“Dad does so much for the family! This Father’s Day, give him what he really needs. Not a home brewing kit, not socks; give him safe and legal access to abortion.” Abortion Access Front’s recent video opens with a family celebrating Father’s Day, opening gifts and celebrating dad. As soon as the voiceover chimes in with this, the scene comes to a screeching halt. Comedian and father of two, W. Kamau Bell (We Need to Talk About Cosby, United Shades of America) enters the scene, bringing snark and tongue-in-cheek humor and laying out the stark difference between his own spending on birth control in his lifetime, $213, and his wife’s, a staggering sum of $17,530. Bell speaks directly to dads, pointing out that any dad who has had sex that didn’t result in pregnancy has likely benefitted from birth control or abortion, but might not have realized it because the responsibility of birth control may have fallen on their partner. This PSA was written and co-produced by Adam Mansbach, best-selling author of Go The F*ck To Sleep, who also stars in it alongside his real-life partner and children.
A 2022 Pew Research Center study on abortion show that men and women are similar in their stances on abortion, with 68% of women and 74% of men believing that there are, as the researchers put it, “some cases where abortion should be legal and others where it should be illegal.” Bell urges men to show up for people with uteruses right now, especially fathers, because, as found by the Guttmacher Institute in a 2014 study, “the majority of people seeking abortions are already parents.” This campaign video is the third project that Bell, Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead, Offsides Productions, and Mansbach have collaborated on. Founded by Winstead in 2015, Abortion Access Front's mission is “to counter anti-abortion rhetoric and media, build community among pro-abortion activists, and provide direct support to independent abortion clinics”, will be hosting an exciting virtual training on abortion activism on July 17th. Operation Save Abortion, or OSA, will feature abortion activists and experts who will share their advice for protecting abortion access via Livestream.
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Photos : "Dad's for Choice with W. Kamau Bell," via Abortion Access Front.
Margo Moran is a rising senior at Syracuse University studying Communication and Rhetorical Studies and Political Science with a concentration in Race, Gender, and Class.
