AILISH EVANS

Recently, many women have tweeted the hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion on social media in an attempt to fight abortion stigma and show that positive abortion experiences are common. Since then, anti-abortion activists have been working hard to push a narrative that’s more supportive of their political agenda.

It needs to be noted that #ShoutYourAbortion supporters are part of an overwhelming majority. A July 2015 study published in the Public Library of Science found that 95 per cent of women surveyed felt they had made the right choice one week after their abortion.

Of the remaining five per cent that experienced regret, negative feelings were found to strongly correlate with having little social support and perceiving strong stigma in their community.

While the women of #ShoutYourAbortion thus represent the typical experience, the hashtag was still ground-breaking, as most women stay silent about having an abortion out of fear. The vacuum created by their silence has historically been exploited by the anti-abortion movement.

For decades now, anti-abortion groups have been pushing an intensely bleak narrative surrounding abortion. In an attempt to promote their stance, they over-exaggerate both the number of women who regret their abortions and the intensity of that regret.

The narrative isn’t simply that a woman might possibly look back on her abortion and momentarily wish she’d done things differently, but that the abortion will emotionally devastate her and send her life into a downward spiral.

These melodramatic descriptions would almost be funny if the myth that abortion is an inherently traumatizing experience hadn’t come to dominate mainstream dialogue. #ShoutYourAbortion interrupted this dark narrative by bringing to light countless stories of relief and peace after abortion.

It makes sense that anti-abortion activists are trying to draw our attention away from women who don’t regret their abortion. The movement has been losing ground for years and keeping abortion stigmatized is one of the few tactics it has left. The normalization of abortion would be a death blow to the movement.

So, anti-abortion activists’ reaction has been to keep promoting the narrative of regret from before, but with a twist. A perfect example of this was an article in the Sheaf on Oct. 8 titled “Regret an abortion? You don’t need to be silent.” After reading the article, one might think that not only does abortion stigma not exist, but society’s excessive celebration of women who don’t regret their abortion is oppressing and silencing those that do.

The article attempts to make women who regret their abortion seem like a long-ignored and oppressed group, but women who regret their abortion are far from ignored. In fact, the anti-abortion movement actively seeks them out and encourages them to be as vocal as possible, particularly the ones willing to say that abortion is a negative thing.

Also, contrary to what the article suggests, the anti-abortion movement is only interested in the feelings of confusion or pain experienced by women to support their political agenda.

If someone’s experience is one of happiness and relief, the movement will try its hardest to shame them into silence — lest it would be revealed to the world how abortion is actually common and not always traumatizing.

It is incredibly dishonest to act as if paying attention to women who regret their abortion is an edgy new idea. It’s also unbelievably insulting to downplay the threat that abortion stigma poses and to tell women that there’s no need to shout.

Abortion clinics are attacked regularly. The woman who started #ShoutYourAbortion was forced into a period of hiding due to the sheer volume of the death threats she received. These women are facing social ostracization and bodily harm and yet people dare to try and dictate how they’re allowed to talk about their experiences?

Abortion is not immoral, it doesn’t make you a bad person and it isn’t equivalent to murder. Until women can talk about their abortion in casual conversation without fear of repercussion, there is still a need to shout. So, if #ShoutYourAbortion made you uncomfortable, you better prepare yourself.

We’re only going to get louder.