I'm skeptical that Michelle Williams actually had an abortion. She actually didn't go so far as to actually admit to having had one. The wording of her speech was very odd, to the point of being suspicious. I'm wondering if she worded her speech carefully to give off the impression that she was admitting to an abortion when she really wasn't.
Here's part of her speech with two parts highlighted:
"I'm grateful for the acknowledgement of the choices I've made and I'm also grateful to have lived in a moment in our society where choice exists, because as women and as girls, things can happen to our bodies that are not our choice. I've tried my very best to live a life of my own making, not just a series of events that happened to me but one that I could stand back and look at and recognize my handwriting all over, sometimes messy and scrawling, sometimes careful and precise, but one that I carved with my own hand.
I wouldn't have been able to do this without employing a woman's right to choose. To choose when to have my children, and with whom. When I felt supported and able to balance our lives knowing as all mothers know that the scales must and will tip towards our children. Now, I know my choices might look different than yours" But thank God or whomever you pray to that we live in a country founded on the principle that I am free to live by my faith and you are free to live by yours.
Now, notice that she first said "I wouldn't have been able to do this without employing a woman's right to choose", then paused for a moment and qualified it by adding "To choose when to have my children, and with whom." Here, all she outright states is that she couldn't have made it to where she has in her career without "employing her right" to be able to choose when and with whom to have her children. She doesn't state how she "employed" her ability to make this choice. Contraception? Abortion? Both? She deliberately doesn't say. When she paused for a second after saying "a woman's right to choose" (a phrase obviously associated with abortion in most people's minds), then added the qualifier "To choose when to have my children, and with whom.", it felt almost as if she was saying "Psych!"
Then she stated "I know my choices might look different than yours". So they "might" look different. So maybe they also might not? And who are the "you" she is referring to? "Might" her choices look different from those of women who chose not to have abortions? Or to those who choose to have them? Again, her wording is deliberately vague. Vague enough that I'm too suspicious to take the speech at face value.
Also keep in mind that at the time she made that speech, she had signed onto the Amazon movie "This is Jane", which was about the real life group the Jane Collective, who illegally helped women access abortions in the 1960s. Her speech may have been connected to the movie. (As far as I can tell, the movie got scrapped later on.)
If one is wondering why she would imply that she had an abortion if she really didn't, there is historical precedent. In 1971, 343 French women (including celebrities like Catherine Deneuve) signed a manifesto stating that they had obtained illegal abortions. This manifesto was intended to sway public opinion in favor of abortion and lead to its legalization in France. It worked. Years later, some of the women admitted that they had lied when signing the paper because they thought it was the noble thing to do, and had in fact never had any abortions.
Also, as explained in the video linked below, it appears that Chrissy Teigen recently falsely claimed to have had an abortion in order to gain clout.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-3xco_3qdU
I wouldn't be surprised at all if Michelle Williams did more or less the same, but a little more cleverly by wording her statement carefully to avoid truly admitting to having had an abortion in order to technically avoid lying.
I'm skeptical that Michelle Williams actually had an abortion. She actually didn't go so far as to actually admit to having had one. The wording of her speech was very odd, to the point of being suspicious. I'm wondering if she worded her speech carefully to give off the impression that she was admitting to an abortion when she really wasn't.
Here's part of her speech with two parts highlighted:
"I'm grateful for the acknowledgement of the choices I've made and I'm also grateful to have lived in a moment in our society where choice exists, because as women and as girls, things can happen to our bodies that are not our choice. I've tried my very best to live a life of my own making, not just a series of events that happened to me but one that I could stand back and look at and recognize my handwriting all over, sometimes messy and scrawling, sometimes careful and precise, but one that I carved with my own hand.
I wouldn't have been able to do this without employing a woman's right to choose. To choose when to have my children, and with whom. When I felt supported and able to balance our lives knowing as all mothers know that the scales must and will tip towards our children. Now, I know my choices might look different than yours" But thank God or whomever you pray to that we live in a country founded on the principle that I am free to live by my faith and you are free to live by yours.
Now, notice that she first said "I wouldn't have been able to do this without employing a woman's right to choose", then paused for a moment and qualified it by adding "To choose when to have my children, and with whom." Here, all she outright states is that she couldn't have made it to where she has in her career without "employing her right" to be able to choose when and with whom to have her children. She doesn't state how she "employed" her ability to make this choice. Contraception? Abortion? Both? She deliberately doesn't say. When she paused for a second after saying "a woman's right to choose" (a phrase obviously associated with abortion in most people's minds), then added the qualifier "To choose when to have my children, and with whom.", it felt almost as if she was saying "Psych!"
Then she stated "I know my choices might look different than yours". So they "might" look different. So maybe they also might not? And who are the "you" she is referring to? "Might" her choices look different from those of women who chose not to have abortions? Or to those who choose to have them? Again, her wording is deliberately vague. Vague enough that I'm too suspicious to take the speech at face value.
Also keep in mind that at the time she made that speech, she had signed onto the Amazon movie "This is Jane", which was about the real life group the Jane Collective, who illegally helped women access abortions in the 1960s. Her speech may have been connected to the movie. (As far as I can tell, the movie got scrapped later on.)
If one is wondering why she would imply that she had an abortion if she really didn't, there is historical precedent. In 1971, 343 French women (including celebrities like Catherine Deneuve) signed a manifesto stating that they had obtained illegal abortions. This manifesto was intended to sway public opinion in favor of abortion and lead to its legalization. It worked. Years later, some of the women admitted that they had lied when signing the paper because they thought it was the noble thing to do, and had in fact never had any abortions.
Also, as explained in the video linked below, it appears that Chrissy Teigen recently falsely claimed to have had an abortion in order to gain clout.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-3xco_3qdU
I wouldn't be surprised at all if Michelle Williams did more or less the same, but a little more cleverly by wording her statement carefully to avoid truly admitting to having had an abortion in order to technically avoid lying.