It’s getting scary out there for abortion rights, and people who support a woman’s right to choose what she does with her reproductive health are trying anything they can to make sure the message is spread far and wide that even if people don’t think they know somebody who has had an abortion… they do.
A lot of people have shared their story, but Busy Philipps recently shared a story on her talk show about her experience…
Thank you for your strength in sharing your story, @BusyPhilipps. ? #BusyTonight pic.twitter.com/Ryqz7WGEVN
— Busy Tonight (@BusyTonightTV) May 8, 2019
Busy also shared some statistics… with the hashtag #YouKnowMe
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.
— Busy Philipps (@BusyPhilipps) May 15, 2019
Folks, 25% of all women have had an abortion at some point in their lives. If you didn’t know that stat before, now you do.
Naturally, people are taking up the hashtag and sharing their stories…
Yes, women will die.
I was sixteen. I had been raped by a school volunteer. The fetus had caused internal bleeding and I was fifteen minutes from dying. I was a Sophomore in high school…dying because of the choice of one man. It was either me or the fetus that was going to die anyway. #youknowme
— The Salt Well (@TheSaltWell) May 15, 2019
Lots and lots of women.
I was 24, full-time college student, in a mentally & physically abusive relationship. My OB just found clump of cervical cancer & said going through with pregnancy would mean complications & could possibly risk my life. I had an abortion @ 7wks. 1 in 4 women have them #youknowme
— ZombiUnicorn ? Nati Ⓥ (@TheZombiUnicorn) May 15, 2019
And it doesn’t matter what their reason is..
I was 19, in college, and supporting my alc*holic father and little brother with a sh^t job. I was on the pill. I was doing everything I was “supposed” to do to pull myself from poverty. I’m now married to the father and we are raising 2 children in a great life #youknowme
— Mrs Marmo (@MissMarmo) May 15, 2019
Because these are incredibly difficult choices…
I am here and able to mother my incredible daughter because of the health- and life-saving abortion I had when she was three years old. #YouKnowMe
— Jessica Valenti (@JessicaValenti) May 15, 2019
And without those choices, women literally lose their rights as human beings…
In 2012 I had an abortion, I wasn’t ready in any means to have a child I am 1 in 4 and #YouKnowMe. Post procedure I immediately cried, it was one of the hardest decisions to make but I would have not been able to grow the way I did the last 7 years if I didn’t make that decision https://t.co/nZ6kTZVd6e
— Nelini Stamp (@NelStamp) May 15, 2019
Because imagine a world where rapists just get to have children because they commit a crime…
#YouKnowMe I had an abortion after the morning after pill did not work when I was date raped
— ☆Shine (@BurntShine) May 15, 2019
And the only option being a hotel room in the middle of nowhere…
#YouKnowMe my neighbor is an elderly woman who runs the food share program in town. In high school, she piled into a S.C. hotel room with a bunch of girls in similar straights to have an illegal abortion. One girl bled out and died. She still shakes when she tells the story.
— PRE-EXISTING KATE (@KONTENTLY) May 15, 2019
Women need to be able to plan their lives…
16, had zero support system with family or partner. I came from a young mother, who came from a young mother. I refused to continue the cycle #youknowme
— CrissCross Applesauce (@kassy_cameron) May 15, 2019
Without fear of consequence for ONE moment taking over their entire life…
#YouKnowMe I was 17, a senior in high school, with scholarships to UA so my Dad wouldn’t have to pay for my school. I decided to have a future and had an abortion instead of being stuck in the small town with an abusive boyfriend’s child.
— S. N. King (@MDBTrumpet) May 15, 2019
Again, these are health care decisions, first and foremost…
We were in love, in college and not ready for a baby, I called my doctor. Found out it was a tubal pregnancy, so I had an abortion. My partner was so loving and kind during all of it, it brought us closer together. We now have 2 kids, we’ve been together for 20yrs. #YouKnowMe
— Caitlin Papp (@Caitlpapp) May 15, 2019
And nobody should ever make that decision for another person.
If I didn’t, I would have died, my husband would have been a widow, and my one-year old would have grown up without a mother. #youknowme
— Fashion Meets Fifty ??♀️ (@charharreveld) May 15, 2019
Yes, we all know somebody who had an abortion. And their reasons, while their own, are completely justifiable.
Anybody who tells you differently is just trying to interfere with a woman’s civil rights.