Oprah’s “O” magazine recently published an article in its “inspiration” section written by the founder of the “Shout Your Abortion” movement, in which she shared how a Facebook post expressing her “gratitude” to Planned Parenthood for her abortion snowballed into over 300,000 people tweeting the “ShoutYourAbortion” hashtag and the launching on an official organization of the same name.
“O” magazine’s July issue featured the article “How One Woman Became an Activist With the Hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion,” written by Amelia Bonow. The article is also posted on Oprah.com.
In the piece, Bonow outlined that she decided to come out about her abortion in 2015 after learning that the U.S. House of Representatives had voted to defund Planned Parenthood. She said that the news made her cry, and she began to type out her thoughts on Facebook.
“Like a year ago, I had an abortion at Planned Parenthood … and I remember this experience with a nearly inexpressible level of gratitude,” Bonow wrote.
She said that while she had been going to Planned Parenthood since her teen years for “sexual and reproductive healthcare” and has argued in favor of “abortion rights” before, she had never had gone public that she herself had an abortion.
“On some level, I’d internalized the stigma—though I honestly wasn’t ashamed. Then why hide?” Bonow stated in her article, published by “O” and also posted to Oprah.com. “It wasn’t out of character for me to disclose something so personal online. What was out of character was my silence.”
She said that other women soon began coming out that they had an abortion, and her friend asked if she could share the post on Twitter. Bonow’s friend added the hashtag “ShoutYourAbortion,” which soon went viral as thousands of women posted without shame that they too had an abortion.
“Anti-choice politicians have dominated the dialogue because many people think they don’t know anyone who’s had an abortion. But nearly one in four women has, and 95 percent have reported feeling that it was the right decision,” she claimed.
Bonow asserted that those who oppose abortion want it “to be terrifying to speak the truth” in order to squelch advocacy. She said that when women come out, it makes it clear that abortion is more common than one might think.
As previously reported, earlier this year, Bonow and others embarked on a “Bible Belt Abortion Storytelling Hour” tour to contend that “abortion is normal” and to urge mothers who ended their children’s lives to tell their abortion story. The tour included stops in Atlanta, Georgia; Asheville, North Carolina and New Orleans, Louisiana.
One commenter said that perhaps, conversely to the intent of those behind the effort, speaking openly about abortion could actually open some women’s eyes.
“[T]he truth will set people free. Believing big people can attain benefits by spilling the blood of little unwanted people is demonic,” wrote Jeriah Knox. “Abortion is murder, fueled and driven by man’s lust.”
“It is time to deal with the truth that unrestrained wicked men, as the bigger stronger bodies, will keep abortion around just as long as they keep pornography around and for the same reasons,” he opined. “Abortion rights make women cheap, accessible, and exchangeable, with no commitments, no responsibilities, and no bother to be considerate of her physiology.”
Jeremiah 8:12 reads, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush.”