(LifeSiteNews) – On his much-discussed Netflix special “Selective Outrage,” Chris Rock – yeah, the guy who got slapped in the face by Will Smith at last year’s Oscars – decided to tackle abortion. His bit didn’t exactly go as you might expect. In fact, he openly admitted that abortion is killing a baby.
He started off by stating that “abortion is illegal in most of the country.” Which would be nice, but it isn’t. To those who say he shouldn’t talk about abortion because it’s a “women’s issue,” Rock said, he responds that “I’ve paid for more abortions than any woman in this room. When I go to the clinic I say: ‘Gimme the usual.’” Laughter and applause. “When I go in they give me a punch card. Two more and I get a free smoothie.”
Because he has two beautiful daughters, he said, “there’s a part of me that’s pro-life, because I’m definitely pro-their lives.” But he also wants them to have the right to get an abortion if they want to, and “because of that, I am absolutely pro-choice, okay? I believe women should have the right to kill babies. That’s right. I’m on your side. I believe you should have the right to kill as many babies as you want. Kill ‘em all, I don’t give a f****. But let’s not get it twisted – it is killing a baby.”
Rock went on: “Because whenever I pay for an abortion, I request a dead baby. Sometimes, I call up the doctor like a hit man: ‘Is it done?’ And people argue – first trimester, second trimester. I think women should have the right to kill a baby until it’s four years old…I think you should be able to kill a baby till you get that first report card.” More laughter and cheers.
There are some conservative commentators who praised the bit as a clever way to make a pro-life point – that Chris Rock is subversively affirming the fact that abortion kills a baby while making his audience laugh. Michael Knowles of The Daily Wire, among others, had this take. But I can’t help but notice that quite a lineup of A-list comedians have made the same point over the past few years, and that all of these bits follow a similar pattern.
Louis C.K., for example, stated that abortion “definitely kills a baby,” belaboring the point for several long minutes of uncomfortable laughter. He ended the bit by stating, like Rock, that he believes women should have the right to kill babies. They are the gatekeepers of humanity, he said to cheers, and choosing which babies to kill is part of that. I think he was serious about both of those views – brutal honesty about a brutal reality.
Dave Chappelle said something similar, although he noted up front that he doesn’t like abortion – but said that he doesn’t think men should have a say – or something. He did say that if women could have abortions, men shouldn’t have to pay child support. “If you can kill this [baby],” Chappelle noted to nervous titters, “I can at least abandon him. It’s my money, my choice. And if I’m wrong, then perhaps we’re wrong. Figure that s‑‑‑ out for yourselves.” That, to my mind, is a more clever and ambiguous approach – people are still trying to figure out what Chappelle’s position on abortion is, because he exposed a hypocrisy and moved on.
Most recently, Bill Burr made an almost identical point on his own Netflix special, stating that he believes life begins at conception and that he’s “on the fence” on the issue: “Pro-choice always made sense to me,” he said. “Because I don’t like people telling me what to do. And I always was just like, ‘It’s your body.’ I won’t tell you what to do with your body. However, I still think you’re killing a baby. To be honest, that is the whole purpose of the procedure. You know, you’re not going in there because you got an earache. You’re going in there because you’re like, ‘I got a baby in there. Get it the [expletive] out of here.’ Right? You walk in with a baby, you come out without one. What happened to the baby? Something [expletive] happened. So pro-choice people are like, ‘Well, it’s not a life yet. It’s not a baby yet.’ My gut tells me that doesn’t make sense.”
So: Are Chris Rock and his fellow comedians cleverly reminding people that abortion is murder and covering it up with laughter? It’s possible. Chappelle and Burr, at least, appear morally conflicted. But in the #ShoutYourAbortion era where the abortion industry is desperately attempting to destigmatize feticide as post-Roe battles heat up, it is more likely that they see laughter as one of the most powerful weapons in their celebrity arsenal. If you can make people laugh at something, you can ensure that they don’t take it seriously. If abortion is funny, then perhaps murdering a baby is also humorous. Which isn’t to say dark humor can’t expose deep truths – it is to say that I don’t think comedians openly justifying the killing of babies to crowds of cheering fans is the cultural win some pro-lifers seem to think it is.
