Humor and satire have long been an underused tool in the pro-life movement’s toolbox, and it isn’t difficult to see why. Abortion, after all, is a deadly serious matter, and dead babies are nothing to joke about. Despite the fact that abortion activists have tried to make feticide a punchline, it is no laughing matter. I’m not the sort of right-winger who thinks anything can be funny. Some things just aren’t.
Over the years, however, a handful of pro-life groups have successfully used satire to skewer the abortion industry. A few decades ago, Life Dynamics – run by the late Mark Crutcher – produced an illustrated book titled Quack the Ripper: News from the Red Light District of Medicine, filled with jokes about abortionists. The intended effect of the jokebook was to stigmatize the abortion industry and those who worked in it, and it was filled with jokes such as:
Q: What do you say to an abortionist in a three-piece suit?
A: Will the defendant please rise?
The Babylon Bee, of course, has been masterful in its use of satire in defence of the pro-life cause. An April headline: “Tragic: Post Office Fails To Deliver Abortion Pill On Time And Now There’s This Adorable Baby.” An excerpt:
According to doctors, not taking an abortion pill has been directly linked to cuddly babies being born alive. ‘Taking an abortion pill destroys a baby’s blood supply, ensuring no one experiences the calamity of seeing their wonderful, squishy faces,’ said Dr. Rhonda Miller. ‘If only this baby’s mother could have taken that pill, she wouldn’t be suffering through looking into the precious eyes of her daughter. It’s almost enough to make me cry.’
Other headlines are similarly brilliant. From May: “Abortionist Worried He May Have To Become One Of Those Doctors That Helps People.” Another: “Report: Abortion Doctor Thought He Had Sworn ‘Hypocritical Oath.’” And: “Planned Parenthood Warns New Abortion Laws Will Disproportionately Allow More Black People To Be Born.” This is how good satire is done – it actually exposes the truth about the issue without making light of something that should not be mocked.
Another good example of this would be Laura Klassen at Choice42. Her first satire video in 2018, “The Magical Birth Canal,” was an overnight sensation, poking fun at the illogical pro-abortion view that a human being in the womb has no human rights but that same human – perhaps moments later – has human rights after being born. The fact that abortion activists hated the video – and Klassen – as much as they did proved just how effective this tactic is. She followed it up with a series of other videos, wearing her signature pink wig and, in one case, a radical handmaid’s red robe. The arguments abortion activists use are ridiculous – and ridiculing them makes for potent satire.
One thought on “Is there such a thing as pro-life satire?”
Navi says:
There’s good satire, but we have to be careful about it. Mark Crutcher’s joke book, which included jokes about shooting abortionists, majorly backfired when it led to the creation of Medical Students for Choice.
There’s good satire, but we have to be careful about it. Mark Crutcher’s joke book, which included jokes about shooting abortionists, majorly backfired when it led to the creation of Medical Students for Choice.