Pop Culture and Abortion
A TikTok influencer dances while explaining her pro-choice views, Taylor Swift lets you know via Instagram stories that she is heartbroken after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and you’re seeing Facebook posts explaining how women’s rights are being taken away with little truth involved and no explanation to what happens during an abortion.
Did these occurrences shake your belief system and make you question why you are supportive of the pro-life movement? Did you start to think of babies in the womb as dispensable? If you’re pro-life and know the truth about abortion than it’s likely the outcry from pro-choice supportive pop culture did nothing to sway your opinion. However, for some these outcries did carry heavy influence on their views on abortion. The younger your age, the more impressionable pop culture is on you. Pop culture favors on the side of the abortion industry and the outreach towards younger generations is becoming bolder. Anti-life rhetoric starts with a seemingly easy to understand concept that parents of a child decide when it’s the right time to have a baby. If it’s not the right time they can just take medicine or go to the doctor to fix the issue. Visit the Planned Parenthood website and search how to talk to children about abortion and that is the explanation you’ll find. Public libraries especially in urban areas have recently received strong criticism for displaying books about abortion in the children’s section. The Washington Examiner’s article on this explains the two tactics on books like this: to brainwash children into believing abortion isn’t wrong and that it’s not actually killing a child. If your local library has books about abortion for children available for check out you can and should voice your concern, it’s likely other parents also agree.
Abortion is not a subject for a children’s book. However, teaching your children that life is valuable from the moment of conception is a truth I support. You don’t need to explicitly teach children about why abortion is wrong in order for them to value life in womb. Rather, show or tell them how valuable they are and also how special pregnancy is—after all pregnancy led to their birth! Recently, I discovered a beautifully written children’s book on celebrating preborn children. It’s titled You are Fearfully and Wonderfully Made! written by Rachel Louise Benhem and you can get it here.
Social media platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat have a high usage among young adults with the majority stating the use one or more of these platforms. Source: Pew Research When looking on views in regards to abortion there is plenty of pro-choice content on these platforms.
The largest age group of women that have abortions are young women in their 20s. You can read about the demographics of the women in America who have abortions here. The correlation between those most likely to be influenced by current pop culture and the age demographic of abortive women is strong.
Pro-life organizations that utilize social media and follow the latest trends are important. They are able to reach this particular demographic of women with the truth about abortion through these platforms. There are also organizations like Students for Life which bond together young women and men to advocate for preborn children through outreach programs on campuses and in communities. These organizations are vital to the pro-life movement by promoting the truth about abortion to the general public in order to combat the misinformation constantly pushed through pop culture.
However, not all minds will be changed even if they are presented with compelling evidence about the truth on abortion. And when a mother is facing an unplanned pregnancy she may still find herself confused no matter her stance on abortion. Her search to find help with an unplanned pregnancy may lead her straight to the abortion clinic.
This issue is why Options United was started. When abortion vulnerable women seek help their searches will lead them to a pregnancy resource clinic close to their location instead of an abortion clinic. By unifying pregnancy centers and clinics with a marketing plan and one helpline we are able to strengthen outreach to women—surpassing that of the abortion industry.
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