W. Kamau Bell’s Urgent Father’s Day Abortion Message
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.
That is how comedian W. Kamau Bell (We Need to Talk About Cosby) opens a new Father’s Day PSA called “Dads for Choice.” As America braces for the conservative-stacked Supreme Court potentially overturning Roe v. Wade, thereby winding back women’s reproductive rights by five decades, Bell has teamed up with abortion-rights groups to spread the message that men cannot afford to stay silent regarding women’s bodily autonomy.
“Throughout history, dads have enjoyed our position on the sidelines cheering on the action, but we can’t afford to do that at this critical time,” says Bell. “Abortion and bodily autonomy are human rights. And I’m here to welcome dads—and everybody else on the sidelines—into the fight.”
In the PSA, Bell describes how he’s paid a measly $213 for birth control over the course of his lifetime—“mostly on condoms that expired in my wallet”—while his wife has spent a whopping $17,530.
“Dads, if you’ve ever had sex and not had a kid, it’s likely birth control or abortion played a role,” Bell adds.
“Dads for Choice” was created by Offsides Productions, co-produced by Daily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead of Abortion Access Front, and written by Adam Mansbach, the bestselling author of Go the F*ck to Sleep.
“Reproductive rights are human rights, and just like white people need to fight racism and straight people need to fight homophobia, men need to be on the frontlines of the battle for bodily autonomy,” Mansbach explains of the PSA. “We wanted to make that point—and poke some holes in the hypocritical arguments of the anti-abortion right, which frankly you can pretty much do with a spoon—using one of the most powerful tools we have: humor.”
Offsides Productions is no stranger to producing viral content. “Dads for Choice” is the third video-satire creation by the company, Bell, and Mansbach, who previously helmed “What to My People Is the 4th of July,” starring Hamilton’s Daveed Diggs, and “912, What’s Your White Emergency” featuring Bell, Sarah Silverman, Craig Robinson, Lewis Black, and Sarah Cooper.
And again, it couldn’t have come at a more crucial time.
“Shitty men and the women who live to appeal to their gaze have spent their lives destroying our joy, and much of that joy exists because of a hard-fought battle to expand access to birth control and abortion. A battle fought primarily by women and queer folks,” says Winstead. “Everyone’s life is better, especially cis men’s, because we won that fight, but we can’t win the long game unless everyone decides that the right to bodily autonomy is also their fight.”
She continues: “For everyone of childbearing age, our very humanity is at stake, and if every single person isn’t standing up to defend us, the message sent is, ‘You aren’t worth fighting for.’ I love that these men get that and made this amazing video to remind other dudes of it.”
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