In an interview with Britain’s The Guardian, 67-year-old actor Jeremy Irons said he thinks the church is right to say that abortion is a sin because “sin is actions that harm us” and abortion “harms a woman.” This, naturally, has caused several abortion advocates to spontaneously combust, while others are in the hospital being treated for lacerations to the head inflicted by their own fingernails as they tried to claw out their hair. That last bit was a joke, but just barely.
In reality, feminist website Jezebel called Irons a “stupid fartbag” and proclaimed that he believes women who have abortions are “baby-vacuuming whores.” The fact that Mr. Stupid Fartbag also said he believes that “women should be allowed to make the decision” to have an abortion didn’t seem to make things better.
Stupid fartbag Jeremy Irons: "Abortion harms a woman" https://t.co/g3XKRry2gA
— Jezebel (@Jezebel) March 25, 2016
Irons’ actual stance on abortion — in so far as an offhand comment in an interview can be considered a stance — is actually much closer to pro-choice than pro-life. He makes no mention of the baby in any of this, claiming only that abortion can be “a tremendous mental attack” on a woman. (Presumably he’s referring to the fact that making the choice to have an abortion is a difficult one.) And he says that while he believes it ought to be a sin, women should be allowed to make that decision for themselves. (One imagines he means that, should a women feel that it is not a sin, she can go ahead and have an abortion.)
Jezebel is not the only site to go after Irons for his comments. Marie Claire, for example, says, “Jeremy Irons, man who has never had an abortion, has a strong and surprisingly off-base opinion on the subject.” It seems that Jeremy Irons’ maleness automatically excludes him from having any opinions at all about abortion. By this logic, feminists are excluded from having opinions on any of the choices men make. Luckily for feminists, logic is not their strong suit.
Marie Claire goes on to say: “Claiming that abortions are harmful is not only highly irresponsible, it couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s a safe procedure, and in many cases can be a life-saving one.” Irresponsible, presumably, because so many women look to Jeremy Irons as the definitive source of information about women’s health — after, of course, totally discrediting him because he’s a man.
The reaction to Irons’ comments on abortion is indicative of how far the “pro-choice” movement is willing to go for the cause. Here is Irons, offhandedly mentioning that he thinks abortion isn’t to be taken lightly — that it can take a mental toll on a woman, and is ultimately wrong even if, sometimes, a woman feels she must do it. And here are all these feminists shouting him down and calling him names. But shouldn’t this basically be the “pro-choice” message?
Saying that choosing to have an abortion is a terrible choice to make shouldn’t be controversial. Saying that it’s a difficult choice, mentally and emotionally, shouldn’t be controversial. If you believe that abortion doesn’t end a life, you have to at least acknowledge that it ends the potential for one. And that potential life would have been your own child’s. So the idea that a woman could (or should!) have an abortion while feeling something akin to the feeling of going out for a sandwich is unrealistic.
Jeremy Irons is a guy who thinks abortion should be legal, but that it’s “harmful” because it takes a mental toll. This makes him irresponsible because, apparently, abortion is actually super fun and everyone should try it and anyone who thinks otherwise is a stupid fartbag. Well then, I too am a stupid fartbag. I’ll be ordering my t-shirt tomorrow.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member