An event at Ulster University staged by a pro-abortion activist group has promoted “the happy abortion”.
Pro-abortion authors Erica Millar and Carrie Purcell attended the event in Belfast where they advocated for “a radical reinterpretation of choice – the happy abortion”.
Erica Millar is the author of a book titled “Happy Abortions”, in which she rails against “the norm of foetal motherhood [that] closes down possibilities for abortion and burdens the experience with negative affect”.
An event flyer for the talk at Ulster University also posited “the idea that an abortion could be a ‘happy experience”.
“Come along and hear from authors and activists on why we need to challenge the political and cultural forces that tell us even if we have abortions, we ought not to be happy or proud of our choices”, the flyer continued.
In 2021, Amelia Bonow, who helped popularise the slogan and hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion, said that “sometimes abortion is hilarious…
“The idea that abortion is always a serious and sad thing is antiquated, not reflective of reality, and it definitely hasn’t done our side any favors.”
The #ShoutYourAbortion movement, according to its dedicated website, is “normalizing abortion and elevating safe paths to access, regardless of legality”.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “As absurd and distasteful as the views of Erica Millar are, such militants are the tip of a pro-abortion spear aimed at convincing society, but particularly women, that abortion is liberating, virtuous and a necessarily ‘happy’ experience.
“This is a dangerous lie peddled by anti-life academics seeking to gaslight more women into abortion while also telling them that children and family are the chief sources of unhappiness – a grotesque twisting of the positive experience of motherhood.
“Abortion will always be a traumatic and violent act that kills an unborn baby, an innocent life – this should not, and can never, be normalised. Nevertheless, this is what pro-abortion ideologues like Millar appear to do, not because they care about women but because they want more abortion.”
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