Florida Senator Lauren Book earned herself some media attention recently when she proposed that no one in Florida should be allowed to talk about abortion unless the voting chamber consists of at least 50 percent women. In fact, this fresh-faced young Democrat even wants to pass a constitutional amendment in Florida that would make this ‘gender parity’ a requirement, in line with the systems of Mexico, Ecuador, and other smaller countries with lower standards of living, higher crime rates, and really nothing to do with America.
Supposedly fueled by righteous rage following Alabama’s big abortion decision, Book put her head together with some other abortion warriors and decided that identity politics was a good avenue to try to get their way. Hence the praise and fawning admiration from abortion-favoring outlets like Vice. There is a reason media are starting to notice. Ms. Book’s time in office, though brief, brings a lot to unpack.
First and foremost, she is a pro-abortion Democrat who wants to see it as written in her party’s platform: legal up to the moment of birth (and potentially after), for any reason, and paid for by tax dollars. That is the party line, despite evidence that only 7% of millennials, their main voting bloc, are on board with that.
Instead of altering the party’s abortion platform to be more in line with the views of most Americans (the party’s sponsor, Planned Parenthood, would not like that), an official political tactic has emerged called “no uterus, no opinion.” Basically, that means that the viewpoints of women count more than those of men.
This ignores a lot of interesting contradictions to her presuppositions about abortion. For example, it was 7 men who imposed Roe v. Wade on America, forcing abortion extremism. Perhaps men such as them are awarded an “honorary uterus,” if you will. And let’s consider that polling indicates that “women are slightly more likely than men to describe themselves as pro-life.”
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Book’s call for a gender parity law in order to talk about abortion also ignores a few key points, including the fact that we are a democracy in which people are welcomed to vote, no matter their sex, race, creed or color. Wars have been fought to open those freedoms to all, and the Constitution was literally amended. (Remember the 19th Amendment?)
Calling for an arbitrary percentage to be in place before we let men have a voice for life will punish men for a reality of political life -- more men run for office. Women’s voices are needed and welcomed. Women should run for office, but in America we don’t award seats in legislatures by some arbitrary formula. People run for office – and may the best woman, or man, win.
And in America the First Amendment says that all can have a voice on the issues of importance to them.
But let’s be honest. Book doesn’t want more women in the chamber. She wants more pro-abortion legislators, regardless of gender.
Speaking of gender, Book (and Vice) made sure to address the issue as it applies to who might be permitted to vote:
Book says that she hasn’t yet given much thought to how the law would factor in trans or non-binary lawmakers, some of whom may be personally affected by abortion legislation. “The gender identity piece is very important,” she said. “We don’t have anybody [who is trans] serving.”
Besides wanting to silence people who don’t agree with her on abortion, Book’s legislative resume shows compassion on all kinds of issue … just not for babies in the womb.
One of her passions is banning cat declawing, because apparently advocating to kill preborn humans is fine but declawing housecats is crossing moral lines.
She’s pushed to exempt diapers from Florida sales tax, which would save parents $30-60 per year, per baby. And she was just nominated to the board of directors for a direct-support organization aimed to help survivors of human trafficking.
And the best one? She’s advocated to get breastmilk available to preemies through Medicaid, noting that, “We have an obligation to care for our most vulnerable children.” Humans are a wild species. Book has a heart for preemies... some of whom are born within Florida’s legal abortion limit.
As a result of her numerous wildly conflicting stances, Book’s compassion is a whirlwind of confusing positions. Hopefully she knows she’s always welcome to extend her obvious compassion for humanity (and felines) to be inclusive of all the humans.
In the pro-life movement, we’ve learned that when it comes to those who justify abortion, there seems to be no limit to the inconsistencies a human being can mentally reconcile when it comes to calling for compassion for almost anyone and anything … except for babies in the womb.
Brenna Lewis is On-line Editor for Students for Life of America
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