The Duggar family, who rose to fame on TLC's hit reality show "19 Kids & Counting," are creating controversy over more than their strictly religious views and insistence on having as many children as possible, despite Michelle Duggar's growing reproductive health concerns.
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, along with their eldest son Josh Duggar, are committed pro-life and anti-abortion advocates, using their reality show-earned fame to propel their political platforms. Josh currently works for Christian organization Family Research Council, currently tasked with grassroots outreach, and is pursuing a career in politics.
While they have never been shy about their extremely conservative, a recent comment made by Jim Bob at last month's Values Voters Summit has "generated an outcry from abortion [pro-choice] advocates," Christian News reports.
"Back a few years ago," Duggar said at the summit, "I heard Governor Huckabee speak and he was sharing about how he had taken his daughter Sarah over to one of the concentration camps where a lot of Jewish people were killed. And he said, as they were walking out of that concentration camp, ... [Sarah] looked up at him and she said, 'Daddy, why didn't somebody do something?'"
"And, you know what?" Duggar continued. "That's where we're at in our nation. Do we want our children, when we're going to tell them about how great America was, ... [to] look at you and say, 'Why didn't somebody do something?' "Let me clarify," he said, according to the Daily Press. "We have since 1973 (when Roe v. Wade was decided) had 55 million abortions, so what we have going on is a baby holocaust."
In response to Jim Bob's argument and use of the term "baby holocaust," a petition has been created by on MoveOn.org by Tamar Fox asking TLC to cancel his family's reality show, which is watched by an average of 1.5 million viewers each week.
"[T]his time, [the Duggars'] right wing views have gone too far," the petition reads. "In a recent speech at the Values Voter Summit Jim Bob Duggar compared America today to Nazi Germany. Why? Because of abortion. When asked to explain, he said that the millions of legal abortions that have occurred since Roe v. Wade was decided are an ongoing 'baby holocaust.' Let's be clear: America today is nothing like Nazi Germany, and a woman who decides to have an abortion is not taking part in a Holocaust. Please join me in telling TLC and Discovery Media to cancel the Duggars' show, '19 Kids and Counting,' and stop rewarding people who misuse the history of the Holocaust to play politics with women's rights."
Click here to read the full petition.
