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Kyle Rittenhouse — Pro-Choice Advocate
Kyle Rittenhouse’s recent acquittal in the deaths of two protesters and the wounding of another is being lauded as a conservative victory. Rittenhouse, 17 years old at the time, traveled from his home state of Illinois to Kenosha, Wisconsin, had an adult purchase an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle for him, and attended a protest over the police shooting of Jacob Blake in 2020. Rittenhouse claimed he was acting in self-defense when he shot and killed James Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, and wounded Gaige Grosskruetz.
Trial observers noted that Rittenhouse had deliberately traveled to Kenosha and decided consciously to bring a gun to a highly-charged political protest, actions which placed him in a situation where, justifiably or not, he felt compelled to take the lives of other human beings to protect his own. It’s a trite observation that had Rittenhouse stayed home, or if he hadn’t brought a gun to the protest, two other people would still be alive.
This situation has some parallels to the abortion debate. Abortion rights opponents often say that if women simply didn’t have sex when they weren’t interested in having children, abortion would not be necessary. This conclusion is the exact opposite of the argument defending Rittenhouse’s actions. In both cases, someone needlessly places themselves at risk, but while Rittenhouse was allowed to defend himself, a…
