No Shame in Abortion

Nothing can be more personal than making a decision on how to handle one’s own body and the privacy of that choice. It just might be the very essence of The Political is Personal mantra I hold so dear. For decades now the right-wing has tried to demonize abortion and women who choose to terminate a pregnancy. Finally someone running for elected office decided to begin the process of combating the shame thrust upon these women.

In her keynote speech on the war on women portion of Netroots Nation, Darcy Burner, asked women who have had an abortion to stand (if they were willing). Burner then asked people willing to stand with these women and say no to the right’s tactics of hate and shame.

The moment comes later in the video but the whole speech about power structures is a vital must for people to know.

Sadly, the right decided to completely take the speech out of context by portraying it as some celebration of abortion. It’s like the believe pro-choice means an advocacy of having all pregnancies terminated. Anti-choice right winger Melissa Clouthier wrote:

It was difficult to estimate the number of women as they were sprinkled through out the audience. They stood alone while Burner admonished the attendees to hold their applause.

Then Burner asked the others seated in the audience to stand and give these women a standing ovation. The audience complied enthusiastically.

I sat during this spectacle.

Burner said,”If you are a woman in this room, and statistically this is true of about 1/3 of the women in this room, if you’re a woman in this room who has had an abortion and is willing to come out about it, please stand up.”

She continued, “Now, if you are willing to stand with every woman who is willing to come out about having had an abortion, please stand up.”

Nearly everyone stood.

Burner said,”This is how we change the stories in people’s past. We need to make it okay for women to come out about the choices they make.”

The left will say that they’re not pro-abortion, they’re pro-choice or they’re pro-women. It was clear, though, that abortion itself was elevated as something good and something to be celebrated.

Only someone with close mind could have sat in the convention hall and interpreted the speech in that manner. I was there and I stood proudly with the women who were not afraid to identify in public that they had an abortion. They should not be afraid to be public about their choice. There is no reason for another person to spew vitriol against woman who has a medical procedure decided between themselves and a doctor.

Real pro-lifers would support women’s reproductive health, provide support for children already born, & say no to hatred. I stand in solidarity with the one in three women who will exercise their right to control their body.