By Monica Pizzo
Tomi Lahren, a woman known for her controversial remarks, has recently become even more so. She came out … as pro-choice.
The poster girl for young conservative Republicans created an uproar throughout her fan base after Friday’s installment of The View where she stated, “I’m for limited government, so stay out of my guns, and you can stay out of my body as well.”
After her controversial comments, anti-abortion activists spoke out against her, saying she could not hold her conservative beliefs while also being pro-choice. They also believed she was contradicting previous comments about abortion, but this isn’t the case.
According to The Washington Post, this isn’t the first time Lahren displayed her moderate views on abortion rights. Lahren stated abortion is a difficult choice and it was not her “top issue” in a segment three months ago about Lena Dunham’s comments on the subject. She also stated Dunham “kills the legitimacy of the feminist movement” and the pro-choice movement should be about rare and safe abortions, rather than sounding like “straight up baby-killers.”.
Also, The New York Times did a segment on her where she said she is not against gay marriage, is pro-choice and said organized religion is “about hierarchy, power, control and greed.” However, Lahren said moments later that “the institution of religion is important.”
No matter these previous remarks, she still had to defend herself and her beliefs on Twitter after a social media outbreak following the show. She wrote in a tweet March 22, “We aren’t meant to agree on everything. We are Americans, not Stepford wives. Start the conversation. Listen to understand, not just respond.”
Because of her comments regarding abortion, TheBlaze has permanently suspended Lahren from her show. In a recent tweet, she said, “So I’ve got some ‘me’ time tonight. Anything good on TV,” hinting at the supposed split.
Lahren usually speaks quite robustly about the freedom of speech and how it is incredibly important to our society. She stood by this belief when she came out as pro-choice.
Republicans speak relentlessly about how liberals quiet those who have beliefs that differ from their own, but in an ironic twist, they did just that to one of their most outspoken advocates. That is not only hypocritical, but counterproductive.
In this political climate, we need to work together to bring about a change. This only furthers the split between the two sides of this political debate. However, it also opens the doors to the idea that not all people need to share the same beliefs. Respect is necessary and imperative to a peaceful society, but unfortunately, it was not seen here.
Featured Photo Credit: Courtesy of Tomi Lahren’s Facebook page.
Monica Pizzo is a freshman journalism major and can be reached at mpizzo@terpmail.umd.edu.
