Expert discusses link between white supremacy and Antiabortion movement
Carol Mason was a pioneering researcher in the 1990s who continues her research today
(Carol Mason, author of Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics)
Some of the same narratives–like Great Replacement Theory–that blossomed in the white supremacist movement have circulated for a long time within the opposition to reproductive rights.
Carol Mason, an expert on that topic and author of Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-Life Politics, sees a lot of continuity between the antiabortion extremism of earlier generations and that which is found in today’s right-wing community.
“It's the fear of demographic demise and civilizational decline,” Mason said. “Its 19th century iteration was ‘race suicide,’ with race referring to the white race and the idea that there weren't enough white people reproducing in order to maintain cultural or economic dominance.”
Mason’s book detailed the antiabortion movement’s connection to white supremacy in the 1990s. She’s been researching much of the same material since then and has tracked its evolution.
She said that white supremacists have relied on depravity narratives, which came out of conspiracy-mongering during the Cold War. People partaking in telling that narrative tell stories or ideas that are so repulsive that it begets an immediate reflex from a person who doesn’t know better. It’s presented in an apocalyptic light.
Much of that grew out of the blood libel, or defamatory antisemitic conspiracy against Jews that they were killing babies. Abortion is depicted as an extension of that.
“ Sometimes abortion is depicted as run by not only devious, greedy people, but also by depraved, demonic people,” Mason said. “Overtly anti-semitic versions of this depiction suggest that the so-called abortion industry is a satanic cabal that is operating to kill white Christian babies, and using their blood in ritualistic ways.”
Mason looked at one anti-abortion group that is based in Ohio for a forthcoming book. That group released a documentary called Doctrine of Demons, which presents pro-choice supporters as accommodating Satanists. In mockumentary form, it overtly suggests that Satanists perform abortions for devilish worship and that Jews support this as child sacrifice. Mason says she sees strong resemblance between this depiction and the child sacrifice and sexual slavery that the anonymous social media persona, Q, supposedly reveals.
Highly edited films and videos have been a part of the antiabortion movement for a long time. But with platforms like Tik Tok, Instagram and Facebook, they can spread more quickly and take an unwitting viewer by surprise. With the editing, you don’t see what happened before, nor do you recognize what provocation led to an altercation or action.
“The goal, I think, is to feed the moral panic and feed the outrage,” Mason said, “as well as of course shaming people who might or have terminated pregnancies.”