If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.

Florynce “Flo” Kennedy used this line as a sharp, media-ready formulation of a core second-wave feminist argument in the late 1960s–1970s: that laws and moral strictures around abortion were shaped less by consistent religious principle than by male political power over women’s bodies. Kennedy—an outspoken Black feminist lawyer and activist—often delivered deliberately provocative one-liners in speeches and interviews to expose what she saw as hypocrisy in public debates over sexuality, reproduction, and “family values.” The quip circulated widely in feminist organizing and press coverage during the period when abortion rights were being contested nationally and litigated up to and beyond Roe v. Wade (1973).

Kennedy’s quip uses sharp counterfactual irony to expose how reproductive politics are shaped by power rather than principle. By imagining pregnancy as something men experience, she suggests that institutions that condemn abortion—especially religious and political authorities historically dominated by men—would rapidly reframe it as holy, routine, and socially supported. The line compresses a broader feminist argument: control over reproduction is a key site of gender hierarchy, and moral rhetoric often masks self-interest and social control. Its punchy, aphoristic form also reflects Kennedy’s style as a radical feminist lawyer and activist who used humor and provocation to make structural inequities unmistakable.

If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament.
If men could get pregnant, abortion would be legal.
If men got pregnant, you could get an abortion at an ATM.