Facebook Sends Pro-Life Message?
Facebook may have inadvertently made a pro-life statement when it added "Expected: Child" to its list of family tags this week.
That's what Focus on the Family's president, Jim Daly, believes.
"There is something curious about a culture that increasingly recognizes the innate humanity of preborn life, but whose highest court refuses to acknowledge this truth, even when many people – including Mark Zuckerburg (sic) – confirm the reality of it," he wrote in a blog post Thursday.
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"By making this policy change to their profile settings, Facebook executives were not intentionally making a pro-life statement, but they’ve inadvertently done just that."
The new feature was not viewed favorably by some. Some users have complained that announcing one's pregnancy by simply selecting the "Expected: Child" option is too impersonal and others said it could be insensitive to women having trouble conceiving.
For Daly, it's a welcome addition to the largest social networking site in the world. It conveys the message that the unborn is a person.
"Many abortion-rights advocates would like for us to believe that a preborn baby is nothing more than a blob of tissue," Daly stated. "This is an old, tired and disproven argument, of course. Technology is pulling back the curtain and shining a light on the beauty of life."
"[W]hile it would be naïve to suggest that this minor development within social media is akin to a game changer, it is not insignificant," he stressed.
"That’s because I find it ironic, poignant – and encouraging – that the same social media giant that’s made its mark by displaying the faces of 750 million users is now providing a forum to give a name and face to those whom society has previously considered both nameless and faceless.
"And in my book, that’s a very wonderful thing."
Interestingly, earlier this summer Facebook removed the profile of a preborn baby that parents Matt and Ellie Greene set up to keep close friends and family posted. The page included an ultrasound photo of Marriah Greene and status updates. Before the page was pulled, the preborn baby had more than 350 friend requests.
