You Can Shout, Dance, Sing & Scream,
but nothing will remove the stigma of abortion!
A new almost-hard-to-believe social media initiative is calling on women to #ShoutYourAbortion in yet, another, attempt to remove the stigma that surrounds abortion.
I get the feeling that they think if you shout it loud enough, you can somehow drown out the shame. According to the women behind the initiative, Lindy West, Amelia Bonow, and Kimberly Morrison, this is a chance for women to “reclaim the conversation about abortion."
Honestly, I do not even know what that means.
I do know that the conversation they are after never includes what abortion really is; the killing of an unborn baby. Instead, they say it is a “conversation about a choice to have a baby or not." Sounds so low key, no?
This attempt, like all the others that have come before (and there has been a ton of them, “I Had an Abortion” tee shirts, or Planned Parenthoood’s “make abortion normal," or how about “The Abortion Conversation Project," just to name a few), have all failed miserably, falling far short of the goal to remove shame and stigma. Why? Because abortion is not normal! All of this called for shouting, singing, dancing, or any other sounds or movements is never going to change the truth of what abortion is and does.
It kills a baby, and it is against our human nature to kill our own children.
Abortion will always have a stigma. That is a good thing. Imagine how cold-hearted a society would have to be to accept it as “normal." Having said that, abortion is something people have done, and not who they are. While abortion is always wrong, there is freedom from the stigma. Just not in the way they want it to be.
“Shouting your Abortion,” or wearing a tee shirt, or having an abortion conversation, will never free you from shame and stigma. Freedom instead, comes from a place of humility. It comes from looking honestly at an abortion experience. Sure, we may have felt trapped and that it was the right decision at the time, but the truth is, abortion is never right and until we admit that, we cannot be free.
The path to freedom from stigma is found in the words of St. John Paul II in the Gospel of Life:
“I would now like to say a special word to women who have had an abortion. The Church is aware of the many factors which may have influenced your decision, and she does not doubt that in many cases it was a painful and even shattering decision. The wound in your heart may not yet have healed. Certainly what happened was and remains terribly wrong. But do not give in to discouragement and do not lose hope. Try rather to understand what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so, give yourselves over with humility and trust to repentance. The Father of mercies is ready to give you his forgiveness and his peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You will come to understand that nothing is definitively lost and you will also be able to ask forgiveness from your child, who is now living in the Lord. With the friendly and expert help and advice of other people, and as a result of your own painful experience, you can be among the most eloquent defenders of everyone's right to life. Through your commitment to life, whether by accepting the birth of other children or by welcoming and caring for those most in need of someone to be close to them, you will become promoters of a new way of looking at human life.”
It is there that we find peace, and freedom from stigma… now that is something to shout about!
