Abortion Is No Joke

By Karen Farris, Op-ed contributor Friday, July 27, 2018

Thanks to Teen Vogue highlighting the efforts of the Lady Parts Justice League, abortion has become a laughing matter to an impressionable young audience. Cracking jokes about getting abortions will never alter the reality that this is a serious life-altering decision. Yet Teen Vogue applauds the comedy tour for bringing "joy, pleasure, and relief" to the abortion debate.

So who is this Lady Parts Justice League? Back in 2015, comedian and activist Lizz Winstead formed this pro-abortion organization. Using comedy for abortion promotion, Winstead and other comedians performed the Vagical Mystery Tour. This has become a grassroots effort to make new abortion advocates out of middle and high school girls and Millennials.

The Lady Parts Justice League also shouts down pro-life supporters protesting in front of abortion clinics—using those situations as material for their jokes. So it's funny to yell at those defending life.

Cracking jokes about abortion is a sick ploy. There is nothing remotely humorous about the unplanned pregnancy and the decision to end the life of a pre-born child. When I used to speak to students in their classrooms about abortion, I shared a story of a young teen girl:

Cassie was nearing high school graduation. She was the top student of her class and had already been accepted at the college of her dreams. Life was perfect until her pregnancy test results came back positive. Her parents were religious and she'd gone to church throughout her childhood. It had only been the last couple years that she'd felt her faith wasn't important. But the idea of aborting a baby was heavy on her mind. All of her plans would be thwarted. Abortion was the easy answer. But it wasn't the right one for her.

While the abortion was handled easily enough—the feelings that came afterward were the hardest ones of her life. She was overwhelmed with regret. Her body recovered quickly enough. The friends she'd shared her secret with were supportive enough. But the idea of what she'd done haunted her. Forgiveness wasn't as easy as getting the abortion. She was prescribed anti-depressants.

One evening, while alone in her room, she uncapped the bottle of pills and took them all. Her mom found her, called 911, and she was rushed to the hospital. In the emergency room, with her daughter's lips blackened by the activated charcoal they'd given her to counteract the drugs, the mom asked, "Why did you do this, honey?"

"I took a life, so I decided to take my own."

It's not a joke to take the life of a baby and somehow think life goes on laughingly normal. It didn't for Cassie. And if anyone says that abortion is easy, they aren't being truthful.

Karen Farris served in the crisis pregnancy ministry — traveling thousands of miles and speaking to over 10,000 students about their life choices — for nearly a dozen years. She became a grant writer and helps find resources for projects that serve those in poverty, mainly children. She's been a blogger since 2010 — Friday Tidings — sharing stories of faith, life, and purpose to give hope in a hurting world.