Jill Stein, the far-left Green Party’s presidential nominee, recently issued a public statement decrying the shooting of Harambe the Gorilla.
“Other countries, especially in Europe, have begun to provide legal rights and protected status to primates as living beings,” the statement said. “Non human primates should have the legal right to live freely or, when necessary, in sanctuaries only for medical rehabilitation or ecological assistance for endangered species.”
Stein also tweeted that the death of Harambe should remind everyone to be a “voice for the voiceless.”
The killing of Harambe 3 months ago today reminds us to be a voice for the voiceless. https://t.co/wMZpWlLicY pic.twitter.com/8WtlDhRlIy
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) August 28, 2016
In response to a support, Stein also tweeted that she “opposes killing people”:
I oppose killing of Syrian children. I oppose killing people. And I oppose killing animals. #Peace #Love #NoMoreWar https://t.co/u4nma5Vo7k
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) August 29, 2016
However, Stein is no opponent of a culture of death. In reality, her hypocrisy is absolutely stunning. Jill Stein thinks it is important enough to tweet about the death of a gorilla, but she has not once sent out a tweet mourning the deaths of nearly 60 million babies since Roe v. Wade in 1973.
In fact, Stein has consistently said that she wants to expand the ability of women to get abortions — even going so far as to assert that abortion is a fundamental right and that government ought to provide access to it:
I stand by a woman’s right to chose. We need complete reproductive healthcare, which includes the right to an abortion. #MedicareForAll
— Dr. Jill Stein (@DrJillStein) April 5, 2016
In that sense, the Green Party’s platform is just as radical as the Democratic Party’s platform. In fact, if Stein’s policy agenda was implemented, far more women would abort their babies than ever before.
In the most recent year for which statistics are available, 730,322 babies were aborted in the United States. Each of these individual human persons was denied their most fundamental right, and none of them could speak for themselves. These defenseless babies are exactly the silent minority this country ought to protect.
Not only is Stein’s position completely hypocritical, it is also utterly radical. Eighty-one percent of Americans believe late-term abortions ought to be outlawed. Most Americans, even those on the left, oppose federal funding of abortion — one of the key planks of Stein’s platform. Stein, and other more “mainstream” abortion ideologues have marched lockstep away from the American public on this issue for years.
The shooting of Harambe the gorilla was unfortunate. But the death of millions is a catastrophe.
If Jill Stein was really a “voice for the voiceless,” these are the issues she would address. But really, she’s just another out-of-touch, hypocritical politician who values the lives of zoo animals before human beings.
Michael Lucchese works for the American Principles Project.
