By Bonnie Finnerty, Education Director
While not one major network has covered the story, thanks to social media, most people are aware of State Representative Brian Sims’ disgraceful harassment of a peaceful, prayerful, pro-life witness in front of a Philadelphia Planned Parenthood. In his eight minute tirade, which he filmed and posted online, proudly showcasing his bullying of “an old white woman”, the elected official assails her for her “white privilege.” Sims is also white, but apparently he handles his “white privilege” in a morally superior fashion. Or at least that’s his self-perception.
Cambridge English Dictionary defines white privilege as “the fact of people with white skin having advantages in society that other people do not have.”
But what about “birth privilege”? Would that not be defined then as “the fact of people who are allowed to be born having advantages in society that other people (those denied birth) do not have”?
Unlike 61 million babies, Sims was allowed to live and grow inside his mother’s womb until he was ready to breathe his own air. He was small, vulnerable, completely dependent, and completely human right from the moment of conception when his unique combination of DNA, never to be repeated again, came into existence. He didn’t become human, like he didn’t become white. He always was.
He wasn’t his mother’s body, some extension of her like a tooth or birthmark. He was, genetically, an entirely different human being within her body. He was and is her child.
Everyday Sims enjoys the privilege of being born, enabling him to experience liberty and pursue happiness, to seek public office, to speak out for those he feels are under-represented. But not all are so lucky. Birth privilege is perfectly summed up in a now famous statement made by President Ronald Reagan: “I’ve noticed everyone who is for abortion has already been born.”
Those with birth privilege are in the position of power and strength over the weak and defenseless, the pre-born. So doesn’t that make abortion the ultimate form of bullying?
Sims, a former football player, a youngish lawyer, and an empowered public official, clearly bullies the lone, powerless, older woman. He berates her verbally, mocking her because of her age, race, and faith. He attacks her character by asking how many children she had clothed that day. He calls her a hypocrite. And when she tries to walk away without comment, he follows. And this blatant act of bullying was such a source of pride, he publicized it himself!
Of course, Sims is comfortable lording his physical presence and social status over someone less formidable than he. After all, he advocates for abortion, which does the exact same thing: the strong and empowered refuse to recognize the dignity of those smaller and powerless, and they then proceed to destroy them.
Once we lose respect for the most vulnerable human life, it should come as no surprise that no one is off limits. Not babies. Not the elderly. Not innocent prayerful women. No one. Nothing is sacred.
We can only pray that Brian Sims, like many one-time abortion supporters, repents and has a conversion of heart. Perhaps then, he can use his birth privilege to make this world one in which no human life is ever again bullied to death.