When is an event
intended to combat “the cultural stigma and
shame women are made to feel around abortion” really just an “I’m ok-You’re ok”
exercise in self-justification? When you won’t let media record your
celebration of infanticide.
Advocates for Youth, along with NARAL Pro-Choice America, hosted a reading of stories [1] composed by women who have had abortions at the Busboys and Poets restaurant in Washington, D.C. on October 28. In part, the reading was publicity for Advocates for Youth’s new book, “1 in 3: These are Our Stories [2].” The “1 in 3” refers to the group’s contention that a third of women have abortions. Thus, the book brims with personal anecdotes about the wonders of abortion. If the authors had any regrets, they sacrificed them for ideology.
Organizers refused the MRC’s Culture and Media Institute permission to record the event – a curious stance if you’re trying to change broader cultural perceptions about abortion.
Different readers read stories of “no regret” abortions (none of the authors of those stories was present). The reasons for the abortions differed, ranging from accidents with the pill to problems of fetal development. Of course, none of the stories acknowledged the thousands of women who have confessed remorse after abortion [3].
In addition to the readers, Advocates for Youth President Debra Hauser [4] and NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue [5] spoke. During the event, Hauser recommended women go “out of our heads” and “into our hearts” for the abortion debate. Without a trace of irony, she asserted that, “Abortion is something that women share across generations.”
The reading and the book were part of Advocates for Youth’s “1 in 3 Campaign [6]” and “1 in 3 Week of Action,” which consists of events across 100 campuses and communities in 32 States.
As an organization, Advocates for Youth [7] claims to “help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health” through the “3Rs”: rights, respect and responsibility, though that third R was largely missing from the Busboys and Poets event.
According to a press release by media contact Molly Haigh, the campaign strives to combat “unprecedented national and state attacks on abortion access mounting” and “the possibility of a 20 week federal ban hearing in the near future” by having “1 in 3 activists [who] will highlight real women’s stories around access to abortion care to remind people just how important access to abortion care has been to people’s lives.” And babies’ deaths.
— Katie Yoder is Staff Writer, Joe and Betty Anderlik Fellow in Culture and Media at the Media Research Center. Follow Katie Yoder on Twitter. [8]