By Matt Maddox, Digital Marketing Director for the Ruth Institute
If you haven’t seen it, Savannah Craven Antao was doing street interviews and a 20+ minute conversation with Brianna Rivers (who initiated the conversation), when Rivers sucker punched Antao. She had no business cold-cocking Antao.
Rivers made it worse by walking away, flipping off Antao’s husband and showing a callous disregard for bloodying another’s face. Standing in defense of the pre-born is no crime and doesn’t justify violent attack.
A lot of commentators have made this a case connecting the violence of the attacker to violence against the preborn. I’m not saying they’re wrong, but it seems like there’s a more direct link than just being open to the idea of abortion being ok. We can only speculate why she punched Antao.
When asked about abortion, Rivers said, “If you get caught up with the wrong guy and you think you’re in love, and (whoo) now you stuck [sic]. Not stuck, but you’re stuck, with a baby, for the rest of this time, literally the rest of their lives, and your life.”
Is that her situation? Did she get involved with a man who wouldn’t have been a good father, and so, after she unexpectedly got pregnant, had an abortion? We can only guess. But whatever the reason, there was clearly an attempt to shut Antao up. Perhaps something Antao said reminded Rivers of something her conscience has been bugging her about.
It isn’t too much of a stretch to think that Rivers has had an abortion. Assuming she lives in New York City, the black/African American population is nearly 21%, and 42% of the abortions performed there are on African American women. I’m not a statistician, but 42% of abortions for 21% of the population seems to be well outside proportional representation.
And having an abortion, in contrast to the drivel we’re served up by the legacy media and abortion activists, actually doesn’t increase mental health outcomes. The Charlotte Lozier Institute reported that having an abortion “increases the risk of mental disorders by 23%, even after controlling for other factors, including prior mental health issues.”
Not to say that Rivers has mental health issues, but rather, the abortion in and of itself doesn’t do much to help women’s mental health.
Even deeper than that is the guilt women feel about abortion. Mrs. Lori Hoye, wife of Rev. Walter Hoye, spoke at the Ruth Institute Summit for Survivors of the Sexual Revolution in 2022 about their ministry with the post-abortive congregation. They called it a “grief and loss class” and had the women write a letter to their aborted babies.
Afterward, Mrs. Hoye reported that they didn’t want to talk to her and had, as she called it, a lot of “attitude.” Why? Because they had to acknowledge that their abortion was a loss.
If you can acknowledge the loss and have unresolved feelings about it, you can move forward toward healing. But if you can’t, it’s highly likely your conscience is still bothering you. The funny thing about your conscience is that, even if you manage to ignore it, there will always be triggers that bring up what you’re trying to ignore. Then you have two options: listen or ignore. The more you ignore the problem, the more you try to push it away and shut down even the external reminders, including with violence.
Based on the conversation between Antao and Rivers, it’s clear Rivers isn’t religious. What’s also clear is something is bothering her. A video of her recently surfaced, asking for help paying for her upcoming legal defenses – and blaming Antao for the altercation. As I said, I can only speculate at her motives, but she’s doing a good job attempting to justify her actions and shove down unresolved issues.
