“They were attacking my faith. It bothered me to the core,” said Sara, a Southern Baptist who identifies as pro-life. “Because I had never viewed [IVF] as wrong, as anything other than beautiful and bringing another life into the world. … I’ve actually had a lot of friends pray for me and encourage me and help me along in the process.”
One of the fascinating aspects of modern politics is how rapidly the malice shifts. It has to, given the rapid advances science offers to society. 20 years ago, IVF, abortion, and contraceptives were very visibly on the chopping block due to republicans… republicanning. Nowadays they’re broadly accepted.
The accelerating shifts in social pressures have created a sort of compartmentalization of bigotry in new voters while older voters hate just the same as they ever have, plus a few new things they picked up along the way. Tom Parker, 72, fulfilled one aspect of his ancient bigotry. Despite everyone talking about it constantly, the new bigots barely recognize the old bigots for what they are. It’d be more interesting if their actions weren’t killing people.