List of People Who Are Not Allowed to Call Themselves "Pro-Life"

Lord Farquaad says, "Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I'm willing to make." Image source.

Last week Libby Anne wrote a post about anti-abortion conservatives who have suddenly decided this whole "social distancing" thing is a huge pain and is incredibly bad for the economy, therefore we should all go back to work and let old people die. This has inspired me to create a list of people who need to be publicly shamed for making such an argument.

As far as I know, this is only a small minority of conservatives... but they are loud and are being given a platform to share their heartless, anti-life, illogical views. (First of all, the idea that if we all go back to work like normal, then the economy will be just fine- that's nonsense. Second, we know that after we get through this pandemic, the economy will recover. Might take a while, but it will recover. People who die of COVID-19 will not recover.)

Anyone who makes this argument should be ashamed of themselves. We will not forget. We will not forget these assholes who want to sacrifice our grandparents to save "the economy." They should be ashamed of themselves, and in the future any time they try to give any kind of advice, we should remind them of what they said in the middle of this global crisis.

In particular, if any of them ever claims to be "pro-life", we will not let that go unchallenged. We will remember.

("But wait," you may say, "maybe some people on this list didn't really understand how big the threat is, and how many hundreds of thousands of Americans could realistically die." All right, the statements I've quoted below were made in March 2020, or after. There has been over 1 month of data from places like China and Italy. If these writers didn't do their homework before broadcasting their half-baked opinions out into the world, they should be shamed for that too. Spreading misinformation about a deadly pandemic, just to get clicks.)

So I'm compiling a list here of the public figures that have made the "we should let our grandmas die to save the economy" argument. We can use this post as a reference in the future. And if you see any public figures/ politicians/ writers with large platforms who should be added to the list, leave a comment and I'll add them.

(Note: I'm not checking if these people do in fact identify as "pro-life"- perhaps some people on this list identify as pro-choice. But that's not really the point- the point is it's reprehensible to argue that we should just let people die because it's too much trouble to do all this social distancing stuff. That's bad enough on it's own, but it's extra-bad when they also claim they are "pro-life." And also, most people making this argument are politically conservative, which correlates with identifying as "pro-life.")

Here they are. Shame them. Don't let them forget this.

Donald Trump (US President):

When asked if he would make the decision to loosen social-distancing recommendations even if it went against the advice of federal public health officials, Trump said: “If it was up to the doctors they might say shut down the entire world.”

Dan Patrick (Texas Lt. Gov.)

No one reached out to me and said, "As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?" And if that's the exchange, I'm all in. I just think there are lots of grandparents out there in this country like me — I have six grandchildren — that's what we all care about and what we love more than anything are those children. And I want to live smart and see through this, but I don't want the whole country to be sacrificed. 

Stephen Moore (economist who advises the president):

Moore added: “I’m not in any way disparaging the public health people. They are vital to this process. But you can’t have a policy that says we’re going to save every human life at any cost, no matter how many trillions of dollars you’re talking about.”

Larry Kudlow (National Economic Council Director)

“The president is right. The cure can’t be worse than the disease,” Kudlow said on Fox News on Monday. “And we’re going to have to make some difficult trade-offs.”

Tomi Lahren ("Fox Nation" host)

At some point we have to weigh the consequences of coronavirus itself against the millions of lives these measures are destroying. I fear when the emotional, mental and financial toll of this sets in we are going to have a crisis on our hands far more crippling than the virus.

R. R. Reno (writer at "First Things")

This statement reflects a disastrous sentimentalism. Everything for the sake of physical life? What about justice, beauty, and honor? There are many things more precious than life. And yet we have been whipped into such a frenzy in New York that most family members will forgo visiting sick parents. Clergy won’t visit the sick or console those who mourn. The Eucharist itself is now subordinated to the false god of “saving lives.”

Jonathan Ashbach (writer at "The Federalist")

First, consider the massive sacrifice of life Americans are making in their social distancing campaign. True, nearly all are not literally dying, but they are giving up a good deal of what makes life worth living — work, classes, travel, hugs, time with friends, conferences, quiet nights out, and so forth. Probably almost everyone would be willing to live a somewhat shorter normal life rather than a somewhat longer life under current conditions. The abandonment of normalcy, therefore, is in many ways equivalent to shortening the lives of the entire nation.

Of course, there is more to it than losing some quality of life. The current response is quickly driving the United States into a recession, which will result in a great deal of misery for tens of millions of people. Again, balancing lives against money sounds harsh, but everyone does so — and must do so — whether he is conscious of the fact or not. Not to mention, a recession also means higher poverty rates, which lead to higher mortality rates.

More is at stake than lives and money: namely freedom. Even for those of us who are by no means libertarian, the increasingly draconian measures put in place across the nation, especially in California, to isolate people and prevent them from moving at will are raising serious questions about whether Americans are in a dress rehearsal for tyranny.

Matthew Dowd (ABC News political analyst)

I believe President Trump is right about at least one thing today. We must find a balance between protecting citizens health and protecting our economy. Decimating our economy in pursuit of fighting the virus doesn’t do our citizens any good in the short or long term.

Glenn Beck (radio host)

"Even if we all get sick, I’d rather die than kill the country," he added. "Because it’s not the economy that’s dying, it’s the country.”

Dennis Prager (radio host)

If Andrew Cuomo were, or the Andrew Cuomo attitude prevailed, we wouldn't have fought the Nazis. We wouldn't have fought the Japanese fascists. We wouldn't have had -- that attitude that the only value is saving a life, that attitude leads to appeasement. It must. It leads to cowardice, it has to. No one can die? Then it's not a war.

Heather Mac Donald (writer at "The New Criterion")

There have been 5,123 deaths worldwide so far—also a fraction of traffic deaths worldwide. And unlike coronavirus, driving kills indiscriminately, mowing down the young and the old, the sick and the healthy. The coronavirus, by comparison, is targeted in its lethality, overwhelmingly striking the elderly or the already severely sick. As of Monday, approximately 89 percent of Italy’s coronavirus deaths had been over the age of seventy, according to The Wall Street Journal. Sad to say, those victims were already nearing the end of their lifespans. They might have soon died from another illness.

Joy Pullmann (writer at "The Federalist")

My point here is not that I like people dying. It’s that very often our society chooses to allow deaths because the alternative is worse. I’m suggesting the severe social and economic tradeoffs of unlimited quarantine are an important consideration that is not being taken seriously enough.

Jesse Kelly (writer at "The Federalist")

You do not destroy your economy for any reason. For ANY reason. Not for a virus. Not for a plague. Not if someone drops a freaking nuclear bomb on 10 of your cities.

Your economy is your lifeblood. Look around you. That’s all cause of your economy.

The show must go on.

Jesse Kelly again:

If given the choice between dying and plunging the country I love into a Great Depression, I’d happily die.

Matthew Schmitz (writer at "First Things")

Unless religious leaders reopen the churches, they will appear to value earthly above eternal life. Like grocery stores, churches can be kept open in a manner consistent with public health.

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Shame.

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All my posts about COVID-19:
I'm in Shanghai, and I'm concerned about the coronavirus (January 23)
An update on the situation in Shanghai (January 28)
About Compassion and Reading the News (January 29)
Welcome Baby Square Root! (February 3)
Remember the old days when we used to go outside? (February 4)
So we're (sort of) back to work here in Shanghai (February 12)
Blogaround (February 13)
Blogaround (February 20)
Shanghai is a good place for immigrants. (And I have feelings about it.) (February 24)
Blogaround (February 27)
Well *now* I'm glad I stayed in China (March 8)
The Weirdest Deja Vu (March 15)
Blogaround (March 19)
I'm an American in China. I CANNOT BELIEVE Some of You Are Still Going Out. (March 22)
Blogaround (March 25)
China Bans Foreigners (Like Me) From Entering the Country (March 29)
List of People Who Are Not Allowed to Call Themselves "Pro-Life" (April 2)
Blogaround (April 3)
... all right now I have way too many posts to keep updating this list. You can find them all on the COVID-19 tag.