Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, has confirmed that she and her husband John Neffinger are expecting twins.
And, speaking with The Washington Post, the 45-year-old revealed that her happy news has left anti-abortion activists confused.
She said: “There is this whole mentality that anyone who fights for the rights that we fight for must hate children and not want to parent.
“So to have the leader of a reproductive rights organisation — an abortion rights organisation — show up pregnant, it’s just jaw-dropping.”
She went on to reveal that one anti-abortion advocate looked at her baby bump and asked her if it was real.
Ilyse, who is due in early July, said: “[It was] as though [he thought that] I actually had strapped on a prosthetic baby bump to wear to a hearing for some reason.
“It’s like, ‘What don’t you get about choice meaning choice?’”
She explained that she’s also gotten plenty of comments to the effect of, “‘Now you know what it’s like, so there’s no way you can stay in your position and continue to do this work.’
“As though as soon as you get pregnant, you abandon any previous sense that you had around a woman’s right to choose to terminate a pregnancy.”
If anything, she said, it has pushed her to fight even harder for a woman’s right to choose.
Ilyse said firmly: “My personal experience and my gratitude and relief in choosing to become a mother and being supported in that just makes me feel so much more strongly that other people should have the same support.”