Dismantling the Right's Hypocrisy on Abortion and Transgender Issues

Putting an End to the Right's Fake Concern About Protecting Women

Introduction: A Guide to Winning the Fight

This article is part of our Counterpoints Series, where we dismantle the right’s false narratives, expose their hypocrisy, and reclaim the conversation. For more articles in the series, click here to browse the full collection.

The right loves to posture as protectors of women, but their policies reveal the opposite. While claiming to defend women, they enact extremist laws that harm, control, and even kill them. From abortion bans to attacks on transgender individuals, their agenda has nothing to do with safety and everything to do with domination.

This article introduces a rhetorical strategy to dismantle their pretense, inspired by “The Anti-MAGA Rhetorical Battleplan” diagram. Central to this strategy are Slogan Attacks, Slogan Counterattacks, and Nuanced Attacks. Understanding these tools is critical to flipping the script, putting them on the defensive, and keeping them there.

The Anti-MAGA Rhetorical Battleplan - by Lukium

What Are These Tactics?

• Slogan Attacks: These are blunt, provocative statements designed to grab attention and immediately force the other side onto the defensive.
  Example: “Why do you like killing women with your Sharia Laws?”

• Slogan Counterattacks: These flip the narrative when the right attempts to go on the offensive, redirecting the spotlight back onto their hypocrisy.
  Example 1: “Transgender people aren’t a threat to women, YOU are.”
  Example 2: “How can you claim to love America in one hand and push Sharia Law with the other?”

• Nuanced Attacks: These are specific, detailed arguments used to push deeper when the right tries to defend their position. For example, if they argue that a fetus’s life is sacred:
  Example: “Why should your Sharia Law be the thing that decides when a fetus is alive? Why not someone else’s religion? In a country with separation of church and state, YOUR Sharia Law doesn’t get to decide for everyone.”

*I’ll explain what Sharia Law is shortly in case you don’t know

This article will serve as a guide to using these tactics effectively. As we go through each section, we’ll offer examples tailored to different arguments the right might make and show you how to respond with clarity, force, and confidence.

Step 1: Setting Parameters for Engagement

Before diving into specific tactics, let’s lay down the ground rules. The right operates on bad faith, gaslighting, and a complete disregard for honest engagement. We’re not here to play by their rules or let them control the narrative. Here’s how we’re going to frame every interaction:

1. Zero Charitability:
   Internet debaters might tell you to always be charitable to your opponent. Forget that. This isn’t a high school debate club, and the right will NEVER extend you that privilege. These are the people calling Democrats absurdities like lizards in people skin, pedophiles, puppets of the Jewish cabal, communists, or some combination of all the above. Until they stop with the conspiratorial name-calling, they deserve none of your respect. Zero charitability. Zero benefit of the doubt. Treat them exactly how they’ve earned it.

2. Always Call Their Anti-Abortion Laws What They Are: Sharia Law:
   Let’s not sugarcoat it. Their anti-abortion laws are nothing short of religious tyranny. Sharia law is a term they once used to fearmonger about Muslims bringing Islamic law into the U.S. They had an absolute meltdown across media platforms about it, even though it was never a real threat. But now? They’re enforcing their own Christian-nationalist version of Sharia law through abortion bans and other religiously driven policies. They hate being called out for this hypocrisy. Good. That’s why we’re going to call it Sharia law every single time.

3. Patriotism is On Our Side:
   The Constitution demands the separation of church and state. If they’re going to push for Sharia law, we’re going to assume they hate America. Full stop. Remember, zero charitability. They’re not just imposing religious laws—they’re trampling on the founding principles of the country they claim to love. When someone spits on the Constitution, they deserve to be called out as an enemy of America.

4. Deception is Their Bread and Butter:
   Right-wingers have more cognitive dissonance in their heads than a MAGA rally has Made-in-China merch. These are the same people who cry about small government while demanding it invade every uterus in the country. The same people who scream about free speech while banning books. Their hypocrisy is endless, and when we call it out, we’re going straight for the jugular. No half-measures. No soft landings.

Let’s move forward with this framework in mind as we break down exactly how to dismantle their arguments. Each tactic we discuss will build on these principles to flip the script, put them on the defensive, and keep them there.

Step 2: Call Them Out for the Lives They’ve Taken

It’s not enough to argue in abstractions. The right’s extremist laws have real, devastating consequences, and it’s critical to make them face the lives lost due to their policies. Women have died because of their anti-abortion Sharia laws, leaving behind grieving families and children. These women’s names should never be forgotten, and they should be wielded as weapons for accountability.

Take the time to learn a few of these names and their stories. Do not be afraid to use them in your arguments. By speaking their names, you ensure their deaths are not forgotten, and you honor them in the fight against the extremism that cost them their lives.

The Names They Want You to Forget

• Nevaeh Crain: 18 years old. Died from sepsis after delayed miscarriage care. Left behind grieving parents and siblings.

• Amber Thurman: 28 years old. A mother who died from sepsis after delayed miscarriage care. Left behind a 6-year-old son.

• Candi Miller: 41 years old. A mother who died due to restrictive abortion laws. Left behind her husband and a 3-year-old daughter.

• Porsha Ngumezi: 35 years old. A mother who died from sepsis after delayed miscarriage care. Left behind a husband and two children.

• Josseli Barnica: 28 years old. A mother who died from sepsis after delayed miscarriage care. Left behind a husband and a 1-year-old daughter.

Every one of these women had a family. Every one of these deaths was preventable. And every one of these deaths is in the hands of the politicians and activists who pushed these laws. Do not hesitate to use their names in arguments, it’s how we ensure their deaths weren’t in vain.

Examples of Engagement

When discussing these issues, the right will attempt to deflect or justify their actions. Here’s how to counter their excuses and keep the focus on the harm caused by their policies:

What They Might Say:
“Our laws are about protecting life. Abortion is murder.”

Slogan Counterattacks:

• “Abortion is murder according to who? Your Sharia Law? We don’t live in a theocracy.”

• “Was it good that Nevaeh Crain had to die because of YOUR Sharia law? Is that what protecting life looks like to you?”

• “Your laws didn’t protect Amber Thurman. They killed her. Why do you think that’s okay?”

What They Might Say:

“Women can still get care for emergencies. This isn’t about denying healthcare.”

Slogan Counterattack:

• “Really? Then explain why Porsha Ngumezi died because she couldn’t get miscarriage care in time. Why are your laws killing mothers?”

• “Tell me, how many more women need to die before your extremist laws are satisfied?”

Slogan Attacks to Initiate Engagement

Sometimes you’ll need to start the engagement to force them on the defensive. Here are examples of how to frame the conversation:

• “Why do you like killing women with your Sharia laws? Are their lives worth so little to you?”

• “Your sharia laws killed Candi Miller. Are you that desperate to control women that you’re willing to outright kill them?”

• “Patriotism means protecting Americans—not killing them. Why are you for sharia laws that kill women and spit on the Constitution?”

Honor Their Lives in This Fight

Using the names and stories of these women is not just a rhetorical tactic—it’s a way to ensure their deaths are not forgotten. Every time you speak their names; you remind the world of the human cost of these extremist policies. You give voice to the people they’ve silenced and fight for the women who could be next.

Step 3: Shut Down the Transgender Misdirection

One of the right’s favorite tactics is to shift the conversation toward transgender people, framing them as threats to women’s safety—or, sometimes, as threats to children. This is a deliberate distraction—a bait designed to steer attention away from the harm their policies inflict on women and their extreme reproductive laws. Do not fall for it. Refuse to engage on their terms and immediately redirect the conversation back to the real threat: their laws and their hypocrisy.

This tactic serves a dual purpose:

· Defending Transgender People: By refusing to entertain their false narratives, you deny them the opportunity to demonize transgender individuals and force them to answer for their own harmful policies instead.

· Protecting Women’s Rights: By recentering the debate around reproductive rights and the deadly consequences of their extremist laws, you ensure that the conversation stays focused on the issues that matter most.

What They Might Say

“We’re protecting women from dangerous men pretending to be trans.”
This is one of their go-to scare tactics, attempting to create a moral panic around transgender people in public spaces.

Slogan Counterattacks:

• “YOU are the real threat to women. Your Sharia laws are killing mothers like Porsha Ngumezi while you make up nonsense about bathrooms.”

• “Protecting women? Tell that to Amber Thurman’s family. She wasn’t killed by a transgender person—your extremist laws killed her.”

• “Why should we trust people who kill women with Sharia laws to decide what’s safe for women?”

What They Might Say:

“Transgender people in women’s spaces are dangerous!”

Slogan Counterattacks:

· “Dangerous? Let’s talk about real danger—your Sharia laws that killed Amber Thurman and Porsha Ngumezi. Transgender people aren’t killing women; YOU are.”

· “Women are dying because of YOU, not trans people. Your Sharia laws are a far bigger threat than any bathroom ever was.”

· “Stop pretending you care about safety when your policies kill women. If anyone is a threat to women, it’s you and your laws.”

What They Might Say

“Transgender rights are harming children. We’re just trying to protect them.”

This argument twists the “protect the children” narrative to justify bigotry, often with vague claims about transgender healthcare or education. Below are a few options for how to deal with this, but we have a whole section (Step 5) that relates to the “protecting children” argument

Slogan Counterattacks

• “You’re not protecting children. You’re abandoning them. Your policies cut school meals, gut education funding, and let kids die without healthcare. Let’s talk about that.”

• “Protecting children? Foster kids are abused and forgotten because of your policies. Transgender rights aren’t the problem—your refusal to help children is.”

• “If you cared about kids, you wouldn’t deny them food, education, and healthcare. Your laws hurt every child, every day.”

Slogan Attacks to Initiate Engagement

When they haven’t shifted the conversation yet, but you suspect it’s coming, preempt their misdirection:

• “While you’re inventing imaginary threats about trans people, your laws are killing women. Care to explain why?”

• “You keep talking about protecting women from bathrooms, but what about protecting them from your Sharia laws?”

• “If you’re so concerned about women’s safety, why do your policies make it more dangerous to be a woman in this country?”

Refuse to Entertain Their Games

Every second spent arguing about transgender people is a second wasted. You are under no obligation to play into their false narrative. Refuse to debate their manufactured panic. Instead, reframe the argument and keep the spotlight on their record:

· “Until we deal with the real threat to women—your laws that kill them—I’m not entertaining your distractions.”

· “You’ve killed more women with your policies than any transgender person ever has. Let’s talk about that.”

· “Stop using transgender people as scapegoats while your laws actively harm women and families.”

Keep the Focus Where It Belongs

By shutting down their deflections and maintaining control of the narrative, you achieve two critical goals:

• You defend transgender people by removing the focus from them, leaving the right unable to weaponize bigotry for their agenda.

• You protect women’s rights by steering the debate back to the real danger—their Sharia laws and extreme reproductive policies.

This tactic doesn’t just expose their bad faith; it forces them to answer for the harm they’ve caused while denying them the distractions they rely on to avoid accountability. Stay focused. Stay sharp. And never let them off the defensive.

Step 5: Expose the Lie—They Don’t Care About Children

When backed into a corner, the right often defaults to a defense of their extremist laws by claiming they are “protecting children.” This is one of their oldest and most dishonest tactics, and it falls apart under even the slightest scrutiny. If they truly cared about children, their policies wouldn’t be actively harming them at every stage of life.

This isn’t about children. It’s about control. And we’re going to expose their lies with brutal clarity.

What They Might Say:

· “Our laws are about protecting innocent children. Every life matters.”

· “Abortion takes innocent lives. We’re just trying to save them.”

· “We’re trying to make sure every child has a chance to live a full life.”

Nuanced Attacks

No matter how they phrase it, the reality is that their policies don’t protect children—they harm them. Use something like one of the responses below to immediately crush their lie:

· “Protecting children? The only children your policies protect are the ones still in the womb. The second they’re born, you abandon them.”

· “Every life matters? Then why do you cut school meal programs that keep children from starving? Why do you fight healthcare expansions that could save their lives?”

· “You care about ‘innocent lives’? Where’s that energy for kids living in poverty because of your policies? Where’s that energy for children who die because you refuse to expand healthcare?”

· “A full life? Like the ones denied an education because of your funding cuts? Like the kids stuck in poverty because you won’t pay their parents a livable wage? Stop pretending you care about life.”

· “You say mothers can always put unwanted children into foster care. Have you seen the foster system? It’s underfunded, overcrowded, and rife with abuse. How does dumping children into a broken system that you refuse to fix protect anyone?”

· “How many innocent children go hungry in schools because you cut their meal programs? Where’s your outrage for them?”

· “You’re not saving lives. You’re controlling women. If you cared about saving lives, you’d fight for the kids who are already here.”

Slogan Attacks to Initiate Engagement

If you know they’ll bring up “protecting children” as a defense but want to take control of the narrative from the outset, here are ways to frame the conversation:

• “You claim to care about children, but your policies cut their lunches, deny them healthcare, and destroy their schools. Let’s talk about that.”

• “You want to protect children? Start by feeding the ones who are already here and saving the ones dying because of your healthcare cuts.”

• “Foster care is a nightmare, thanks to you. Children in the system face abuse, neglect, and hopelessness. Don’t pretend this is about protecting kids.”

• “Don’t pretend this is about kids when your actions show you couldn’t care less about them. Explain how cutting school funding protects anyone.”

Children Deserve Better Than Their Lies

The truth is clear: the right doesn’t care about children. If they did, they wouldn’t pass policies that actively harm them at every stage of life. From defunding education to cutting healthcare to ignoring child poverty, their actions speak louder than their empty rhetoric. Their Sharia laws aren’t about protecting children—they’re about punishing women.

By calling out this lie, you show the world exactly what their priorities are: control, hypocrisy, and cruelty. Don’t let them hide behind their false concern. Expose their lies and fight for the children they claim to protect.

Now that we’ve dismantled their lies point by point, let’s look at what this fight is truly about.

Conclusion: The Fight for Freedom, Truth, and Justice

The right’s so-called concern for women and children is a lie—a smokescreen for their agenda of control and cruelty. Their Sharia laws kill women, devastate families, and spit on the Constitution. They distract with fabricated threats about transgender people while abandoning the very children they claim to protect. They wrap their extremism in the language of patriotism, but their actions betray America’s core values of freedom and equality.

Here’s the truth: They don’t care about women. They don’t care about children. THEY DON’T CARE ABOUT YOU. They care about domination, and they will use religion, fear, and lies to achieve it.

But we don’t have to let them. We have the tools to dismantle their pretense, expose their bad faith, and reclaim the narrative. Every time they open their mouths, they hand us the ammunition to destroy their credibility. Use it. Speak the names of the women they’ve killed. Confront their lies with the hard, undeniable facts. Refuse to play their games or entertain their distractions. And above all, stay on the offensive.

America is not a theocracy. It’s not a country where religion dictates the law, where women’s lives are disposable, or where children’s futures are sacrificed on the altar of extremism. The Constitution is clear: freedom and equality are the foundation of this nation, and those who trample on those principles are not patriots—they are enemies of everything America stands for.

This is not just a fight for policies. This is a fight for the soul of our nation.

We cannot let their lies go unchallenged. We cannot let their hypocrisy go unchecked. And we cannot let their extremist agenda become the norm. The time to fight back is now. The tools are in your hands. The question is: will you use them?

Bonus: The Hard Truth in One Image

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this article, but sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Below is a powerful visual that distills the reality of MAGA’s hypocrisy and the deadly consequences of their Sharia laws.

This is more than a meme—it’s a reminder of why we fight, of the lives lost, and of the lies we refuse to let go unanswered. Share it. Talk about it. Keep the conversation going.