We knew not to take FiveThirtyEight seriously when we read the text of the tweet … then we clicked on it and found they’d used a photo of the “Patriot Front” in their blue shirts and khakis to bolster the argument because those guys really represent conservative America. We’re not sure why FiveThirtyEight decided to wade into this pool, but it took two writers, Alex Samuels and Monica Potts, to put this piece together. Apparently, bans on abortion will only apply to white women.
How the fight to ban abortion is rooted in the great replacement theory: https://t.co/sYjbsF4NqL
— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) July 25, 2022
They write:
It may not be immediately obvious how the fight over abortion rights is tied to the “great replacement” theory — the debunked conspiracy theory promoted by some Republican politicians who claim that Democrats support more immigration to “replace” white American voters. But the explanation for, say, an alleged gaffe that overturning the constitutional right to an abortion is a “historic victory of white life” or a concern that not enough white babies are being born in the U.S. can be found in the history of the anti-abortion movement.
The movement to end legal abortion has a long, racist history, and like the great replacement theory, it has roots in a similar fear that white people are going to be outnumbered by people believed to hold a lower standing in society. Those anxieties used to be centered primarily around various groups of European immigrants and newly emancipated slaves, but now they’re focused on non-white Americans who, as a group, are on track to numerically outpace non-Hispanic white Americans by 2045, according to U.S. Census projections.
…
Declining white birth rates, along with the rising eugenics movement — a now-discredited pseudoscience focused on the genetic fitness of white Americans — were connected to the practice of abortion, and this helped bolster flawed, racist arguments for a total ban of the procedure. “The physicians trying to pass these anti-abortion laws were concerned about how abortion was a ‘danger’ to our society and the ways we want our country to be,” said Shannon Withycombe, a professor of history at the University of New Mexico who studies 19th-century women’s health.
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Hold up … as things stand, non-white Americans are on track to numerically outpace non-Hispanic white Americans by 2045. So non-white Americans aren’t the ones getting abortions, right? And eugenics, the “now-discredited pseudoscience”? Hello … has anyone at FiveThirtyEight read anything about Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood? Eugenics was kind of her thing. Planned Parenthood is still handing out Sanger Awards to women like Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton.
🤡🤡🤡
— Snuggy Jr (@SnuggyJr) July 25, 2022
We live in inverted world.
— 🤡🌎Trea (@TZG44587623) July 25, 2022
Then why was Senator Elizabeth Warren trying to close down pregnancy centers in diverse working class cities in Massachusetts?
— Renee (@reneeaste) July 25, 2022
There has to be actual evidence to support these kinds of claims, you know.
You can’t just want it to be true, and then say it, and have it be true.
— Harrison Bergeron’s Gifted Little Brother (@LockdownBad) July 25, 2022
You quoted @NPR?
That’s when I stopped reading.
— KayDreamer (@kaydreamer11) July 25, 2022
Filthy shitlib madlibs https://t.co/0GXMo94Ekf
— David Reaboi, Late Republic Nonsense (@davereaboi) July 25, 2022
It might be the dumbest thing 538 has ever tweeted and yes, I realize that is an enormously high bar
— Physics Geek (@physicsgeek) July 25, 2022
Wait, how does allowing more minority babies live fit that theory?
— Aric Zubke (@AricZubke) July 25, 2022
🤣🤣 you people are an embarrassment.
— Saint Fauci Lord of the Crowd (@ClarkCardone) July 25, 2022
Minorities make up a disproportionately high number of the abortions that are performed.
But hey, it’s just Twitter, so you can just say anything. Right?
— Howard Beale's hate child (@BealesHateChild) July 25, 2022
Blue anon shit here.
Whats the breakdown of abortions by race?
I literally dont even have to look it up to know what this stratification looks like. Sad.
— MidwestPatriot (@MPatriot107) July 25, 2022
Two corrections. Those are masked Feds. And abortion was a slaughterhouse for brown and black babies.
— True Remarks (@RemarksTrue) July 25, 2022
This piece is so dumb I'm shocked it wasn't printed in Salon
— Steve Linder (@SteveLinder1) July 25, 2022
That is the most ridiculous tripe I have ever read? Why are liberals so afraid to admit the sanctity of life? We're talking about human beings, not just clumps of cells.
— The_Brian_Poi (@BrianPoi) July 25, 2022
Wait, so black abortions after Roe v wade cut down black population to 40 mil. It could have been 60-80 mil otherwise. And the people who oppose Roe v wade are white supremacists? Did you forget to feed the squirrels 🐿 living in your brain?
— Wesley Mouch Ultra MAGA (@WesleyMouch3) July 25, 2022
180 degrees off. Shockingly dumb
— CaptainEli (@MaineEli) July 25, 2022
Killing minority babies, not replacement theory. Letting minority babies live, replacement theory. 🤷🏽♂️ These folks have no idea what PP or Margaret Sanger were all about. 🤦🏽♂️
— Jer (@Jere_201) July 25, 2022
“Throughout colonial America and into the 19th century, abortions were fairly common,” they write. It was only when those dirty Irish started showing up that bans on abortion became popular. Right.
Related:
‘Hypocrisy is strong with this one’! Nancy Pelosi trips over a Margaret Sanger Award from PP (and herself) in rush to remind Trump that ‘every life is precious’ https://t.co/pJEjdASqT9
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) April 17, 2020
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