Actor Mark Ruffalo is causing a stir with a column he wrote defending abortion. But Ruffalo goes further than merely defending legalized abortion — he apologizes for and defends his mother getting an illegal abortion of his own sibling.
As Ruffalo writes:
I am a man. I could say this has nothing to do with me. Except I have two daughters and I have a mother who was forced to illegally have an abortion in her state where abortion was illegal when she was a very young woman. It cost $600 cash. It was a traumatizing thing for her. It was shameful and sleazy and demeaning. When I heard the story I was aghast by the lowliness of a society that would make a woman do that. I could not understand its lack of humanity; today is no different.
What happened to my mother was a relic of an America that was not free nor equal nor very kind. My mother’s illegal abortion marked a time in America that we have worked long and hard to leave behind. It was a time when women were seen as second rate citizens who were not smart enough, nor responsible enough, nor capable enough to make decisions about their lives. It was a time that deserved to be left behind, and leave it behind we did, or so it seemed. We made abortion and a woman’s ability to be her own master a right. That right was codified into law. That law was the law of the land for decades.
My own mother fought to make herself more than a possession; she lived her life as a mother who chose when she would have children, and a wife who could earn a living if she so chose. I want my daughters to enjoy that same choice. I don’t want to turn back the hands of time to when women shuttled across state lines in the thick of night to resolve an unwanted pregnancy, in a cheap hotel room just south of the state line. Where a transaction of $600 cash becomes the worth of a young woman’s life.
So that is why I am lending my voice to you and your movement today. Because I actually trust the women I know. I trust them with their choices, I trust them with their bodies and I trust them with their children. I trust that they are decent enough and wise enough and worthy enough to carry the right of Abortion and not be forced to criminally exercise that Right at the risk of death or jail time.
Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life of America responds to Ruffalo and is shocked he seemingly cares so little that his brother or sister was a victim of abortion.
Can’t believe Mark Ruffalo hasn’t even thought about the fact that he had a sibling who died from abortion https://t.co/7YHf4cgkTT
— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) August 20, 2013
Hawkins tells LifeNews: “While Mark Ruffalo’s concern for his mother and a desire to not see any other woman go through the same pain is admirable, he has dismissed the fact that it is the preborn baby that endures the greatest loss during an abortion. It’s time that Hollywood celebrities use their fame to stand up for the lives of the preborn.”
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Ruffalo is best known for portraying Marvel Comics character Bruce Banner and The Hulk in Marvel’s The Avengers.
