To oppose abortion in America today means being attacked, cancelled, and exiled by the Left. Pro-life views are now considered, inanely, ‘too dangerous’ and thus intolerable for the “harm” they may cause. The pro-life movement has been slandered with claims of complicity in the affairs of the far right; e.g., the Ku Klux Klan, the Capitol insurrection on January 6, and anti-government militia violence nationwide, among others. Breathing life into these claims are legions of progressive talking heads on television, egging on each other without a single opposing voice (too ‘dangerous’ for viewers). To hear a different opinion, except from the odd dissenter brought on to be harangued, is about as likely as having a pro-life host replace Whoopi Goldberg on The View.
Yet, for a moment, the impossible became real on Tuesday. Most Americans didn’t hear it, but Myrka Dellanos, an anchor on Spanish-language network Telemundo, made a short but significant pro-life argument on its most-watched show, La Mesa Caliente (in English, “The Hot Table”). It’s the Spanish equivalent of The View, and Dellanos is its Whoopi Goldberg. On air for a segment on Oklahoma’s new abortion legislation, she raised the debate’s pivotal question: “Who speaks for the lives of the babies?” She added that, “You don’t have to kill the baby.” She also described abortion alternatives, such as adoption, and raised contradictions in pro-choice advocacy — e.g., treating pregnant mothers’ deaths as ‘double homicides’ — so often ignored.
By themselves, these arguments are the bread and butter of pro-life positions. They wouldn’t be special were it not for the context. Telemundo, despite being focused on Hispanic viewers, has long been at odds with the community’s pro-life inclinations. As Jorge Bonilla of Media Research Centre’s Latino division notes, being pro-life is “the mainstream Hispanic position on abortion.” Indeed, according to a 2019 Morning Consult poll, “less than a majority of Hispanics (45 percent) support abortion being legal in all or most cases.”
Unlike them, however, Telemundo is progressive and left-wing in its editorial line – a conformity essential to survive in Democratic Party circles. To be accepted among the progressive faithful, its ideology must be pure, and dissent is uncommon. As viewers observed immediately after Dellanos’s comments, the backlash – from the fellow ladies of LMC – was fierce. Two of her co-hosts were quick to deride her positions and profess the regular dogmas that the pro-choice faction chants. Spanish Twitter, thereafter, was ablaze.
This contrast is precisely what makes Dellanos’s admission so remarkable. In a moment where anchors’ ideological purity and appeal “to the viewership base” (eerily similar to politicians) is seen as essential, to hear dissent being tolerated on Telemundo is refreshing. Frankly, even the network deserves some credit for its openness to her views.
More importantly, Dellanos’s argument represents a shift in Latino attitudes being observed in politics – of embracing their values as political conservatives. The numbers don’t lie. In the 2020 presidential election, Donald Trump made a 10-point gain in Hispanic and Latino support over 2016, which carried him to victory in crucial states like Florida. Moreover, as the New York Times reported recently, this support was not concentrated in a few select areas or Hispanic ethnicities – e.g., the Miami-Dade County’s Cubanos, or the Rio Grande Valley’s Tejanos – but was more widespread across the country. On issues from the rise in crime and inflation to even gun rights and transgenderism, many Latinos now more confidently proclaim the faith and family values by which they live. Plainly, they are conservative.
Whether or not that makes them Republican voters, it certainly doesn’t mean they’re progressive Democrats. Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas of the UCLA’s Latino Policy and Politics Initiative now regards them as a “swing electorate . . . requiring meaningful outreach and engagement.” It’s a far cry from Democrats’ assumed padlock on their support and heralds a tectonic shift in politics, offering Republicans a pathway to victory without compromising on their conservative values. Dellanos’s open pro-life commentary is but the latest result of this trend. As it continues, expect more like her to follow.