A new round of television commercials seeks to counter a growing narrative that abortion leaves women feeling uplifted, empowered, and relieved.The pro-abortion movement’s “1-in-3” campaign is asking women to share happy memories of aborting their children, scheduling abortion celebration events at 100 locations in 32 states.
But the data shows post-abortive women are actually disproportionately likely to suffer from depression, substance abuse, and other forms of trauma.To tell their stories, VirtueMedia has released six ads featuring the testimonies of women whose experiences were anything but positive.
The series, entitled “Been There,” features five women whose grief is evident in every frame.
“I felt like I died,” said Patti, who had an abortion at age 16. “I really felt like a part of me died that day.”
“I had experienced a rape at a very young age, and I compared it very much to rape – very traumatic,” she said. Decades later, she still has tears in her eyes. The grief “compounds because of other choices you make as a result of the pain and the suffering that you’re going through,” she said.
Kristi was happy to learn of her pregnancy, but under her family’s pressure, she went through with her appointment. “Planned Parenthood did not give me any options at all,” she said. “I paid the money, and I became a number.”
“I wake up every day knowing that I killed my son,” she said, “knowing that’s a mistake I have to live with every day.”
Vanessa also felt her “pro-choice” decision was no choice at all.“I felt very pressured to have an abortion by everyone around me,” she said. “After the abortion, I felt no sense of relief.”
She has since had seven children, a ponderous number by modern standards, but she still misses her lost child. “There’s a hole in my family, still.”
Abortion instills “a sadness that lingers with you,” she said. “You can forgive yourself, but you can never forget.”
In each video, the women stand near a bulletin board with their words, often misty-eyed.
Donna did not weep. She sobbed openly over her abortion at age 19, saying it led her to a “prison” of emotional pain.
“In my community, they didn’t preach having a child was a good thing,” the young African-American woman said. “I’m mad at myself. I’m mad at the people that told me the most important thing was an education,” she said.
The tears stream as she says, “I’m trying to have a child now and I can’t. I can’t. It’s all I can think about all day.”
“Don’t do what I did,” she pleads.
The video messages, funded by a grant from Our Sunday Visitor Foundation, are the counterpoint to the 1-in-3 movement.
The attempt to portray abortion as a positive good began months ago, as Jessica Grose in Slateasked for women to tell “blithe and unapologetic,” happy abortion stories. A few writers have said they“venerate” abortion “wholeheartedly,” referring to terminatig their child as “euphoric.” But most continue to couch their support for abortion around “the hard cases.”
Pro-lifers say both the mother and the unborn child are forgotten by the Culture of Death.
VirtueMedia Founder and President Tom Peterson said, “It has always been a priority for VirtueMedia to shed light in the darkness, by effectively responding to anti-life issues in our culture.”
The non-profit, founded in 1998, has been endorsed by the Vatican, Priests for Life, Focus on the Family, and Silent No More, among other family affirming organizations.
31 / 10 / 2013
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