Nazi References in Choice Debate Unacceptable

NJDC — February 8, 2012 – 12:02 pm | Abusive Holocaust Rhetoric | Women's Issues Comments (0) Add a comment

Anti-choice activists and pundits have a long and clear record of invoking the Holocaust to protest a woman’s right to choose. Lately, many of those same forces have been attacking the mandate for health insurance companies to provide no-cost contraception to women contained in the Affordable Care Act. As their rhetoric continues to get nastier, at least one member of the anti-choice side has opted to invoke the Holocaust to protest women’s access to contraception.

According to NARL Pro-Choice America’s Blog For Choice, conservative pundit Eric Metaxas invoked Nazi Germany during a debate on MSNBC’s “Jansing & Co.” Apparently:

Metaxas called contraception and women’s health “side issues”—and then likened the no-cost birth-control rule to the rise of Nazi Germany in the 1930s:

In [my] book, you read about what happened to an amazingly great country, called Germany. I’m half German. Uh, in the early ‘30s, little things were happening where the state was bullying the churches. No one spoke up. In the beginning, it always starts really, really small. We need to understand as America, as Americans, if we do not see this as a bright line in the sand, if you’re not a Catholic, if you use contraception, doesn’t matter. Because eventually, this kind of government overreach will affect you. If we don’t speak up, we’re gonna be in trouble.

As we have said repeatedly, invoking the Holocaust to make a political point is never acceptable. Doing so devalues the significance of the Holocaust and disrespects the memories of those who perished. We demand that those seeking to restrict a woman’s right to choose—including Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum—cease using such insensitive language immediately.

 

 

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