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David French's Abortion Views Are Unwavering

by Noor Al-Sibai

On Tuesday, political media was taken by storm as Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, announced his support for a third-party presidential run by David French, an Iraq vet and relatively unknown writer for National Review. French's background as a constitutional attorney and a snarky conservative writer has been highlighted since then, but political spectators may be wondering: What is David French's stance on abortion?

French is pro-life, as evidenced by the frequent editorials he's written about the supposed plight of pro-life voters and the "dangers" of the "abortion industry." He is nearly as verbose on the subject as he is about his bigoted views on transgender people and his belief that Muslim culture is "brutally violent and intolerant." He touts the alleged disenfranchisement of pro-lifers at the hands of "the Left," saying that Democrats will "sacrifice democracy and even reason itself" in support of abortion.

Whether he's agreeing with Ben Carson's outlandish likening of abortion to slavery, criticizing the concepts of "undue burden" and "human dignity" by implying that abortion activists have neither, or blasting Trump for hurting the pro-life movement (seriously, you can't make this stuff up), one thing's for sure: The potential dark horse candidate has a long and well-documented history of being explicitly anti-choice.

French doesn't shy away from his opinions, and seems to remain firm in them. In a piece on why he joined the #NeverTrump movement, French said that Donald Trump's "weak" abortion stance was what convinced him that the toupéed billionaire should not be president. French made his history as a pro-lifer very clear:

I have spent my entire adult life advocating against abortion and working to protect the unborn. I didn’t endure the taunts and jeers of my law-school classmates, work countless days and nights away from home to protect the free-speech rights of pro-life protestors [sic], and defend the freedoms of the unsung heroes in crisis-pregnancy centers only to vote for a man who’s a walking Planned Parenthood commercial.

He's equally explicit in his views about what women experience when seeking abortions, showing no mercy or understanding toward their plight and scoffing at the idea that increased restrictions punish women for getting abortions. He also penned a piece on the Satanic Church and their pro-choice ideals, saying that Satanism's ideals of self-worship and indulgence are an apt symbol for the abortions rights movement. To say his views on abortion are strong is an understatement.

As time goes on, more information about French will come to light, whether they be his staunch anti-abortion beliefs, his praise of "outspoken evangelical,s" or his bizarre endorsement of a 2016 Mitt Romney presidential campaign. As they do, we will learn even more unsettling truths about the potential independent candidate's beliefs, which may prove to be a winning factor among conservatives.