In June 2022 the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that guaranteed women the federal right to an abortion. Following this decision, more than a dozen states – including Arkansas, Alabama, Texas, and Mississippi – banned or severely restricted access to abortion services. The consequences of this reversal of legal precedent soon became clear. Stories began to emerge of women and girls having to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to neighbouring states to abort foetuses that suffered from a lethal birth defect or were the product of rape. More broadly, the Supreme Court decision represented the biggest rollback of reproductive rights for women in decades and has the potential to affect other constitutional rights, such as same-sex marriage and access to contraception. Given the magnitude of this shift, it came as no surprise when protestors took to the streets across the United States to denounce the court’s ruling.

Enter Matt Gaetz, Republican member of Congress for Florida’s first district. A month after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Gaetz gave a speech to students at the annual summit of Turning Point USA, a non-profit organization that promotes libertarian capitalism and grassroots anti-leftism. In his address, Gaetz targeted the physical appearance of pro-choice activists:

The speech is striking in its misogyny. Gaetz is saying that women who advocate for reproductive rights are fat and ugly – which is another way of saying that they’re socially worthless. But just as striking is Gaetz’s use of humour.