Gun Control Debate: Pro-Choice Women Should Naturally Also Be Pro-Gun

Impact
BySean O'leary

Many abortion supporters in feminist organizations and in liberal celebrity circles strongly defend a woman’s right to choose and to control decisions about what happens to their bodies, however, when it comes to a woman’s right to protect their bodies from potential harm, shamefully these same people are silent. 

In Illinois, the only state that presently does not allow its citizens the right to conceal and carry, a woman in peril who chooses to protect herself against a stalker or potential rapist faces the choice of protecting her body or being classified as a criminal. Under the present law, anyone unlawfully carrying a concealed weapon is subject to criminal penalties.  

Now one would think that forcing a woman to choose protection over her own body at the expense of being labeled a criminal would create outrage among the liberal feminist crowd.  However, the silence on their end has been deafening 

The National Organization of Women (NOW) states on its website, "NOW affirms that reproductive rights are issues of life and death for women, not mere matters of choice." Somehow the same outrage and passion just isn’t there for a woman’s right to protect herself.  

At a 2012 event for the Center of Reproductive Rights, a group dedicated to abortion rights, comedian Tina Fey spoke with outrage about recent comments former Missouri Rep. Todd Akin and Indiana treasurer Richard Mourdock made about rape and abortion.  

"If I have to listen to one more gray-faced man with a $2 hair cut explain to me what rape is, I'm gonna lose my mind."

But when it comes to women making the choice to protect their bodies, she hasn’t lost her mind on this issue, but her voice. 

In America, an estimated 207,754 rapes occurred last year. These staggering statistics show the dangers of violence and sexual violence that many women in America face. Ironically, Ms. Fey and the NOWs of the world sit by in silence while women are subject by law to make such a terrible choice. 

As the sun sets on laws banning conceal and carry, the chance to speak for women in these situations is gone. But what history will show is that feminist organizations and their supporters like Ms. Fey did not speak for those that needed their voice.