In the lead-up to this year’s presidential election, the country was subjected to a leftist narrative detailing what a new Trump administration would look like. In this telling, a second term would be cataclysmic and irrevocably damage the nation’s very foundations. Specifically, “marginalized” groups would feel the weight of oppression and limitation of freedoms. President-elect Donald Trump‘s decisive win against Vice President Kamala Harris has only heightened the intensity and frequency of these claims.
Trump has yet to be sworn in for his second term, but you wouldn’t know it based on the public displays of misinformation and hysteria. One of the main concerns centers on women and their reproductive health. Not only is there the idea that a Trump-Vance administration will bring about a nationwide abortion ban, but also that birth control and even miscarriage or post-abortive care would either be unavailable or highly restricted. These fears aren’t based on anything concrete. Instead, they are anchored in a campaign to scare women and allies into believing the worst, even if it’s built on easily disproved lies.
In a repeat from his first term, the legacy media and leftists are intent on fearmongering and delusion instead of addressing current laws or future policy plans.
A major reason for this collective overreaction is Trump’s hand in overturning Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The seismic shift in the nearly 50-year norm reversed a legal and moral wrong. But, according to the pro-choice crowd, it sent women back to the Dark Ages in terms of healthcare and sexuality. Nothing could be further from the truth. Federalism remains a good thing. States are varied in their abortion legislation, with some highly restrictive and others openly permissive. Women are barred from neither obtaining an abortion nor receiving care. In fact, the data show abortions have increased across the board since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization was handed down. Women in the United States intent on obtaining an abortion are either traveling to states with looser laws or obtaining abortion medication. Trump’s decisions in his first term led to a Supreme Court that decided to overturn supposedly established precedent. And progressives still can’t get over it.
Since Dobbs was decided, we have been told that America is akin to the Republic of Gilead in Margaret Atwood’s oft-mentioned book, The Handmaid’s Tale. We’re told women have no control over their bodies and healthcare decisions now and won’t in the future. Given how much the alarmism does not match the reality of a post-Dobbs U.S., it’s safe to say current cries pointing to a bleak, patriarchal future are just as absurd as the first time around. Unsurprisingly, it does not mean these won’t continue before and during Trump’s second term in office.
Chief among the list of healthcare fears is a nationwide ban on abortion. A president who ushered in what was previously unthinkable, overturning Roe, would surely use a second term to impose a federal ban on abortion. Out of this leftist fear grows all others related to women’s reproductive healthcare. But Trump has explicitly stated on more than one occasion that he would veto legislation meant to establish a federal ban. In preelection interviews, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance confirmed Trump’s desire to veto any ban that might come to his desk. Some on both sides of the aisle view Trump as a pro-life leader. But both are wrong to do so. Democrats, concerned about the future, point to Dobbs as proof Trump would support a ban. Likewise, Republicans, looking at Dobbs, believe it points to a possible nationwide abortion ban in his second term. But Trump is far more opportunistic and focused on his legacy and political capital than he is stalwart in principle. In 2016, a main part of his campaign had to do with the opportunity to make at least one or more Supreme Court appointments. An unknown number of voters supported him that year for that reason alone. The thought of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton powerfully changing the court for years to come was too much of a threat. Trump won and eventually nominated three judges who were confirmed. The rest is history. But none of this means Trump is, at his heart, a pro-life person.
In September 2023, Trump called the new six-week abortion ban Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) signed a “terrible mistake.” This came after frequently praising how the Dobbs decision returned the abortion issue to the states. Trump’s personal feelings about the issue are more political than they are pro-life in nature. When discussing Florida’s Amendment 4, which was on the ballot in November and lost when it failed to reach 60%, the Trump team reiterated that “he believes 6 weeks is too short.” It is wrong to expect broad, pro-life moves from a man who is quite clearly not staunch on the issue. Trump’s personal feelings on abortion and his nominations of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to Cabinet positions, neither of whom is pro-life, are deeply disappointing to pro-life Republicans. So, it makes the current batch of histrionics from the pro-choice Left even more farcical.
Dr. Clayton Alfonso is an OB-GYN who works for Duke Health in North Carolina. According to Time magazine, in the hours and days after the election, he “had two messages from patients seeking to replace their IUDs. Over the next few days, three women inquired about getting their tubes tied. All of them said the election was the reason they were making these choices now.” This increase is nothing new overall, as the months following the Dobbs decision saw a rise in the number of women seeking tubal ligation. In fact, Alfonso said, “I saw this bump after the Trump election in 2016. But the patients seem more afraid this time.” Fear is the whole point. There is no proof a second Trump administration would in any way restrict birth control access. In a post on Truth Social in May, Trump said: “I HAVE NEVER, AND WILL NEVER ADVOCATE IMPOSING RESTRICTIONS ON BIRTH CONTROL, or other contraceptives. This is a Democrat fabricated lie, MISINFORMATION/DISINFORMATION, because they have nothing else to run on except FAILURE, POVERTY, AND DEATH. I DO NOT SUPPORT A BAN ON BIRTH CONTROL, AND NEITHER WILL THE REPUBLICAN PARTY!” While Trump has been rather clear in recent months about not supporting a ban on birth control, leftists still insist he would or is likely to do so.
A piece from the Guttmacher Institute in early November titled “10 Reasons a Second Trump Presidency Will Decimate Sexual and Reproductive Health” is exactly the kind of thing incurious progressives, eager to find a morsel of confirmation bias, cling to in their effort to prove Trump 2.0 will ruin their lives. In it, the author lists several possible measures in the incoming Trump administration. No. 2 on the list is “Reinstating and expanding the global gag rule.” This is hardly surprising, given he is a Republican. And it’s also right in line with history, as previous Republican administrations did the very same thing. A “global gag rule” restricts nongovernmental organizations from using U.S. funds to pay for abortion services or referrals. Known as the “Mexico City Policy,” it came into existence in 1984, during the Reagan administration. Previous administrations have rescinded or revoked the Mexico City Policy along party lines. The same goes for No. 7 on the Guttmacher list, which is “Attacking the Affordable Care Act’s birth control benefit.” The explanation given is, “The administration will likely again allow employers and educational institutions to avoid offering coverage in their employees’ or students’ health plans by claiming moral and religious exemptions.” Allowing these exemptions is a decidedly good thing. The decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores was a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court in June 2014. It protected religious freedom and allowed for an exemption concerning the company’s birth control coverage. Often ignored is the fact that Hobby Lobby still covers a long list of birth control options, just not the abortifacient kind. Again, these exemptions, when allowed, will be nothing new. Still, the Left is committed to creating the prospect of a new Trump administration that is so wildly against women and sexual freedom that it can hardly be believed. After all, we’re told he’s no different than Hitler.
The social media responses to the president-elect’s impending term are so over the top that one wonders if these people live in the same reality as everyone else.
The list of overreactions and outright falsehoods is long. Among them is something called 4B. The movement originated in South Korea years ago and has been adopted by radical feminists in America who are convinced a new Trump era will bring their demise. The tenets include not having sex with men, not dating men, and not marrying men. Apparently, this is meant to protect oneself. Ironically, personal responsibility for sexual choices, and any children that result, is what the pro-life movement has pushed all along. An article at Slate about the 4B trend includes delusional statements from women promoting it: “If you want to live a long time, stop dating men” and “If you get pregnant and there’s a complication, doctors will simply watch you die. Any man who even wants sex with you wants to knowingly put you at risk of pregnancy and subsequent death.” These imagined scenarios undergird their hate for the president-elect and their sense of victimhood.
At the cultural garbage heap commonly known as TikTok, the outrage and frenzy are palpable. The social media site is famous for being a progressive hub. That has only ramped up since Harris lost. One woman, in a very controlled and serious manner, posted a video advising women how to navigate a Trump presidency. In it, she encourages women to delete their period tracking apps, obtain Plan B as soon as possible, follow pro-abortion writer Jessica Valenti, and commit to using some form of birth control or get their tubes tied. She ends by telling women not to get pregnant right now “for your safety.” Another user posted a video encouraging women to take an extremely high amount of Vitamin C while pregnant in an effort to cause a homemade miscarriage. Still, another series of videos, this time on TikTok and Instagram, discusses Aqua Tofana, the 17th-century poison, as some sort of weapon against the patriarchy. The trend was even coined “Make Aqua Tofana Great Again.” More seriously, this woman posted her plans to go ahead and get her tubes tied, all spurred on by the election victory of Donald J. Trump.
This postelection delirium is directly connected to narratives born out of the Harris-Walz campaign. A campaign ad in September featured rape survivor Hadley Duvall, who said of Trump, “He took away our freedom.” In October, the campaign released a video featuring Amber Nicole Thurman’s family. In it, her mother said, “My daughter is gone because of what Donald Trump did.” Never mind that Thurman’s death was a result of extreme negligence at a hospital in her home state of Georgia. Making Trump the culprit for current and future troubles was the goal. Ultimately, the creation of a world in which women will be unable to obtain an abortion or birth control and will die as a result of bans was not enough to turn the election in Harris’s favor. This is because it’s not at all reflective of the truth of an America that is two years past the Dobbs decision. It’s also not reflective of the plans of a second Trump administration or the man himself, who has nominated rather nonconservative people to some of the highest positions in the land.
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It’s unfortunate that instead of welcoming the truth and teaching responsibility, even in cases involving unexpected pregnancy, women are sold a bill of lies. It’s certainly not helpful as women navigate their own health decisions. In fact, it can be downright dangerous. Warning them of a world in which Trump will take away their freedoms and prevent medical help is not at all in line with the truth. If anything, it shows progressives such as Harris don’t really care about women and their wholeness, even while pretending they do.
The derangement won’t end once Trump is sworn in as the 47th president of the U.S. It will only increase even as the months roll on and real life does not look like the apocalyptic, anti-woman America the Left has spent so long creating. Never mind that. For progressives, the worst will always be right around the corner.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a contributing freelance columnist at the Freemen News-Letter. She is a mother of two and lives in the southern United States.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
