Headline RoundupJanuary 7th, 2020

Opinions: Michelle Williams' Golden Globes Speech About Abortion Sparks Various Reactions

Abortion, Pro-Choice, Pro-Life, Women's Issues

Summary from the AllSides News Team

Accepting an award at the Golden Globes on Sunday, actress Michelle Williams gave a speech about abortion, stating, “I wouldn’t have been able to do this without employing a woman’s right to choose, to choose when to have my children, and with whom.” The speech prompted a wide range of responses across the political spectrum. Many commentators on the right questioned a culture that celebrates diverting a woman's biological urges and ending a human life as a worthy trade-off for career achievement; they also criticized the framing of pregnancy as something accidental and not the consequence of the choice to have sex. Many on the left celebrated Williams' speech as a "powerful" reminder of the importance of the right to choose, using the moment as a reminder of legal threats to Roe v. Wade; others on the left criticized Williams' call for women to vote "in your own self-interest," pointing to white women who voted for Trump as an example of one of the "disastrous consequences" of that directive.

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From the Left

Women Voting in Their 'Self-Interest' Got Us Trump
Vice
AllSides Media Bias Rating: Left
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Vice
Analysis

Michelle Williams did something pretty courageous Sunday night. The pregnant actress stood in front of live TV cameras and used her Golden Globes acceptance speech for her performance in Fosse/Verdon to explain how having an abortion helped her decide when and with whom to have children and urged women to use their voting power to help reshape our government. It came just days after 207 Republican members of Congress asked the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade in a case it will hear this year.

The speech was powerful...

Open on Vice

From the Left

Michelle Williams used her Golden Globes speech to celebrate a woman’s right to choose
Vox
AllSides Media Bias Rating: Left
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Vox
Analysis

Michelle Williams just won the second Golden Globe of her career for her role on Fosse/Verdon — and she used her acceptance speech to plug the importance of reproductive freedom.

“When you put this in someone’s hands, you’re acknowledging the choices made by the actor but also the choices they made as a person,” Williams began as she accepted her award at the Golden Globes ceremony in Los Angeles Sunday night. “I’m grateful for the acknowledgment of the choices I’ve made, and I’m also grateful to have lived in a...

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From the Right

No, Michelle Williams, Women Don’t Need To Kill Their Kids To Get Ahead
The Federalist
AllSides Media Bias Rating: Right
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The Federalist
Analysis

In accepting a Golden Globe award Sunday, actress Michelle Williams credited abortion and contraception for her professional success: “I wouldn’t have been able to do this without employing a woman’s right to choose, to choose when to have my children, and with whom.”

Williams is the lead actress in the forthcoming Amazon drama “This Is Jane,” an apparent celebration of women who illegally aborted babies in the 1960s. She is reportedly currently pregnant with fiance Thomas Kail, and has a 14-year-old daughter with the deceased Heath Ledger.

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