A mom perfectly slams anti-abortion arguments and explains why men cause unwanted pregnancies
There are some men who have a lot of opinions about our wombs. Especially those in the political arena. They don’t believe women should have reproductive rights and fight hard against access to safe, legal abortions. Gabrielle Blair, a New York Times bestselling author and a mother of six, took to Twitter to explain just how hypocritical these men are — arguing that men are the cause of unwanted pregnancies.
Blair does not believe that men have any interest in actually preventing abortions. Because, she wrote, if they did then they would stop being the cause of unwanted pregnancies.
I’m a mother of six, and a Mormon. I have a good understanding of arguments surrounding abortion, religious and otherwise. I've been listening to men grandstand about women's reproductive rights, and I'm convinced men actually have zero interest in stopping abortion. Here's why…
— Gabrielle Blair (@designmom) September 13, 2018
“Men are 100% responsible for unwanted pregnancies,” Blair noted. “Perhaps you are thinking: IT TAKES TWO! And yes, it does take two for _intentional_ pregnancies. But ALL unwanted pregnancies are caused by the irresponsible ejaculations of men. Period.”
In fact, she continued, if you’re a man who ejaculates irresponsibly multiple times per day then you could be responsible for many, many pregnancies. So, isn’t the ball already in your court, buddy?
If you want to stop abortion, you need to prevent unwanted pregnancies. And men are 100% responsible for unwanted pregnancies. No for real, they are. Perhaps you are thinking: IT TAKES TWO! And yes, it does take two for _intentional_ pregnancies.
— Gabrielle Blair (@designmom) September 13, 2018
But ALL unwanted pregnancies are caused by the irresponsible ejaculations of men. Period. Don’t believe me? Let me walk you through it. Let’s start with this: women can only get pregnant about 2 days each month. And that’s for a limited number of years.
— Gabrielle Blair (@designmom) September 13, 2018
That makes 24 days a year a women might get pregnant. But men can _cause_ pregnancy 365 days a year. In fact, if you’re a man who ejaculates multiple times a day, you could cause multiple pregnancies daily. In theory a man could cause 1000+ unwanted pregnancies in just one year.
— Gabrielle Blair (@designmom) September 13, 2018
Okay, so perhaps by this point men are arguing that women should just take birth control. Blair said that, yes, a lot of women do take birth control (despite some of the the awful side effects) but those contraceptives can be costly and difficult to obtain.
Modern birth control is possibly the greatest invention of the last century, and I am very grateful for it. It’s also brutal. The side effects for many women are ridiculously harmful. So ridiculous, that when an oral contraception for men was created, it wasn’t approved…
— Gabrielle Blair (@designmom) September 13, 2018
… because of the side effects. And the list of side effects was about 1/3 as long as the known side effects for women's oral contraception. https://t.co/SA9oZQD6i8
— Gabrielle Blair (@designmom) September 13, 2018
There’s a lot to be unpacked just in that story, but I’ll simply point out (in case you didn’t know) that as a society, we really don’t mind if women suffer, physically or mentally, as long as it makes things easier for men.
— Gabrielle Blair (@designmom) September 13, 2018
Even when women do take birth control, there’s a lot of room for error. “It requires consistent daily use and doesn’t leave much room for mistakes, forgetfulness, or unexpected disruptions to daily schedules,” Blair wrote. “And again, the side effects can be brutal.”
Male birth control (aka condoms) is super easy to deal with. All guys have to do is keep them stocked and put them on when the time comes. Oh, and really the ONLY other pre-requisite is to not secretly take the condom off in the middle of sex. Seems pretty easy, right? Not quite.
Men can keep them stocked up just in case, so they’re always prepared. Amazing! They are so much easier than birth control options for women. As a bonus, in general, women love when men use condoms. They keep us from getting STDs, they don’t lessen our pleasure during sex…
— Gabrielle Blair (@designmom) September 13, 2018
… or prevent us from climaxing. And the best part? Clean up is so much easier — no waddling to the toilet as your jizz drips down our legs. So why in the world are there ever unwanted pregnancies? Why don't men just use condoms every time they have sex? Seems so simple, right?
— Gabrielle Blair (@designmom) September 13, 2018
Oh. I remember. Men _don’t_ love condoms. In fact, men frequently pressure women to have sex without a condom. And it’s not unheard of for men to remove the condom during sex, without the women’s permission or knowledge. (Pro-tip: That's assault.) https://t.co/c2HHjkbx6G
— Gabrielle Blair (@designmom) September 13, 2018
Some men also decide not to pull out because it feels better for them. “Men are willing to risk the life, health and well-being of women, in order to experience a tiny bit more pleasure for like 5 seconds during orgasm,” Blair noted.
So, again, if that results in a pregnancy then the man is to blame. And if that same man is also someone who gets on his soap box about being against abortions, then he is hypocritical to the max. “Pregnancies can only happen when men have an orgasm,” she wrote. “Unwanted pregnancies can only happen when men orgasm irresponsibly.”
Well, again, apparently it’s _slightly_ more pleasurable to climax inside a vagina than, say, on their partner’s stomach. So men are willing to risk the life, health and well-being of women, in order to experience a tiny bit more pleasure for like 5 seconds during orgasm.
— Gabrielle Blair (@designmom) September 13, 2018
After a man gets his few extra seconds of pleasure, all of the burden falls on the woman. The man has to deal with little to no ramifications.
“If the woman does tell him that he caused an unwanted pregnancy and that she’s having the baby, the closest thing to a consequence for him, is that he may need to pay child support,” Blair said. “But our current child support system is well-known to be a joke. 61% of men (or women) who are legally required to pay it, simply don’t. With little or no repercussions.”
So, for all those men who are so upset about women getting abortions – why don’t you take a look at your own sexual habits and the precautions you’re taking to make sure that women don’t even have to think about that choice?
Blair’s thread has since been retweeted 67,000 times and people everywhere thanked her profusely for articulating so many incredible points.
Can a twitter thread win a Pulitzer? 👇👇👇 https://t.co/I2vYQsTBiT
— andy lassner (@andylassner) September 15, 2018
Any time I haven’t used a condom it’s because a guy convinced me not to, and I always spent the following weeks panicking/praying that I didn’t get pregnant. But that was worth it for them to get a small percentage of greater pleasure, right? Thank you so much for writing this
— Hillary (@lilredhil) September 16, 2018
This! 👇👏👏👏✊Amazing. Reading this, I feel like the truth just smacks you in the face. The truth being that our society molds and wires our brains to think ONE way. @designmom Has blown my minds way of thinking. https://t.co/vJrkOIsi1H
— ridootdootdoo (@tishuh) September 16, 2018
https://twitter.com/SarahEhlinger/status/1041336020971790336
It’s a long Twitter thread and there’s a lot of really, really crucial ideas packed in there. The take away message from all this? “STOP TRYING TO CONTROL WOMEN’S BODIES AND SEXUALITY,” Blair concluded. “UNWANTED PREGNANCIES ARE CAUSED BY MEN.”