Nearly five years ago, the hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion became a global phenomenon, inspiring tens of thousands of women to share their abortion stories with pride. Gone are the days of “safe, legal, and rare.” Now, among the pro-abortion crowd, abortion must be safe, legal, and celebrated.
This is what makes Andrew Yang’s stance so refreshing. During a recent campaign event in New Hampshire, Yang said he supports abortion, but he doesn’t believe it should be a cause for rejoicing.
“I think we have to get back to the point where no one is suggesting that we be celebrating an abortion at any point in the pregnancy,” he said. “There was a time in Democratic circles where we used to talk about it being something you don’t like to see but that should be within the freedoms of the woman and the mother to decide.”
Bill Clinton coined the term “safe, legal, and rare” in 1992. That time is long gone. As a Democrat, Yang has to be pro-abortion, but he takes a more centrist stance on the issue than most of his contemporaries.
“It’s a tragedy, to me,” he added, “if someone decides they don’t want to have a child.”
Yang took some heat for his position, with one CNN writer arguing that Yang is wrong and claiming abortion isn’t celebrated.
“Nobody ‘celebrates abortion,’” tweeted journalist Jeff Yang. “That’s a right-wing slander with no basis in reality.”
It doesn’t take much digging, though, to find dozens of examples of our culture’s obsession with celebrating abortion.
Last year, when New York legalized late-term abortions, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo had the spire at One World Trade Center lit in pink.
At the Golden Globes this year, actress Michelle Williams gushed that she would never have been able to win that little golden trophy “without employing a woman’s right to choose.”
Actress Lena Dunham has abortion fomo (fear of missing out). A few years ago, Dunham said that she wished she had had an abortion since that would strengthen her commitment to the pro-abortion cause.
Miley Cyrus announced a collaboration with Planned Parenthood by posting a picture of her licking a cake that reads, “ABORTION IS HEALTHCARE.”
Comedian Michelle Wolf joked that her abortion made her feel like God.
In a photo series about women who have had abortions, Gloria Steinem grins and raises her hands while wearing a shirt that proclaims, “I had an abortion.”
At the “Abortion is Normal” art exhibit, currently running in New York, you can see more #ShoutYourAbortion materials. In the Shout Your Abortion online store, you can buy T-shirts that read, “THANK GOD FOR ABORTION,” and onesies emblazoned with the slogan, “PRO GOD, PRO BABY, PRO ABORTION.” Other slogans include “ABORTION IS FREEDOM” and “I had an abortion and I’M GREAT.” Those are just a few examples.
So yes, plenty of people do celebrate abortion. And the Democratic Party has no plans of returning to safe, legal, and rare.
