My Abortion Made Me Happy: Shouting Out On Twitter


After all these years, I am surprised to see there are still people who are rabid about preventing abortions and shaming women who have them. For those individuals, abortion is a religious issue that they want to impose upon all women.

Women Shouting Out With Abortion Hashtag
Why Women Are Shouting Out Abortions With Hashtag via Flickr by American Life League

But not everyone holds those religious beliefs, and many resent what they consider an intrusion into business between a woman and her doctor. I like how they put it: Get the government out of my vagina!

Along that line, there are two women who have created the hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion as a tactic to change the conversation about abortion. Writers Lindy West and Amelia Bonow felt the need to take action when the House of Representatives voted to suspend federal funds for Planned Parenthood 241 to 187.

Since then, Senate Republicans tried to pass a bill banning all abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. It failed 54 to 42 (60 votes are necessary for passage).

Bonow said in an interview with BuzzFeed:

“If you look at the ideological underpinnings of the anti-choice movement, it is crystal clear that the war on abortion is actually a war on women — women’s reproductive and bodily autonomy, and women’s agency in general.

West was the first to share the hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion. The tweet featured Bonow’s Facebook post about her positive abortion experience. According to Buzzfeed, she wrote the post:

“In order to vocally align myself with Planned Parenthood … and let other women know that I feel that our continuing pervasive silence indicates that stigma has won.”

West also had an abortion and tweeted about her experience using #ShoutYourAbortion. After her tweet, other women began to follow suit. They opened up about why they chose to have an abortion and what that experience was like. Contrary to popular opinion, many women said they have no regrets.


Bonow said she wants help women to be able to speak freely about their abortions without the fear of stigma:

“There is nothing about #ShoutYourAbortion which glorifies abortion, although I do not think there is anything remotely immoral or murderous about the procedure.

“#ShoutYourAbortion changes the way society talks about abortion, and helps women who have abortions feel they are free to speak about them however they choose without fearing stigma.”

Featured image via American Life League