Jane Fonda, Violent Protestors, and the War on Life

My late Irish mother was a great repository of maxims and sayings of various kinds, always served up in a timely fashion – and often delivered with the intent to shape, guide and sometimes gently chastise us kids in a pointed and instructive manner.

Sarcasm was one of her pet peeves. She didn’t like it and considered its use to be something of a cheap and passive aggressive ploy. Our defense was always the same: “We’re just kidding!” we’d say, to which she’d always reply: “Many a truth is spoken in jest.”

My mother’s wise observation (a borrowed aphorism) came to mind in light of Jane Fonda’s eyebrow-raising comments last week on “The View,” the daytime talk show that regularly features leftist screeds of various kinds.

“We have experienced many decades now of having agency over our body, of being able to determine when and how many children to have. We know what that feels like, we know what that’s done for our lives,” Jane Fonda said last week. “We’re not going back, I don’t care what the laws are. We’re not going back.” 

Fellow abortion activist Joy Behar then asked what could be done “besides marching and protesting.” Jane Fonda replied, “Well, I’ve thought of murder.”

Laughter erupted on the set, though Behar immediately jumped in, assuring viewers that Fonda was “just kidding.” Fonda glared menacingly, eliciting more laughter, and communicating that maybe she wasn’t really jesting at all.

After the show was over, the infamous anti-war protestor and self-proclaimed feminist released a statement.

“While women’s reproductive rights are a very serious issue and extremely important to me, my comment on The View was obviously made in jest,” she said. “My body language and tone made it clear to those in the room – and to anyone watching – that I was using hyperbole to make a point.”

Joking about murdering those who oppose murder reveals a peculiar point of view, of course. It would seem to speak to the upside-down, inside-out and wildly contradictory view regarding the sanctity of life.

That said, what point was Ms. Fonda actually making? It’s not exactly clear. It seems apparent that Ms. Fonda and her pro-abortion zealots are determined to maintain unfettered access to the killing of children. Is it her point that they’re willing to do literally anything to ensure that’s the case – whether ignoring, breaking, or even eliminating those who stand in their way?

The tragic irony unfolding in real time is that some abortion activists seem to believe that for them, the ends justify the means. How else to explain the more than 140 attacks on Catholic churches and dozens and dozens of attacks on pregnancy resource clinics since the Dobbs’ decision was leaked in May of 2022. There have been firebombs, bullets shot, and numerous other acts of violent vandalism.

All of these attacks have harmed the very women leftists have claimed to want to help.

You’d think such viciousness would warrant headlines all around the country, but mainstream media have remained largely silent. It’s an inconvenient fact that abortion activists are proving nearly just as violent in their protests as inside abortion clinics.

“It’s too bad pro-abortion activists like Jane Fonda consider murder to be the comfortable way to respond to unplanned pregnancies,” said Focus on the Family president Jim Daly. “Whether inside or outside the womb, the taking of innocent life is never an acceptable position.”