MSNBC writer equates pro-life conservatives with Taliban militants

A liberal journalist recently used the tragic events unfolding in Afghanistan to take a heinous potshot at conservatives.

In an op-ed published by the outlet on Wednesday, MSNBC opinion columnist Dean Obeidallah amazingly equated pro-life Republicans with the Taliban militants who have taken over Afghanistan in recent weeks, brutally murdering women along the way.

How are they the same? According to Obeidallah, both groups "deprive women of freedom" and "impose their religious beliefs on others."

What did he say?

The writer began his polemic by chiding Republican lawmakers such as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) for voicing concerns for women and girls now under Taliban rule.

Obeidallah essentially questioned whether Republicans have any moral standing to condemn violence against women since they support legislation that prohibits women from murdering babies. Though he didn't quite put it like that:

I have to wonder where these voices were when extremists, based on a narrow reading of their religion's beliefs, enacted a law that forces a woman who was raped to carry the fetus of the rapist to term? That same law makes it a crime for anyone to assist that woman in trying to abort the rapist's fetus.

That law was enacted not by the Taliban in Afghanistan, but in Arkansas.

Obeidallah went on to note that Arkansas Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson, in promoting the law, "didn't hide" the fact that it was "about turning his religious beliefs into the law of the land." Rather, the governor claimed that he signed the legislation given his "sincere and long-held pro-life convictions."

Apparently, that makes him similar to the Taliban. But before going too far, Obeidallah digressed:

Look, nobody is saying the GOP and the Taliban are equally bad. But in just the past few months, we've seen Republicans champion measures to deprive women of freedom over their own bodies, as well as oppose laws to protect women from violence and ensure that women are paid the same wages as men. And they've done so, at least in part, to impose their religious beliefs on all others.

The saying, "Nothing someone says before the word 'but' really counts," rings true here, especially since Obeidallah goes on to chastise Republicans for their supposedly anti-woman political stance for the remainder of the column.

According to Obeidallah, the Taliban-esque beliefs held by Republicans include their rejection of gender pay gap legislation and their support for the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

What else?

Sure, Obeidallah isn't actually equating the Taliban and pro-life conservatives in every sense. But the mere comparison ought to offend anyone with an ethical bone in their body.

The U.S. State Department reported in 2001 that during the Taliban's previous 5-year reign, the regime "cruelly reduced women and girls to poverty, worsened their health, and deprived them of their right to an education, and many times the right to practice their religion."

The report went on to say that Taliban forces "perpetrated egregious acts of violence against women, including rape, abduction, and forced marriage" and that tens of thousands of Afghan women reportedly had "no source of income" and "were reduced to selling all of their possessions and begging in the streets, or worse, to feed their families."