Shucking Oysters: Whitewashed Arm Candy
By Alex Allen
“To our fellow Americans we say, you’re never gonna find great meaning in a cubicle or in front of a computer screen. But you will find great meaning if you dedicate yourself to the creation and sustenance of human life,” JD Vance preached to the newly-converted at the annual March for Life in Washington, DC last month. White young Americans from Erika Kirk’s Turning Point USA, Students For Life, and Counteract USA, and other pro-life groups held on to his every word. Power, racism, and subjugation of women – white American evangelicalism in all its glory.
On stage behind bulletproof glass Vance bragged: “Now, some of you may remember that in my remarks last year, I told you all that one of the things I most wanted in the United States of America was more families and more babies. So, let the record show you have a vice president who practices what he preaches. Usha and I announced this week that we’re expecting our fourth. And it will be our third baby boy.” Spoiler alert: Usha is 40 years old and will never have her career back again.
The first March for Life took place in January 1974, marking the one-year anniversary of the United States’ Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion. Fifty years later, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and the focus has seismically shifted. The goal is “to change the culture to ultimately make abortion unthinkable.”
The controversial Project 2025 recommends that the government “maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family.” It also plans to change the name of the federal health and human services department to the “Department of Life.” As the author’s of a Mother Jones article wrote in November: “Until the government can muster up real, honest discussions on how to support all American families, it’s hard to imagine the Trump administration’s policies moving anyone, except maybe MAGA trad wives, to procreate.”
Misogyny is an integral policy feature of the US government. Under Trump’s anti-Diversity, Equity and Inclusion order, the words “women” and “female” have been banned from research grant applications and legislation has been passed that will make it more difficult for married women to vote. As Olivia Campbell wrote, “women’s contributions are being erased, their rights and roles eroded. And given the history of authoritarian regimes, it’s all too familiar territory.” Beyond Trump’s proclivities and the Epstein hall of shame, at least three administration leaders and members of the cabinet, including sperm-donating Elon Musk, health guru Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and warrior secretary Pete Hegseth have been accused of sexual misconduct.
Doug Wilson, the self-taught pastor of Hegseth’s denomination, the arch-conservative Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, maintains that it was wrong to let women vote and believes that married women should submit to their husbands. He also wants women out of combat. “I think we ought to find out the name of the person who suggested that we put women on those submarines and have that man committed,” Wilson said. “It’s like having a playpen that you put 50 cats in and then drop catnip in the middle of it. Whatever happens is going to be ugly.”
A recent Slate article written by Heather Schwedel, has faced criticism for suggesting that Vance’s pledge to make more babies is compensating for his having a wife of colour. “In lieu of trading in his wife for a paler model, Vance has found another way to prove himself a good shepherd of the MAGA faithful: He and Usha are expecting a fourth child in July.” Former MSNBC host Joy Reid wondered the same thing suggesting that Vance ditch his current wife for purified Erika Kirk as a strategic political move. “Wouldn’t it be the most perfect fairy tale, MAGA fairy tale, if he finally sees the light that he needs a White queen instead of this Brown Hindu?” With no surprise Reid, one of the most respected Black female commentators on air was fired. Trump celebrated by posting “the mentally obnoxious racist, Joy Reid” was “one of the least talented people in television.” Eight other MSN on-air news personalities were also given the pink slip last year. All were Black and half were women – Trump’s DEI regime in action.
And if you think Canadian politics are different, you are naive. Pierre Poilievre has had a long history of being anti-choice over his life-time political career. Yes, he has promised not to legislate on abortion, but that doesn’t mean that a sitting conservative MP couldn’t bring forward a bill for a free vote. And in fact, Poilievre has clearly stated he would not stop any of his MPs from introducing anti-abortion legislation.
In response to the overturning of Roe V. Wade in 2019, former Bloc Quebecois MP Monique Pauzé asked for “the House of Commons to reiterate that a woman’s body belongs to her and her alone, and recognize her right to choose an abortion regardless of the reason.” When adopted, all MPs in the house rose in standing ovation except for conservative MPs. Every single one of them remained in their seats and did not even applaud. On the very same day Poilievre voted no to providing women with free contraceptives. In Murray Mandryk’s words, “if mimicry is the greatest form of flattery, consider how Trump’s actions have become the template for a lot of conservatives.”
Three quarters of Pierre’s caucus and almost half of his supporters are latent Trump supporters according to recent polling. Poilievre also has a hefty fan base of Trump-friendly personalities. Last year, bombastic Kevin O’Leary said that Trump should invite “the Prime Minister in waiting” to Mar-a-Lago because Poilievre is “Trump’s kind of guy.” Ben Shapiro, a leading voice in the MAGA movement posted a video, “Pierre Poilievre is for the People” in 2024 calling him a “tremendous politician” who opposes “radical sexual individualism.” Shapiro also shared in the video that women “owe it to men to be good wives and mothers.”
There are over 800 registered pro-life organizations in the US that earn more than $427 million in revenue each year and have assets of $398 million. In Canada we have more than 300 pro-life groups. While there is no exact number of US-based pro-life organizations operating in Canada, Heartbeat International, Care Net, and the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates are heavily involved in the Canadian, anti-abortion landscape.
In December, a parliamentary committee recommended Canada end automatic charitable status for religious groups, mirroring recommendations from the BC Humanist Association (BCHA) that the government: “Amend the Income Tax Act to provide a definition of a charity which would remove the privileged status of ‘advancement of religion’ as a charitable purpose” and “No longer provide charitable status to anti-abortion organizations.”
The BCHA, with the Centre for Inquiry Canada, estimated that tax receipts issued by religious charities in Canada resulted in $1.6 to $2.6 billion in “foregone revenue” in 2017. The report included 462 recommendations based on 828 submissions and 74 presentations by groups and individuals. While the recommendations have yet to be adopted, religious institutions across the country are ringing their church bells loudly – in protest.
In a sermon two years ago, Texas Democrat James Talarico, a part-time Presbyterian seminary student eloquently said: “Christian nationalism is here to maintain the status quo. They have co-opted the Son of God. They have turned this humble rabbi into a gun-toting, gay-bashing, science-denying, money-loving, fear-mongering fascist.” White evangelical leaders would serve themselves well if they cared more about following Jesus and loving others instead of obsessively thinking about what it means to be a Christian man and Christian woman.
