ANALYSIS/OPINION:

As everyone knows by now, the Golden Globes ceremony occurred the other day. If you lean to the political right, you basically didn’t get past Ricky Gervais’ scathing opening monologue. Mr. Gervais called out the blatant hypocrisy of the left and Hollywood elite, highlighting how they will virtue signal and brag about their wokeness, while at the same time having no idea how the real world works.

He followed this by telling the crowd that if they win, they shouldn’t bother everyone with their uninformed political opinions. Unfortunately for everyone, a few of the award winners didn’t listen, one being Michelle Williams.

Miss Williams won for best actress in a mini-series or motion picture and upon receiving her award went into an obviously planned, overwrought diatribe about abortion and “women’s rights.” When you look at news coverage of her speech, many focus on her last few sentences where she instructs all women to vote (as if what she said on stage will somehow encourage more women to vote than before), but what needed closer attention was what she said when speaking on abortion.

The 39-year-old actress began by saying, “When you put (the Golden Globe Award) in someone’s hands you’re acknowledging the choices they make as an actor. Moment by moment, scene by scene, day by day. But you’re also acknowledging the choices they make as a person. The education they pursued, the training they sought, the hours they put in. I’m grateful for the acknowledgement of the choices I’ve made …” She followed with lines about her education and training and her work, pretty standard stuff for an acceptance speech, but then ended with “… And I wouldn’t have been able to do this without employing a woman’s right to choose.”

I want to clarify that I’m not writing this opinion piece to debate abortion — we know all the points on both sides about it at this point in history — I’m writing this because whether you’re pro-life or pro-choice, there’s something incredibly unsettling about Miss Williams’ and some other members of Hollywood’s disregard for the seriousness and solemnness of the act of having an abortion.

Sure, one could argue that Miss Williams’ speech was delivered in a dramatic way, but let’s clarify the actual point she was making. By beginning her speech noting that her training, education and time spent learning her craft were choices she made, then wrapping with the “big finish” that she also chose to have an abortion, she absolutely belittles the act. She’s literally saying that having an abortion was critical to her acting success and that she wouldn’t have won a Golden Globe without having one.

I sent links of the speech to a sampling of female friends and colleagues of mine who fall on both sides of the debate, and they universally agreed that there was something wrong with how it was presented. Their universal opinion: Making the choice to have an abortion isn’t an easy one, and it’s much more serious than ticking a box on your way to a successful career.

Having an abortion is a painstaking decision that will affect the woman having one for years to come. The thought process that goes into it consumes you with emotion, and makes you consider all aspects of your life before and after the potential procedure. But the left over the past few years has begun to celebrate it as if it’s like getting a fancy new sweater that you want to brag to your friends about.

Just a few years ago, Lena Dunham bizarrely said that she “wished she had had an abortion,” which drew ire from media critics — then Michelle Wolf cracked a joke about the sensitive subject at the White House Correspondent’s Dinner that even made the media in attendance cringe and groan. Even the moderate left in both instances know that it’s not a topic to be wished upon, blown off or joked about — and it isn’t.

If you’ve ever known anyone who has personally had an abortion, they don’t brag about it — they rarely even, if ever, talk about it, because there’s never pride in having one.

Miss Williams’ speech struck a nerve with many people, but not for the reasons she wanted to. She celebrated, instead of took seriously, a choice that many have had deep struggles with — and for bonus points in that same closing line, she diminished the lives of every mom who chose to have their child in addition to working hard to achieve their dreams.

• Tim Young is a political comedian and author of “I Hate Democrats/I Hate Republicans” (Post Hill Press). He is co-host of The Washington Times podcast “The Right Opinion.”

Sign up for Daily Opinion Newsletter Manage Newsletters

Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.