, you’ve been duped.
Fetuses are in a coma-like state. They cannot see, much less “recognize faces.” They cannot taste or smell. Their reaction to stimuli is a muscular reflex, not cognitive.
But even if all of what you claim were true, removing a woman’s right to control her own body would be a return to slavery.
What you call “absolutist” is to a woman access to the same rights and privileges that you, as a man, have: autonomy over your own body.
Neither you nor the government is qualified to take that away.”
9.
Life Begins At Live Birth – Says the Live-Birth Graduate
Kenneth Wheeler
Virginia
“If, they truly believed a 20 week fetus was viable, the republicans would demand that every women seeking to end a pregnancy, be offered, for free, the opportunity for a C-section, and life support for the fetus, with adoption to follow. They don’t, because they know that no medical organization would stand for Doctors being required to engage in such risky medical practices, for a less than 1% chance at post birth viability. Life begins at Live Birth. Up until then, it is just potential.
The state should not be inserting itself into the wombs of women, faced with making hard choices about themselves.”
10.
The Logician Goes To Work – If I Define Human A As Non-Human, Then Surely Human B Is Non-Human, Too
Eben Espinoza
SF
“Imaginary Republican Consultant: Having achieved eminent domain over wombs, let’s turn our attention to the unjust perpetual imprisonment of the weakest and innocent: by this I mean the millions of Americans held in solidary confinement in fertility clinic nitrogen tanks. These proto-Dreamers must be thawed out to claim their God-given rights to develop their individual potentials.”