Reproductive Rights? #YouKnowMe
A large and victorious step forward for pro-life policy in our country has kicked up a cultural and political storm in the past two weeks. Following the recent pro-life legislation in Alabama, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms are buzzing with women who are sharing their stories of having an abortion with the hashtag #youknowme. This began with celebrity personality Busy Phillips who shared with her twitter following that 1 in 4 women will have an abortion in our country before the age of 45.
“1 in 4 women have had an abortion. Many people think they don’t know someone who has, but #youknowme. So let’s do this: if you are also the 1 in 4, let’s share it and start to end the shame. Use #youknowme and share your truth.”
When reading some of these stories my heart breaks for every woman. My heart breaks for the women who have had an abortion – some who have been able to share their story and some who cannot go back to the pain of that day because of the emotional trauma. My heart breaks for the women who were told it was their only option and that raising a child with her circumstances was beyond her power. My heart breaks for the women who were forced into having an abortion by a boyfriend who threatened to leave them or parents who threatened to kick them out of the house. My heart breaks for the women whose lives were lost to an abortion in the womb. My heart breaks for every woman who will never learn, grow, and be impacted by the victims of abortion today.
Greatest of all, my heart breaks for the ideology that abortion is a solution in any scenario – when in actuality all it does is ends the life of an innocent person and radically alter the lives of a man and woman who were already parents.
I can’t sit by and allow this conversation to be disqualified from everyone except for a woman and her doctor, when a third of my generation is losing their life to an abortion and every single day the minds of young men and women are being caught by a myriad of celebrities who claim that abortion is freedom for women. This conversation is about the rights of every single human person, it’s about a consistent understanding of who a human person is and how we advocate for rights for all of them, including and especially those as vulnerable as an abortion-minded woman and her child.
If we desire to be a culture that places human dignity as it’s superlative value, how must I change? How must I anticipate the needs of vulnerable men and women in my community? How must I educate those in my life about the preciousness of every human person? How must I speak up with charity against the forces that wish to tarnish the dignity of the human person? Change does not begin with government policy or hashtags as much as it begins in my own life and decisions to sacrificially love and serve the vulnerable.
I work for The Culture Project because I desire to reach young women before they find themselves in an unplanned pregnancy. I desire to reach them before they’re sexually active to share with them a message that every young person deserves to hear – you are good. Your sexuality is a beautiful part of who you are and you have a massive capacity to love and be loved. Chastity channels our desires toward a love that is faithful which is oriented toward strong marriages and families.
Someday, I hope to encounter the young women I’ve spoken to and hear a different message. My prayer is that through the beauty of a virtuous life they are spared from this pain and confusion, live for something greater, and embrace the beautiful call to radical and selfless love.
