On Guns And Babies

An interesting take: Abortion as self defense.

WaPo: (pay wall)

Opinion
I asked about abortion at a Texas gun show. The answer I got was grim.

Standing next to a display of military-grade weapons, I wondered aloud to the dealers at the gun-show booth if more women should get guns in Texas to protect themselves now that they will be forced to carry a pregnancy to term even in cases of rape.

“You can’t rape a .38,” one of the gun dealers said, smiling.

The line was equal parts laughably cheesy and tragically grim. As we spoke, a little boy walked by waving around a toy machine gun, pretending to spray everyone in the vicinity with imaginary bullets. A few booths over, a female attendant wore a black-and-red “All Lives Splatter” T-shirt.

The Fort Worth Gun Show, at the Amon Carter Exhibit Hall, is one of the oldest gun shows in gun-loving North Texas. I attended the two-day event this month to see what it would be like on the heels of both the Uvalde school massacre and the overturning of Roe v. Wade. I wanted to see how the Texas gun community would make sense of the two events.

A dealer asked me whether I wanted to hold an MP-5, a military-grade rifle. “I’m sorry to say this,” he said. “But for women who deal with break-ins, many times the woman gets raped.” For my first gun, the dealers agreed I should start out with a .22 rifle.

Does the end of one constitutional right mean women should rush to embrace another that our Supreme Court is rushing to expand? Even before the fall of Roe it was a common pitch of gun enthusiasts: Women are safer when they own a gun. But the reality is, women who have guns are more likely to have them used against them. And the biggest danger is not a stranger slipping through a window or lurking in a parking garage, but a man already in their life.

Sadly, the threat of gun violence is even more true for pregnant women. According to a study published last year in the journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, homicide is a leading cause of death for pregnant women and those who have recently given birth.

The study, conducted by Tulane University researchers, revealed that the “pregnancy-associated homicide” rate in 2018 and 2019 was 3.62 per 100,000 women — 16 percent higher than homicides of women who are not pregnant or haven’t recently given birth. Homicide beat hemorrhage and pregnancy-related hypertension as the top single cause of death. A majority of the slain women were killed with guns, and two-thirds were killed in their homes, suggesting partners were involved, according to the authors. The rates were highest among Black women and younger women.

In Texas, the news here is a sad reflection of this. In October, 25-year-old Cavanna Smith had told her boyfriend that she was pregnant, and sent him a card with a picture of the ultrasound; she was later found dead, shot in the head. The boyfriend has been charged with her murder. In April, 20-year-old Dontia Clark was found shot to death in her Houston apartment a day after learning she was eight weeks pregnant. According to reports, there were no signs of forced entry.

Much has been said and written about women who seek abortions for medical threats such as ectopic pregnancies. But what of women who seek to end their pregnancies to protect themselves from violence at the hands of the men in their lives? Or who don’t want to bring a child into the world with a potential abuser? In Texas, women can no longer choose a safe abortion as a means of self-defense. What are we going to do, tell them to get a .22?

Much has also been made of the Senate’s recent agreement to close the “boyfriend loophole” on gun restrictions. Previously, under federal law, domestic abusers could be prohibited, via the national instant criminal background check system, from having guns only in cases where they have been married to, lived with or had a child with the victim; that’s now been widened to include those who have been in a serious relationship with the target. But in Texas, which allows private gun owners to sell to others without background checks, another enormous loophole remains open.

It’s no stretch to expect that even more pregnant women will be assaulted and killed by partners now that abortion is all but banned here. Texas lags other states in mental health resources and has faced funding shortages for domestic violence prevention. If women are to be forced to carry pregnancies — if Texas truly wants to “protect life” — so much more must be done about the issues of maternal homicide and interpersonal violence.

I left the gun show without a .22 rifle. Sad to say, but as a woman who values access to safe reproductive choices, my best form of defense is probably leaving my home state altogether.