You would prefer that they posit that M&M commercials enjoin sentients consuming other sentients? /sarcasm
But at any rate I think I can see what may be the specific inspiration: a specific pigmy, a small black person, whose humanity was (in recorded American history) despised by Americans, is being held out as someone who suffered prejudice compared to attitudes about the unborn.
But this is not just about prejudice suffered by little people, but about black persons. Recall that abortion has been a particular scourge of the black community, in ways the old KKK could never contemplate simply for being voluntary.
Crafting a presentation towards the black community, without vilifying those black persons who have not valued their own posterity and have as a consequence killed them, seems to have been a goal, something reinforced by the use of a literary example of not valuing black lives.
As for going back a century, it is likely that reading about that event led to writing this article. IOW we should consider it likely that someone read about this pigmy and from that made a connection with a modern phenomenon they were actively concerned about.
If that seems reasonable then why not go back a hundred years to find an example supporting this thesis?
Or would you rather it be used as a preface to decrying how pigmies are sometimes preyed upon by some superstitious pagans in Africa?
(yes, I actually did manage to tie in the first sarcastic comment because, sadly, there is actually crazy **** going on in the Congo and maybe it occasionally needs mentioning too)
I would prefer that early 20th Century behavior be judged by early 20th Century standards. I would prefer that 21st Century standards be applied to 21st Century behavior. Where this understanding first came to my consciousness involved the use of 7th Century Christian behavior to justify 21st Century Islamic Terrorism.
This caused me to realize that mixing eras is a common propagandist tool, used innocently or ignorantly nearly as often as intentionally, but a tool just the same, and therefore to be viewed suspiciously.
I’m not suggesting that mixing eras should not be used as a contrast, but its use must be widely advertised and used openly.