What Would You Give Up 'Until Abortion Ends'?
With millions of dollars and armies of lawyers on both sides of the abortion debate, many anti-abortion advocates may feel like there is not much they can do to help put an end to abortion. But what if helping to end abortion was as easy as giving up Taco Bell?
Launched earlier this year, Until Abortion Ends (UAE) is a website that allows anti-abortion advocates to upload videos via YouTube in which they announce that they are giving up something that is difficult to give up until abortion is completely outlawed.
“Too many of us have been lost to abortion,” the UAE website says. “It’s (sic) time to share our voices with the voiceless and make a small sacrifice for those who have been sacrificed. Stand with us. Give up something you love...until abortion ends.”
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Among the many things people have decided to give up include Taco Bell, ice cream, Skittles, and even Pepsi.
“I'm doing this for the lives of the unborn,” said Jaeson Ma just before taking his last sip of Pepsi until abortion is illegal.
Mary Stroh said that giving up ice cream will be “one of the hardest things I do until abortion ends...I did it for Lent last year and it was super difficult.”
Although the gestures are small, the objective is to encourage people who believe abortion should be illegal to participate in the general discussion. The project is also sponsored by several anti-abortion groups who advocate for legislation that would outlaw abortion, including CatholicVote.org.
Jay Smooth, a New York City-based DJ who hosts a radio show and runs a video blog, gave his criticism on the campaign in a video response, saying: “If you look through the website and look at what everybody is sacrificing, almost everybody is giving something up that you really should be giving up anyways because it's bad for you.”
“That's not really a protest...that's a diet. You're just taking another shot at your New Year's resolution and calling it a protest,” he added, before saying that pro-choice advocates like him will be helping people “stick to their diets.”
Despite the differing views on the campaign's style, some people might find the new way of advocating for anti-abortion laws more refreshing than the normal rhetoric.
