Like many other people, I thought at first that the photo was a fake. Surely, as many commentators said, no-one would be that crass or indifferent to the destruction of human life, or would at least not be stupid enough to reveal themselves in this hideous way to the world.
It must be AI, lots of people thought. Something designed to upset and annoy pro-lifers, though it’s pretty obvious from the reaction online that many who might consider themselves more liberal on abortion also found the gross spectacle nauseating.
But it was real: two middle-aged women celebrating the fact that one of them had carried out 300 abortions. Clinking glasses and laughing over a celebratory dinner, revelling in causing the death before birth of 300 unborn babies. Grinning, as I once read elsewhere, like a pair of jolly barracudas. We’re a long way from hard cases and compassion.
“Took my wife out for a fancy dinner to celebrate her doing 300 abortions for the year!” wrote someone called Geraldine Hickey who apparently is an Australian comedian. Her wife is a nurse, who is averaging, according to the post, at least one abortion per working day. Presumably, per the chat that followed the post, she is looking to increase on those numbers. Next year, they might be throwing a party. Thousands liked and approved of their message. What a revolting crowd.
“They need to invent a celebratory shot for that! Maybe call it a coat hanger,” was one response to Hickey’s post. “Hahah this will get the religious cookers fuming,” chortled another.
That’s probably one of the primary motivations behind the post. Two pro-choice lesbians feeling they are being super-edgy and rad as they chortle about abortion while also giving two fingers to those who are dismayed at the sheer callousness of abortion regimes pretty much everywhere.
It’s not a stupid Facebook post that we find disturbing but the general indifference to the killing of the most vulnerable human beings on the planet who are too tiny and helpless to defend themselves; the cruelty in that indifference that leads to so many unborn babies being disposed of; the insistence that abortion should be celebrated as an empowerment of women when it is actually a gift to feckless, careless, sleazy men.
There is a blind, crass stupidity in that insistence, in that pretence that abortion helps women, when the reality is that being ‘pro-choice’ really amounts to telling women they are on their own, and absolves men of responsibility. Abortion supporters promised that women would be liberated and empowered, but that hasn’t happened. Instead we’re seeing rates of depression and anxiety soaring, while marriage and stable relationships are declining. Not much to clink glasses about there.
But there’s likely another purpose to idiotic posts celebrating abortion and cheering on abortionists: the constant need for abortion providers to justify their trade and to vindicate their actions. For all the babble about ‘women’s health’ and ‘life-saving treatment’, most people, even those blinded by ideology, not only know they are taking a human life, but also often feel judged by their peers.
A plethora of studies have been published which examine this are in detail – always from the point of view of the abortion practitioner, of course. Those involved in abortion provision constantly whinge that they are being “stigmatised” and made to feel that they are being judged.
This is a common phenomenon, by the way, with liberals who have lost all sense of logic and reason. They demand understanding and pity for their heinous actions, and you can be judged for failing to provide it. All compassion – the very same denied to innocent unborn babies – is to be directed at them, and everyone must not just bow to their right to end human lives but must also champion it loudly and enthusiastically.
It all smacks of a cohort who have supressed feelings of unease, even guilt, about what they are doing. And so they should: we have seen all-too-often in this country that abortion is being sold, not as a choice, but as a first and perhaps only option. It’s pretty despicable.
One study which analysed responses from 1674 abortion providers from 77 countries, bemoaned the finding that “stigma was universally experienced” – especially for those who were carrying out later abortions – and that this was leading to burnout. Other studies report abortion practitioners experiencing social isolation and judgment from their peers. And of course, the studies usually called for action to be taken to force medical practitioners who are hesitant about abortion to have their values “clarified” – a most Orwellian approach to correct ‘wrong think’ which is being rolled out across Irish hospitals as we speak.
That’s the nub of the matter really isn’t it? Despite the jokey posts, and the desire to make abortion rad and fun, those who are ideologically committed to abortion – often to the point of fanaticism – know that it hasn’t been normalised, that people still don’t think it’s a laughing matter, and that abortion providers are often seen as “lesser” medics, precisely because abortion is life-ending, not life-saving.
Plus, there’s another factor that many in abortion provision are now finding hard to avoid: they are aborting their own future. There are two cohorts – those who will acknowledge abortion kills a baby and will therefore always avoid it, and those who are supportive of abortion to the point where it is used as birth control. The cohort endlessly promoting abortion cannot remain in a majority, especially given the unprecedented collapse in birth rates which is also skewed against liberals. And with that change will come a change to law and to practice and to how we view vulnerable human beings, both at the beginning and end of life. The return to loving and protecting both mother and child will come sooner than we might have imagined.
Have all the celebratory dinners you want ladies. But know this: you are on the way to aborting your own cohort out of majority. Your actions are actually driving that inevitable change you fear.