#ShoutYourAbortion: Twitter Users Are Bravely Fighting Stigma in the Most Inspiring Way

One in three American women will have an abortion in her lifetime — and it is her legal right to do so. 

Yet one organization that provides this service has found itself under constant attack. Although Planned Parenthood provides women's health services that extend far beyond abortion, the fact that they also provide abortion services has attracted massive pushback and even resulted in the House of Representatives passing a bill to defund Planned Parenthood for the next year.

However, countless pro-choice individuals are unwilling to take this blow sitting down. People are taking to Twitter to push back against this attack on their reproductive rights as well as the stigma and shame that often surrounds the decision using the hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion.

Individuals are sharing how terminating their pregnancy before they were ready to be parents set them up for future success:

And, like 95% of women who have abortions, many are acknowledging that they do not regret their decision.

Individuals who haven't had the procedure but support the legal rights of other women to do so are also showing their support.

As Lindy West, an active participant in the hashtag, told MTV, "In our culture, abortion is something we talk about in whispers, in corners, in private with other women, or not at all. Without any open public discourse about the reality of abortion — the reality being that it is a basic medical procedure and a third of people with uteruses will have one — opponents are able to spin it as anything they want."

Anti-choice politicians and activists may continue to attack specific organizations or enact restrictive legislation. But it's time they recognize that they will not be able to do so without a fight.