Since the triumphant end of Roe v. Wade two years ago this June, pro-lifers have suffered loss after political loss. Capitalizing on this pro-abortion tsunami, Democrats just announced a $100 million commitment to push abortion in an effort to win back the House of Representatives. On the state level, efforts to liberalize abortion laws continue to pop up on ballots across the country.
What appears to be missing from the public discussion about abortion is a simple question: What is the engine driving the abortion numbers? Abortion, in various forms, has been around for millennia, but the astronomical spike in those seeking it out is quite new. Legalization and technology have certainly added to its numbers, but there must be more that has led millions of women — women from the wealthiest countries ever — to actively end the lives of their own children on an unimaginable scale. Something else is driving it. What is it?
The sexual revolution is generally targeted as abortion’s source. While it played a huge role in abortion gaining a foothold, the esteem abortion has today required a lot more than the offerings of the radical ’60s. During the Roe years, while pro-lifers chipped away at the Supreme Court decision legally, the pro-abortion side fought a different front: the side of culture. Their success hinged upon one thing: the wholesale adoption of the ideology of feminism. They have been wildly successful.
One feminist ringleader, who connected the sexual revolution with feminism, was Kate Millett (1934-2017), the author of Sexual Politics. Millett made the cover of Time magazine for her highly influential book and seeded the women’s studies programs throughout American universities. She was a protégé of Wilhelm Reich, who wrote the book The Sexual Revolution in 1936. Millett helped execute Reich’s vision of applying Marxist ideas to the broader........