Darcy Burner, the Harvard-educated, Democratic candidate for U.S. Representative from Washington's 1st District was one of the keynote speakers at this year's Netroots Nation. Carla Axtman of Blue Oregon was an attendee this year in Providence, R.I., and caught Burner's speech on the topic of the "War on Women:"
Via:
As an attendee of last week's Netroots Nation in Providence, Rhode Island, I was privileged to attend a speech by Democratic congressional candidate Darcy Burner. During the speech, Burner asked if there were women in the room who would be willing to stand up and talk about making the choice to have an abortion. All over the room, women stood. Myself included. Burner then asked those who were willing to support these women who would speak up about their choice to stand. As far as I could see, the entire rest of the room came to their feet.
For me, it felt like the safe and warm embrace of a loving community--willing to support me and speak out against those who would try and shame me.
For conservatives, it was just another chance to engage in being jackasses.
Axtman then cites a blog post written by a chiropractor, Melissa Clouthier :
Burner said,”If you are a woman in this room, and statistically this is true of about 1/3 of the women in this room, if you’re a woman in this room who has had an abortion and is willing to come out about it, please stand up.”
She continued, “Now, if you are willing to stand with every woman who is willing to come out about having had an abortion, please stand up.”
Nearly everyone stood.
Burner said,”This is how we change the stories in people’s past. We need to make it okay for women to come out about the choices they make.”
The left will say that they’re not pro-abortion, they’re pro-choice or they’re pro-women. It was clear, though, that abortion itself was elevated as something good and something to be celebrated.
The speaker and the audience was honoring women who had an abortion as though the action was an objectively good thing.
While it's not surprising that Ms. Clothier doesn't get it, as the entire exercise was about women standing up and refusing to be shamed by the anti-choice crowd, and everyone applauding to show solidarity and support of the rejection of shame that's created by the aspersions of others.
This statement threw me for a loop, though:
.Darcy Burner’s presentation gives insight to how the left sees women and their place in the world. It is abortion focused and rooted in the past.
(Emphasis mine.)
It's the anti-choice crowd voting to force women to take Big Government with them to visit their doctors, invading their privacy, and forcing them to jump through hoops for healthcare. But we're "abortion focused and rooted in the past"? Axtman offers her version of Clothier's remarks, "Shorter Melissa: Sit down you shameful, murdering sluts. How dare you celebrate taking responsibility for your life & choices in a way in which I disagree."
The anti-choice crowd has long held some invisible flag they call the "moral highground" and waved it around to pronounce judgement on others for actions they disagree with. Women are taking a stand and saying "enough," brave women like Darcy Burner and Carla Axtman. The anti-choice "moral highground" is not rooted in medical science, or even logic, it's a false flag that is being torn down and people will applaud this moment finally arriving.
Abortion is a legal medical procedure. It's not a satanic ritual. Get over it.
