Those who provide women with safe, reproductive health care face daily threats and harassment. Yet, incidents in which clinics are the targets of anti-choice violence are, as far as I know, ignored on Fox News which is an arm of the movement that seeks to eliminate safe, reproductive health care. Recently, a Montana abortion clinic was heavily damaged, allegedly by the son of a local anti-choice activist. Megyn Kelly, who was part of the Fox News hatefest directed against the murdered abortion provider, Dr. George Tiller, apparently didn't think it worthy of discussion. But she didn't have a problem showing her support for two anti-choice activists whose scuffle with an African-American college professor is now the top trender on anti-choice websites. Last night, during a context free discussion, Megyn Kelly proved, once again, the less than six degrees which separates Fox News from those who are waging a real war on women.
Kelly's "exclusive" began with Kelly solemnly intoning the backstory about a "pro-life" protester whose sign was stolen and destroyed by a college professor. After Kelly loudly added that the professor "then attacked her," she played video of the incident after which somebody shouted "I may be a thief; but you're a terrorist." Kelly repeated the quote, which, BTW, accurately describes all those who have perpetrated violence against abortion providers, and tossed to her propaganda soul mate, Trace Gallagher.
Gallagher reported that the incident happened at the University of Santa Barbara in (he did air quotes) "the free speech zone." Without identifying their organization, he said that the anti-abortion protestors were "on campus handing out informational pamphlets and carrying anti-abortion signs with what some consider to be graphic images of aborted fetuses." He noted that the professor, who is pregnant, had a negative reaction to the images (which are of late term abortions or possibly photoshopped) and she and a student grabbed the signs. (So, despite Kelly's contention, it might not have been the professor who shouted the thing about terrorism.) He reported that the protestors followed the professor and played the protester's video which showed muddled images and people shouting. The chyron: "Pro-life Protest Turns Violent, Professor Accused of Attacking Teen." Gallagher added that the case is under review by the D.A.
Kelly warmly welcomed the anti-choice teen activists. Kelly summed up the case for the teens: "You wanted to make your point in a free speech zone, the professor comes over and what did she do?" As Kelly stared in incredulity, 16 year old "pro-life activist" Thrin Short told her story about the incident which culminated in what was described as a scuffle at the elevator. Kelly read the professor's statement in which she claimed that she, Kelly carefully enunciated the words, "had a moral right to act the way she did." Thrin then worked in the new standard anti-choice attack on the professor when, after saying that the professor had no right to take their signs, informed the audience that the professor "shows porn" to her students so "she's not really the one to talk about offending images." Kelly explained that the professor teaches feminist studies.
When Kelly asked the young women if they "went too far," Joan Short asserted that their photos are graphic representation of the "real violence" of abortion. Kelly asked a "leading question" when she asked if the girls were "surprised" by the professor's "aggression" in taking something that "was not her property." Short accused the teacher of "just trying to get attention." Kelly validated the girl's position with "it wasn't much of a free speech zone."
Facts omitted by Megyn Kelly:
The group is called "Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust" - a name coined by those who claim, as young people, to have escaped the post Roe "genocide." They own a building occupied by the radical "Operation Rescue." The Rev. Patrick Mahoney, pal of anti-choice domestic terrorist Randall Terry, is on their Board. They use large photos of supposedly aborted fetuses on their protest signs. Their teen members picketed outside the Holocaust Museum in Albuquerque NM. The local Jewish community were outraged at the "Survivors" attempt to equate abortion with the Holocaust.
Students at the University complained about the presence of the protesters with their "gory" photos. The protesters did not follow school policy in failing to notify the school of their protest. As of yesterday, the campus police had not reported this incident.
The "pornography" used by Dr. Young is in the context of promoting "nuanced feminist criticism of gender and other hierarchies while thinking through the possibilities for radical sexual dissent, play, transformation, and transgression."
Facts? "Truth Detector" Megyn Kelly don't need no stinking facts!!