Matt Walsh is wrong about abortion

By Marty Zimmer

To those of you that don’t know who Matt Walsh is, I envy you. And although there may be a few readers out there who may take his right-wing gobbledygook to heart after being introduced to him, feel free to Google his name. I hate giving free advertising to crazies on the internet, but I find Walsh’s popularity equal parts riveting, baffling, and depressing.

If you do a Google search for “Matt Walsh,” you are probably going to be met with a Wikipedia page for a moustached comedian by that name who you may know from his work on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, or perhaps you may recognize him from that infamous scene from the comedy classic “Old School” where Luke Wilson slaps him across the face at work.

Funny stuff.

But unfortunately, that is not the Matt Walsh I’m referencing. Rather, the Matt Walsh I’m referencing is a hipsterish-looking columnist employed by the conservative website founded by Ben Shapiro, The Daily Wire, a website promoting what they deem “news and opinion.”

Walsh is a right-wing Christian columnist with a tendency to use language that draws a considerable amount of attention to himself. Walsh is not a news journalist. Walsh’s commentary is not news in the sense of being presented with an unbiased presentations of facts for the public to consider. Rather, what Walsh is sharing is propaganda. The issue I take with Walsh and several other right-wing Christian columnists is that it concerns me that the masses are taking his insight with the same weight they would an actual news story that would be presented with sources and varying viewpoints.

I find the way he writes his articles to be misleading in the sense that it attempts to portray itself as information while in reality it is focused on creating controversy and angering his base by spreading half-truths, overt theatrics, and misinformation.

On Walsh’s Daily Wire page, Walsh is described as, “a writer, speaker, author, and one of the religious Right’s most influential young voices. He is known for boldly tackling the tough subjects and speaking out on faith and culture in a way that connects with his generation and beyond.”

You read that correctly, that’s “religious Right” with a capital “R”, folks.

I enjoy how Christian right-wing mouthpieces portray themselves as a voice of the youth. It creates this image of a super-cool dude who longboards in his torn jeans when he isn’t worshiping our savior by shaming basically anyone that isn’t male, white, and protestant.

He’s just like you, kids.

Walsh writes about several current hot topics from what may be described as a conservative, Christian, family-oriented perspective. And while being conservative, Christian and family-orientated certainly has its audience, Walsh is angry. Walsh seems very angry. Scanning the headlines and after reading several of his articles for research, I found an indicative sense of misogyny that rode a thin borderline on a blatant disdain for women’s rights or those that advocate for women’s rights. When it comes to feminists, liberals, and critics of toxic masculinity in American culture, Walsh had some direct and irate comments that brought the state of his mental health into question while reading.

Walsh writes about abortion. He writes about that a lot. And whether you agree with him or not, it’s a fun read if you can stomach it. For example, a recent article titled “The Democratic Party Is Completely Overrun With Bloodthirsty, Abortion-Loving Radicals” drew my attention. I mean, how do you not click on that? The man knows how to draw a crowd. However, it would have been great if the article that followed that title hadn’t been the wordprint equivalent of ten pounds of horse feces in a five-pound bag.

The article begins, “In these divided times, it is important that we refrain from personal attacks and overheated rhetoric.” Which is golden, because that is literally all Walsh does as a columnist. Fortunately for the reader, he clarifies that he doesn’t want to be mean. The headline for his article is just super accurate when it comes to democrats and abortion.

Except it isn’t.

The article is a doozy. Basically, I think, but I’m not sure, the article is based on the thesis that “partial-birth abortions” are becoming legal across the U.S. and a group of democrats taking a break from twirling their black moustaches and tying innocent, pregnant Christian women to train tracks and laughing maniacally while rubbing their fists together in anticipation are to blame.

Alright, a lot of that description is fiction I just created from nowhere, but, honestly, not a lot.

He is certainly trying to convey an image here. You have to forgive me, but Walsh in all his theatrics has kind of inspired me here. Read my favorite line in this article, “Now, there is still a federal ban on this form of savagery, so Rhode Island Democrats will not be able to fulfill their dream of debraining infants, but they have lent their moral support to the practice.”

Hear that, Rhode Island? You may want to consider changing your state motto.

Rhode Island: Dream of Debraining Infants.

The fact that he began this article by claiming he wants to refrain from “personal attacks and overheated rhetoric” and then proceeded to label lawmakers as “wanting to fulfill their dream of debraining infants” should have been a massive red flag suggesting he lacks the journalistic integrity of a new columnist.

To be fair, if what Walsh is graphically describing in his article was accurate in terms of perspective, it would be shocking.

Except it isn’t.

I actually did some research.

According to Dr. Barbara Levy, a medical doctor, as well the vice president of health policy at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the term “partial birth” is not a medical term. It is a political one. In fact the notion of a late-term abortion is not even clinically accurate. Levy explains, “The phrase “late-term abortion” is medically inaccurate and has no clinical meaning. In science and medicine, it’s essential to use language precisely. In pregnancy, to be “late term” means to be past 41 weeks gestation, or past a patient’s due date. Abortions do not occur in this time period, so the phrase is contradictory.”

“Late-term” is an invention of anti-abortion extremists created to confuse and mislead their audience.

Are abortions being performed later in pregnancy when the mother and the infant are both experiencing good health? Yes. It is very rare, but it does happen. Should this be legal? Probably not, however, before I jump on an angry bandwagon, I would like some insight from those having the restraint to not refer to abortion as “debraining infants.”

The immediacy of Walsh’s tone in his writing would leave one to believe that “partial birth” abortions are just happening constantly all day everyday, but that’s simply not the case.

According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights research group that conducts surveys of the nation’s abortion doctors, about 15,000 abortions were performed in the year 2000 on women 20 weeks or more along in their pregnancies. The vast majority were between the 20th and 24th week. Of those, only about 2,200 were performed, or about 0.2 percent, of the 1.3 million abortions believed to be performed that year.

Granted, that was 19 years ago. But according to the Center for Disease Control, the annual number of abortions has dropped by over 150,000 per year over the past 20 years. Although to be fair, some pro-life outlets are claiming that not all states are reporting their numbers to the CDC. I would be interested, as a level-headed person, to find out the truth to that, and as of this publication I am still searching.

It should also be taken into consideration under what circumstances these abortions usually take place. Again, Dr. Levy gives her medical insight: “Women who have abortions later in pregnancy are often facing devastating fetal diagnoses or life-threatening conditions that may introduce a multitude of clinical considerations into their decision-making.”

By this point, I believe it’s safe to assume Walsh’s word choice and overall tone in his writing is based more on getting clicks to feed his ego rather than adding constructive dialogue regarding abortion in America. If you are looking for news, Walsh probably isn’t where you should be searching. If you are just a hate-filled Christian that loves a good ignorant mouth-running, than I have a guy for you.

The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.

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