Breaking eggs

I've just finished The Handmaid's Tale (excellent despite the anticlimatic last section) and have been thinking about an issue that was raised in the book.
At one point, the Commander states to the female lead character, in an attempt to explain why he and other men felt it necessary to dramatically change the condition of the lives of women in a restrictive way, that it "seemed to be for the best" and that "in order to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs."

That got me to thinking. The Commander is presuming, in his paternal manner, to speak for what is best for all women, but really, he and the other men have set up a situation that is best for themselves and all other men. The men have all the power. Who are those who enjoy omelets to speak of what is best for eggs?

Is it in the best interest of the women (eggs), really, to have had all these choices made for them? To have their freedom taken away and their interests completely disregarded? The Commander acknowledges that "for many women, things became much worse," but the "reward" was "no longer having to worry about rape or degradation" (and yet, of course, both still took place).

That reminds me, of course, of the current issue that is on everyone's tongues at the moment - the South Dakota new law banning all abortion except in cases that the woman's life is threatened. Again, I'm prompted to wonder whose interests really are being looked after here with this new law - certainly, it's not for the benefit of the women involved in a "crisis pregnancy" (as the Christian centers set up to convince women who are thinking about abortion to select a different choice so eloquently refer to it). I suppose the omelet-lovers in this situation are the fervently pro-life people (mostly men, right? how many women were involved with the creation of this law?) who have not had an abortion and would like to stop them from occurring.

Hmmm.