When Kaya Jones, the former Pussycat Dolls singer, revealed she had had three abortions and felt regret and sadness for them, the reaction from many pro-lifers on social media was swift and vile.
One person said, “Stupid idiot and a hypocrite to boot. She is a vile excuse there will be no forgiveness. She a murder. Not just once but several. She will burn in he’ll [sic] .” Another quipped, “I just don’t have compassion for anyone that has murdered their own child! I knew as a child it wasn’t something normal and I knew it was wrong. her saying she didn’t know it was wrong is absolutely BS!”
I read the same comments from pro-lifers when I talk about my own two abortions. This isn’t how you speak to a woman who has had abortions and feels regret and sadness over them. Yet, it’s how many pro-lifers respond.
Besides the fact that these comments are coming from supposed Christians, women who are in similar positions, who may be seeking guidance and help, or who may be considering abortion, will run the other way. This is the equivalent of a woman walking into an abortion clinic and a pro-lifer screaming at her not to kill her baby, or just keep her legs closed.
Because women (and men) are going online to get abortion pills (chemical abortions make up well over 60% of all abortions done in this country), and the number of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics are declining, the online space is the new sidewalk. The physical space where pro-lifers have gathered in person for years to pray, to speak to women, and to offer solutions is vanishing along with those clinics and is being replaced by social media posts and Google searches. How are supposed pro-lifers reacting? Not well, according to comments online. They seem ill-equipped to handle even basic posts with compassion and love.
What’s the solution? Is there one at all? At the very least, kindness, compassion, and love must be at the forefront of any interactions, whether online or in-person. A woman considering abortion or searching for help after having one would never message someone who comments things like, “U say you’r a Christain Woman, but yet U had not 1 but 2 abortions!!! Have U never heard of using Condoms!![sic].” This was an actual comment on a post I made about my own two abortions.
We need an army of people who understand where these women are coming from, who are not swayed by online trolls and keyboard warriors, and who have the resources that women are looking for. One thing that my ministry, And Then There Were None, will be doing in response to this online abortion clinic sidewalk is training our former abortion clinic workers on how to respond to women who are posting about their abortions or who are considering abortion. These former abortion workers know exactly what it’s like inside those clinics, both in-person and telehealth, and how women will be manipulated to abort, even if they are having second thoughts. Many have had abortions of their own. Our training will teach those who want to interact on these posts to do so in ways that are kind, considerate, compassionate, and informative enough to at least have a conversation with an abortion-minded woman or someone who wants healing from a past abortion.
We have to do better than the current cesspool of social media engagement. And we will do better when the pro-life movement realizes the traditional avenues of reaching women are dwindling away and new strategies need to take center focus.
It’s great news that abortion clinics are shutting down, but it’s terrible news that the opportunities are vanishing to reach these women in person. We need to find creative ways to meet them in their time of need and be lights in the darkness with our words in the digital world.
Abby Johnson is CEO and Founder of “And Then There Were None” and “ProLove Ministries.”
When Kaya Jones, the former Pussycat Dolls singer, revealed she had had three abortions and felt regret and sadness for them, the reaction from many pro-lifers on social media was swift and vile.
One person said, “Stupid idiot and a hypocrite to boot. She is a vile excuse there will be no forgiveness. She a murder. Not just once but several. She will burn in he’ll [sic] .” Another quipped, “I just don’t have compassion for anyone that has murdered their own child! I knew as a child it wasn’t something normal and I knew it was wrong. her saying she didn’t know it was wrong is absolutely BS!”
I read the same comments from pro-lifers when I talk about my own two abortions. This isn’t how you speak to a woman who has had abortions and feels regret and sadness over them. Yet, it’s how many pro-lifers respond.
Besides the fact that these comments are coming from supposed Christians, women who are in similar positions, who may be seeking guidance and help, or who may be considering abortion, will run the other way. This is the equivalent of a woman walking into an abortion clinic and a pro-lifer screaming at her not to kill her baby, or just keep her legs closed.
Because women (and men) are going online to get abortion pills (chemical abortions make up well over 60% of all abortions done in this country), and the number of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics are declining, the online space is the new sidewalk. The physical space where pro-lifers have gathered in person for years to pray, to speak to women, and to offer solutions is vanishing along with those clinics and is being replaced by social media posts and Google searches. How are supposed pro-lifers reacting? Not well, according to comments online. They seem ill-equipped to handle even basic posts with compassion and love.
What’s the solution? Is there one at all? At the very least, kindness, compassion, and love must be at the forefront of any interactions, whether online or in-person. A woman considering abortion or searching for help after having one would never message someone who comments things like, “U say you’r a Christain Woman, but yet U had not 1 but 2 abortions!!! Have U never heard of using Condoms!![sic].” This was an actual comment on a post I made about my own two abortions.
We need an army of people who understand where these women are coming from, who are not swayed by online trolls and keyboard warriors, and who have the resources that women are looking for. One thing that my ministry, And Then There Were None, will be doing in response to this online abortion clinic sidewalk is training our former abortion clinic workers on how to respond to women who are posting about their abortions or who are considering abortion. These former abortion workers know exactly what it’s like inside those clinics, both in-person and telehealth, and how women will be manipulated to abort, even if they are having second thoughts. Many have had abortions of their own. Our training will teach those who want to interact on these posts to do so in ways that are kind, considerate, compassionate, and informative enough to at least have a conversation with an abortion-minded woman or someone who wants healing from a past abortion.
We have to do better than the current cesspool of social media engagement. And we will do better when the pro-life movement realizes the traditional avenues of reaching women are dwindling away and new strategies need to take center focus.
It’s great news that abortion clinics are shutting down, but it’s terrible news that the opportunities are vanishing to reach these women in person. We need to find creative ways to meet them in their time of need and be lights in the darkness with our words in the digital world.
Abby Johnson is CEO and Founder of “And Then There Were None” and “ProLove Ministries.”
