OPINION: Bell’s call for more men to stand up for reproductive justice and abortion rights is based on the reality that men benefit from these rights just as much as women and people who can get pregnant.
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
When it comes to fighting for reproductive justice, I need more men to be like W. Kamau Bell. No, I’m not talking about the vasectomy he got on camera in 2019; I’m actually talking about the fact that he has been a loud and consistent abortion rights and reproductive justice advocate for years. And before you think it, yes, I know that vasectomies have become all the rage as of late, but let’s not conflate responsible birth control options for men with bodily autonomy and access to basic health care for women and people who can get pregnant. They are not interchangeable. Period.
The fact is that men have largely been missing in action for decades in this fight. Whether that inaction is the result of the antiquated thinking that reproductive justice and abortion rights are “women’s issues,” like paid family leave or contraception, or the result of men not knowing how they fit into the movement, W. Kamau Bell is working to change that.
Last week, while appearing on CNN to promote the new season of his show, United Shades of America, Bell interrupted the interview to affirm that he will “aid and abet abortion,” holding his shirt up to make sure that the cameraman captured it. Naturally, this caused some folks at Fox to lose their minds and dedicate a segment decrying the on-air moment. Last month on Father’s Day, Bell collaborated with Abortion Access Front to release a PSA noting how dads benefit from abortion. Bell made it plain for dads, and men in general, when he declared, “…if you’ve ever had sex and not had a kid, it’s likely that birth control or abortion played a role.”
In 2019, while the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case was making its way through the U.S. Court of Appeals, Bell went to the “Pink House” in Jackson, Miss., and filmed an episode of today!
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