Dan says, "women have to be in control of their own bodies—and when and whether they reproduce—in order to be truly equal." That doesn't make any fucking sense, but it's a good excuse for sliming some guy as a misogynist, so Dan goes all in!

Seriously, I can't believe Dan had a grand mal freakout on some guy for being pro-life. Something like half the country is pro-life, and saying that all these people don't really believe in women's equality is kind of nuts. But it pleases Dan's tribal mind, as Bob would say...

Dan actually told someone to lie, and potentially cause serious emotional distress and destroy a promising relationship, because Dan personally hates pro-lifers. It's just that simple, and it totally violates advice-person ethics.

And wouldn't it be important to know how old this guy is before saying he'd violate his principles before shelling out for child support? Some 20 year old, sure. Some 30 year old?

I just can't get over this. I support free access to abortion and contraception, but Dan just spewed sick culture war hatred over countless newspaper pages. It's like listening to Fox News, except it's on our side!

Just to be clear, NOBODY really has control over their own bodies. We're all trapped in these fucking husks, waiting out our time. And saying that you believe that a woman doesn't have the right to kill a fetus she's carrying, any more than she has the right to kill one that she isn't, is NOT the same as saying she shouldn't have control over her own body, or get to choose whether or not to reproduce. It just adds "as long as she isn't actually pregnant".

You might think it's a shitty dodge and excuse, and you may be right. Personally, I think there's enough morons out there that it's frequently not; the conservative elites obviously want to keep poor women barefoot and pregnant, but Joe Personhood just repeats shit he's heard, like the moron he is.

Seriously, Dan should have recommended good, healthy argument. Abusively lying to the guy... ! Election season brings out the worst in people. I've lost a TON of respect for Dan after this.

I knew a girl who, for reasons of her own, lied about being pregnant, and I thought it was one of the most vile things ever. And that wasn't even to score points in an argument over choice!

It would be as vile to tell this lie as it would be to falsely tell someone, for any reason whatsoever, that someone they loved had died.

Think about this. For a woman to make such a profound lie -- about one of the most serious situations to be imagined -- would only reinforce any impression among anti-abortionists that pro-choice people are basically immoral.

Dan Savage frequently recommends lying. And yes, that is vile.

However, I do agree with him that people with opposite opinions on this topic DO NOT belong in any kind of relationship with each other, even if (as with the antichoice men Dan won't date) they can't get each other pregnant.

...personally I wouldn't date one of those "the only moral abortion is my/the woman I just knocked up's abortion" types, either, anyway.

Fake a pregnancy? Everyone knows Dan's advice has been going downhill for years but this takes the cake.

I understand that lying is wrong, but people lie all the time - for good or bad reasons, with good or bad effects. I think sometimes people do have to be confronted with their own _true_ will and their own tendency towards hypocrisy, sometimes in emotionally violent ways. Dan is almost certainly correct - this guy will turn out to be pro-choice when it's a _choice_ that he wants to make.

Whenever the topic of abortion comes up, this question springs irresistibly to mind, and I think the ease with which it is answered ends the debate entirely: If men could get pregnant, would abortion be illegal?

Ever hear of the term "shotgun wedding"? Plenty of people have babies out of unexpectedly getting pregnant, and, yes, shockingly to Dan, they CHOOSE to have a baby over an abortion. The idea the pro-life is a only theory that can so easily be proven as such by a simple lie is pathetically ignorant of the people living in this world. WAKE UP, DAN! Lot's of people, whether it be for reasons religious, family, ethical, moral, cultural, CHOOSE BABIES. It's fucked up. But your advice is far far more fucked up. If this guy actually cares about this girl, and really is pro-life ( or anti choice or whatever you ant to call it ) he'll agree to have the baby, like many, many do, in fact that's how most babies become babies, from some poor soul thinking "ah, yea, I think I can do this parenting thing". What does that prove?

Well if the guy is a so-called "pro-lifer" then he NEEDS to be lied to. So fuck that guy; Dan was spot on here!