Democratic Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and his husband, activist and writer Chasten Glezman Buttigieg, recently became parents to twins this past week.
Predictably, Evangelical "pro-life" Christians are outraged.
After Buttigieg shared a photo of he and Chasten with their new children, Penelope Rose and Joseph August, far-right Evangelical Christians sent a wave of anger toward the couple.
And given many of them are also prominent self-proclaimed "pro-life" activists—a movement which often pushes adoption on women with unwanted pregnancies—the hypocrisy their responses laid bare left many on social media calling out their hypocrisy.
Take, for example, anti-choice activist Lila Rose, founder of pro-birth charity Live Action, who sent a grief-stricken tweet, seen below, to Buttigieg in response to his announcement of the twins' birth.
Where are the mothers? My heart goes out to these infants.— Lila Rose (@Lila Rose) 1630824548
Including a tearful emoji for effect, Rose tweeted:
"Where are the mothers? My heart goes out to these infants."
Despite Rose's advocacy for forced births, she appears to know little about pregnancy and childbirth.
Asking about the twins' mothers?
One assumes the mother—singular because that's how twins work—was resting after giving birth to babies she chose to give up for adoption.
That's how choice works.
The anti-choice, pro-birth contingent is so outraged the Buttigiegs' announcement even made waves overseas. In a since deleted tweet, La Manif Pour Tous (LMPT), one of France's largest organizations fighting against women's reproductive freedom and body autonomy, same-sex marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, even went so far as to claim the Buttigieg's had stolen their babies from the mother.
Toute la presse pr\u00e9cise noir sur blanc que les \u00e9poux #Buttigieg n'ont pas recouru \u00e0 la #GPA mais sont devenus papas de jumeaux \u00e0 l'issue d'un processus d'adoption d'enfants abandonn\u00e9s, mais on conna\u00eet bien la passion de la manif pour tous pour le mensonge et l'insulte.pic.twitter.com/nN6pjxwnjQ— Claire Underwood (@Claire Underwood) 1630873322
Quote-tweeting the Buttigieg's photo, LMPT's tweet read:
"How can you not be scandalized by this photo?"
"Not content to have stolen the babies from the mother just after childbirth, these two men also took her place in the hospital bed…"
"Think about these children who have been robbed of their mother forever."
At least LMPT knew twins only have a single birth mother.
The Buttigiegs' babies were legally adopted. "Stealing babies from the mother just after childbirth" is, of course, not at all how adoption works, as @ParisPasRose, the Twitter user who shared the screenshot of LMPT's tweet, pointed out.
In fact, it is now an option for the birth mother to choose the parents her baby will be adopted by from a list of potential parents.
But details like that seem not to matter to anti-choice activists like Missouri Republican politician Saundra McDowell, who accused the Buttigieg's of becoming parents simply for the publicity.
Why are they both in the hospital bed like they had these babies? Photo-op.— Saundra McDowell (@Saundra McDowell) 1630801925
If this hypocrisy has you scratching your head, you're not alone.
Scores of people on Twitter were confused by conservatives hating children being carried to term then given a loving home.
CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS: "You should adopt, not abort!"\n\nBUTTIGIEGES: "OK."\n\nCONSERVATIVE CHRISTIANS:— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@Mrs. Betty Bowers) 1630772974
For someone who \u201cfights for life\u201d it kinda seems like you\u2019re bad at it. These two babies have a loving home now. That\u2019s all that matters.— Ryan Trout (@Ryan Trout) 1630828885
You\u2019re upset that they didn\u2019t have to endure pain? Just because you did? Wow.— Vikki S (@Vikki S) 1630794443
I have known plenty of straight fathers who have had photos holding their newborn babies while in a hospital bed.\n\nNobody batted an eyelid.— David Lord (@David Lord) 1630845065
they chose life, didn\u2019t they?— Siraj Hashmi (@Siraj Hashmi) 1630939622
Yes it is a photo-op, just like any parents of new borns.— tewingert (@tewingert) 1631039545
I feel really sorry for your children growing up with such a hateful person. I imagine they\u2019ll be very embarrassed when they\u2019re old enough to see who you really are.— \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf7 Kristian V\u00e1zquez (@\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf7 Kristian V\u00e1zquez) 1630936377
I'm going to guess since they adopted those beautiful babies that the mother(s) put them up for adoption. What exactly are you trying to accomplish here?!— *amber dawn* (@*amber dawn*) 1630837458
Congratulations to you both. Let's hope you can raise your children not to be judgemental, like the majority of the people on this thread. May God bless all 4 of you— Mary Clarke (@Mary Clarke) 1630873078
Here's hoping Penelope and Joseph can grow up in a kinder, more empathetic world.