The creators of shoutyourabortion.com may have intended to receive light-hearted testimonials for abortion, but the stories are anything but bright and sunny tales of glee.
Rather, I’m left with intense heaviness from deeply disturbing thought patterns, and grievingly and regretfully irreversible decisions. In one striking story, a woman was certain the spirit of her lifeless child visited her days following the abortion to comfort her and assure her she had made the right decision.
The Shout your Abortion movement began in 2015 around the same time Congress failed to stop taxpayer funds from feeding the horrifying killing machine called Planned Parenthood. It started when one young lady, who Oprah Winfrey recently highlighted in the July 2018 issue of O Magazine, shared her own abortion story on social media. A friend shared her post with hashtag #shoutyourabortion. And the races were off.
The website markets items bragging about abortion – t-shirts that say “Everyone knows I had an abortion” and so forth. Though the website is working to convince post-abortive women they should promote their actions with a sense of pride, I couldn’t help but notice the high percentage of stories signed “anonymous,” and the great majority of others provided only a first name with no other identifying information.
Sounds a bit more like a painful whisper of confession and masked cry for help than a shout of exuberance.
Slander & Libel to Support Their Lies
One story actually posted a photo of a beautiful young woman alongside the story of a woman named “Heather” who had three abortions by age 23. After the piece was picked up by multiple websites, it was discovered the photo was actually stolen from 24-year-old Molly Schaap, a woman who had never had an abortion and is actually a supporter of pro-life initiatives. Lies, lies, and more lies.
But here’s what I really want to know. In the abortion activists’ desire to normalize abortion, why not just show the truth? Wouldn’t that solve everything?
Cover People’s Eyes to Hide the Lies
If they really wanted the truth to be known, they would think: In a world of readily accessible video, finally everyone will see abortion for the innocent procedure it is, and all these radical, far-right, extremist pro-lifers will be confirmed as delusional… plain ole stark raving mad.
But they don’t. Instead, they lie and obstruct the truth of the procedure.
Last year, I had a full thyroidectomy. I watched the surgery on YouTube beforehand. It was no big deal. I mean, it was a big deal in that I knew my neck would be cut open in the same manner, and that’s just not a pleasant thought. Though fully informed concerning the procedure, I experience no guilt for removing and completely ending the function of my thyroid – as dysfunctional as it was.
Simply stated, it wasn’t a living, human being. And video only substantiates that truth
And funny…no one is getting upset about the graphic nature of the thyroidectomy surgery videos on YouTube, and a million other surgical videos made available for all to see.
Truth Quenched by the Bench
Do you remember David Daleiden?
He is a citizen journalist with the Center for Medical Progress, who, over a two-and-a-half year period, produced hundreds of hours of investigative, undercover footage revealing the dark realities of abortion – what actually takes place inside the minds of abortionists and within the walls of abortion clinics.
Alleged illegal profiting from the sale of aborted baby parts and organs rose to the forefront of the controversy. But the legal means to that potentially illegal end were just as disturbing to many.
As a matter of fact, it was because of those videos that Congress conducted hearings and ultimately failed to garner enough support to defund Planned Parenthood in 2015.
California district judge William Orrick has placed a gag order on Daleiden and forbid him from releasing any further videos claiming the footage poses a “public safety risk.”
The only public safety risk I can imagine these videos creating is the emotional torment post-abortive women would face after convincing themselves abortion was an innocent procedure – one that should be “shouted!”
It is important to note that Judge Orrick helped open, and for many years, funded and operated a Planned Parenthood clinic in Northern California (San Francisco) before becoming a judge. You might say he has a vested interest in burying what Daleiden calls “the most damning undercover footage” to date.
And for those whose hearts are hardened (like many highlighted in CMP’s video footage), who know what they’ve done and feel no remorse, that’s a different story. Their lack of contrition and ability to proudly advocate for abortion does not prove that abortion is virtuous.
You will certainly find some individuals in prison who have no remorse for their murderous crimes, but when they brag about the crimes they have committed, we are not convinced they were right in their actions. The presence or absence of remorse isn’t the determining factor in reaching a conclusion about the morality of an action.
What to do
Here’s where critical thinking comes in. We cannot base our decisions solely on what people feel, or whisper, or even shout. Decisions should be based on truth.
The Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform commissioned a study titled Effectiveness of Abortion Victim Photography in Pro-life Activism. Of 1,700 respondents, a statistically significant gain of nearly 17% was realized toward a pro-life worldview. Further analysis found that the strength of people’s feelings about abortion parallel their beliefs about whether abortion should be legal.
Graphic images change minds. It’s truth. Don’t shout it. Show it.
