{"id":133,"date":"2010-04-30T19:12:40","date_gmt":"2010-04-30T23:12:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/?p=133"},"modified":"2017-10-31T20:06:56","modified_gmt":"2017-11-01T00:06:56","slug":"post-abortion-support-sites-damaging-and-manipulative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/2010\/04\/30\/post-abortion-support-sites-damaging-and-manipulative\/","title":{"rendered":"Post-Abortion \u201cSupport\u201d Sites Damaging and Manipulative"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hoochies, I am proudly and unequivocally\u00a0pro \u2013 choice. Unfortunately, the anti-choice movement often terms this position \u201cpro-abortion.\u201d No one is pro \u2013 abortion. It is a horrible experience that no woman should have, but we must have the right to choose for ourselves.\u00a0 Much of the abortion debate centers around the actual decision, but what happens afterwards? Many \u201cright-to-life\u201d groups have attacked this question with considerable energy and emotional manipulation techniques. Project Rachel<\/a>, an online \u201csupport center\u201d aligned with evangelical Christianity, tells women that \u201cit\u2019s normal to grieve a pregnancy loss, including the loss of a child by abortion. It can form a hole in one\u2019s heart, a hole so deep that sometimes it seems nothing can fill the emptiness.\u201d <\/a>At first glance, this seems harmless enough \u2013 even kind and understanding. Yet the implication that abortion trauma (and their \u201cdata<\/a>\u201d is pretty questionable) means that a woman shouldn\u2019t be able to decide about a life-changing pregnancy for herself is condescending and ridiculous. The Project Rachel website, cunningly called \u201cHope After Abortion,\u201d has a section devoted to the stories of women <\/a>who have regretted their abortions. I am not contesting that a woman might regret her abortion, or feel the agony and confusion of depression and loss. I feel deeply for the women who have\u00a0shared their\u00a0experiences on this site. Yet their sad stories do not mean that every woman should lose her freedom to control her own body and life. Furthermore, while Project Rachel recognizes the anguish that can follow abortion, it does nothing but torture women who have already been through enough trouble. One of the quotes sections is ominously entitled \u201cDied<\/a>,\u201d and is\u00a0a list of anonymous entries such as: \u201cI wished it was me and not my baby who was dying.\u201d I think it is destructive and cruel for organizations like Project Rachel to manipulate women in the guise of compassion. We must make sure that there remain kinder, more helpful options that emphasize truth and understanding instead of thinly veiled judgment and deceit.<\/p>\n

P.S. I just Googled \u201cpost abortion support\u201d and almost everything that came up was in the vein of Project Rachel. Let\u2019s change this.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hoochies, I am proudly and unequivocally\u00a0pro \u2013 choice. Unfortunately, the anti-choice movement often terms this position \u201cpro-abortion.\u201d No one is pro \u2013 abortion. It is a horrible experience that no woman should have, but we must have the right to choose for ourselves.\u00a0 Much of the abortion debate centers around the actual decision, but what … Continue reading Post-Abortion \u201cSupport\u201d Sites Damaging and Manipulative<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7073,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,121],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":134,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions\/134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/hoochie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}