Be clear, be honest
Roy Edroso had some excellent observations on the abortion rights marches over the weekend. I especially like this:
The theme that abortion is a right, not to be apologized for but to be asserted and even celebrated, was clear in the tenor of the speeches and the signs, and that’s good — because I have noticed the opposition is frantically lying its ass off that the ruling doesn’t mean so much, really, it won’t be so bad, you shouldn’t protest so hard, we swear it won’t get worse, etc., and the big-time bullshit artists like David French are out there saying of course we won’t put women in prison, we only want to imprison and execute doctors, you can trust us, look how full of love we are for you and the baby we will force you to bear.
Their dishonesty may be breathtaking, especially to those who aren’t used to seeing it, but it’s also a good sign, because it shows that the truth does them no credit, so telling it can work.
Now that Roe is gone I don’t think there’s any more reason to believe that trying to obscure the issue. The fight is going to take a while and it’s going to require mobilizing the abortion rights majority. Rhetorical vagueness won’t get that done.
And I think that new clarity is what has the wingnuts spooked. All these people who claim to think abortion is murder are suddenly telling women that overturning Roe is no big deal and they shouldn’t be upset because they’ll all be able to get abortions, no problem. Does this make sense? I don’t think so.