Michelle Williams thanks God for abortion; pro-life women respond: Babies worth more than trophies
After Michelle Williams used her platform to promote abortion at the Golden Globes Sunday, pro-life advocates and conservative leaders took to social media to condemn the actress’s “sad” comments.
Williams, who won Best Performance by an Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie for her role on "Fosse/Verdon," told the crowd Sunday evening that she was “grateful to have lived at a moment in our society when choice exists, because as women and as girls, things can happen to our bodies that are not our choice.”
“I've tried my very best to live a life of my own making and not just a series of events that happened to me, but one that I could stand back and look at and recognize my handwriting all over it — sometimes messy and scrawling, sometimes careful and precise, but one that I have carved with my own hand.”
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“I wouldn't have been able to do this without employing a woman's right to choose,” she added. In an interview afterward, when asked by a reporter if she had personal experience to back up her statement, Williams refused to elaborate.
The actress, who also used the occasion to show off her new pregnancy at the ceremony with fiancé Thomas Kail, a film director, encouraged women to vote to support abortion. “I know my choices might look different but thank God or whomever you pray to that we live in a country founded on the principle that I am free to live by my faith and you are free to live by yours," Williams said. "So women, 18 to 118, when it is time to vote, please do so in your own self-interest; it's what men have been doing for years,” she added.
Williams’ speech came after British comedian Ricky Gervais urged Golden Globes attendees to avoid political issues. “So if you do win an award tonight, don’t use it as a platform to make a political speech,” he said. “You’re in no position to lecture the public about anything. You know nothing about the real world.”
While Williams’ speech was met with applause from the audience, pro-life advocates and conservative leaders took to social media to condemn her comments.
Lila Rose, anti-abortion activist and founder of Live Action, tweeted. “No trophy is worth more than a child's life. Sacrificing our children to pursue our dreams is the total antithesis of women's empowerment.”
She later added, “Babies do not keep us from our dreams. Babies make us better, more loving, more giving. They are the source and inspiration for our best dreams. So grateful that I’ve been privileged with the precious gift of being a mother.”
Babies do not keep us from our dreams. Babies make us better, more loving, more giving. They are the source and inspiration for our best dreams. So grateful that I’ve been privileged with the precious gift of being a mother.
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) January 7, 2020
Planned Parenthood Director turned Pro-Life Advocate Abby Johnson tweeted: “Michelle Williams wants you believe that you have to kill your children in order to be successful. Well, I have eight children and have met all of my educational and career goals. To say that we must choose is an insult to the strength of women and motherhood.”
“How sad it must be to trade an innocent human life for a tiny golden statue. Praying for Michelle Williams,” she added.
Michelle Williams wants you believe that you have to kill your children in order to be successful. Well, I have 8 children and have met all of my educational and career goals. To say that we must choose is an insult to the strength of women and motherhood.
— Abby Johnson (@AbbyJohnson) January 6, 2020
Conservative writer Matt Walsh tweeted, “Michelle Williams got up on stage while pregnant and bragged about killing her child, then the audience full of rich, drug addled narcissists applauded while crying tears of joy. Hollywood is a cesspool. Gervais was way understating the case.”
Michelle Williams got up on stage while pregnant and bragged about killing her child, then the audience full of rich, drug addled narcissists applauded while crying tears of joy. Hollywood is a cesspool. Gervais was way understating the case. https://t.co/5vMk8RngoK
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) January 6, 2020
Author Melissa Ohden, a pro-life advocate who survived a botched abortion, wrote: “As usual, the Hollywood elite take a stand on abortion and show how little they really know about the issue. It’s sad, really, to see Michelle Williams (currently pregnant, nonetheless), state that she’s achieved what she has because of her “right to choose.” Clearly, she’s achieved what she has in spite of abortion, not because of it.”
Williams’ speech came just a week after a group of Republican lawmakers submitted a brief to the Supreme Court urging it to reconsider the landmark case Roe v. Wade.
In an amicus brief signed by 38 senators and 168 members of the House, the federal legislators urged the nation's highest court to revisit the core holdings in the cases that have enshrined abortion as a constitutional right for decades, particularly Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992 decision that upheld and reinforced Roe and created the “undue burden” standard to evaluate laws that restrict abortions.
On Twitter, the pro-life group Americans United for Life said Williams had clearly embraced the “false” choice of Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
The group tweeted, “Michelle Williams embraces the false choice of SCOTUS's Casey decision, which ignored the morality of abortion itself and lamely claimed that women can only achieve equality through the violence of abortion. We can do better.”
Michelle Williams embraces the false choice of SCOTUS’s Casey decision, which ignored the morality of abortion itself and lamely claimed that women can only achieve equality through the violence of abortion. We can do better. https://t.co/PBXkobWDdW
— Americans United for Life (@AUL) January 6, 2020
