A recent trending topic on Twitter goes by the hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion. Women are sharing why, when, and how much better their lives are now, because they literally got away with murder. What started with two women and a shared Facebook post has led many, many more to declare themselves proud of their decision to have an abortion. Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, calls these women “brave”, no doubt happy to have attention directed momentarily away from the selling-baby-parts revelations rocking her organization.
One wonders how we as a society have possibly come to this, but here we are. A celebration of death lauded as progressive, confessions of murder widely disseminated without legal consequence. Has social media done this to us? Have we been convinced that people hiding behind screens are the bravest kind of people? Are they untouchable by law because of an uprising of semi-anonymous public support? Do we really believe that people who type into a vacuum, devoid of personal interaction, facial expression, body language and physical proximity are the progressive among us?
While no one should go out of their way to lay guilt on someone who has done wrong, it is equally unhelpful to celebrate that wrong. As this article points out, abortion is a symptom of a problem, not a solution to a problem. The fact that women feel they have no options, that society will not wait for them and will have no mercy on them; these are problems that cannot be ignored. A baby is not a problem, but somehow killing one has become seen as a way out of one. A celebration of abortion is a celebration of desperation.
The majority of women speaking out talk about timing, convenience, and opportunity. These are the reasons they chose abortion. This is not the “safe, legal, and rare” rhetoric so often touted by pro-choice advocates; this is something new, and far more sinister. This is selfishness glorified. Where inconvenience or embarrassment is a celebrated reason for eliminating a baby, we have to step back and consider seriously where we are and where we want that logic to go.
We know there will be an uproar if we apply it to pets, though they are, by all accounts, wildly inconvienient. But will that horror extend to the elderly, or the mentally or physically infirm? Will it extend even to children? If inconvenience or embarrassment guide our decisions in more and more areas of life, our decisions will inevitably be made at the expense of the lives both within and around us.
As a society, may we not indulge or encourage those who celebrate abortion. Let us celebrate life, not death. Let us use the words we know are true, words like “protect”, “value”, and “support”. And let’s turn those words of truth into laws that can benefit all of Canada.