"I had an abortion"
 

T-shirts

Discuss...

Well I figure if you think an abortion is a "nothing" procedure and can turn it into a tshirt worthy idea then you've got issues as it is. But then again, people are free to wear what they want.

I can't believe Planned Parenthood is selling it though. Geez.

-Rudey

Distasteful.

"Hey mom, what should I wear...my "I had an abortion" shirt or "I shot JFK" shirt...oh wait, or my "Murdering is cool" shirt.

I am one of the most flaming pro-choicers but I ain't feeling the shirt

Same with me, and I think it's in poor taste.

I agree with everyone who says it's in poor taste, but at the same time I'd really love to live in a society where women aren't scared and ashamed to admit having had an abortion.

Let's make "I gave my baby up for adoption" t-shirts! There's a whole market out there that we haven't capitalized on yet.

I am physically ill after reading that shirt and knowing that Planned Parenthood will profit from that. I am definitely pro-choice, but there are so many people out there who could be crushed emotionally by reading a shirt that seems to proudly proclaim "I Had An Abortion". Can you imagine how a woman who had to abort her pregnancy for medical reasons would feel?

Why can't they have a shirt that says, "I'm On the Pill" or "I Use VCF/Nonoxynol(sp?) 9/etc" or anything else that implies proactive birth control, not reactive (and sometimes irresponsibly used as PM_Mama00 pointed out) birth control? I guess some genius over there said that young people these days will wear anything on their chest, so why not sell this to them, too. If that was their line of thinking, I could see a load of dumb guys buying the shirts, but it still wouldn't be funny.

To sum it up, it's disgusting.

I'm pro-choice. I agree its poor taste.

Somebody needs to make one that says, "Wrap that sausage up!" or "Got Condoms?"

It's more or less a publicity stunt for Planned Parenthood. They're getting tons of attention from this.

And I wouldn't say that this shirt is in particular poor taste after seeing this one:

http://www.tshirthell.com/shirts/tshirt.php?sku=a08

But then again, poor taste varies -- I can see a lot more stupid high school boys getting this shirt because they think it's funny than women who have actually had abortions. But if someone who's had an abortion wants to wear a shirt like this, I have no issue with it -- as long as they're prepared to deal with all the isht it's going to stir up, of course.

What does this shirt say? My job firewall blocks the site. :mad:

"Abortion tickles."

If someone is so emotionally fragile after having an abortion for medical reasons that a t-shirt would upset her, wouldn't she also be upset by seeing families out with their healthy babies? I don't think that likelihood of upsetting someone is a good reason to not wear a tshirt.

:eek:

Since when is having an abortin something you should be proud of?!? I just don't see this as a decision that you would want to broadcast to the World.

I am one of the biggest advocates for pro-choice out there.....but this is just......


TACKY


apparently these people and the people who buy these things have no home-training.


::shudder::

also for women to use abortions as a form of birth control....well they can just tie their damn tubes....thats just irresponisble and wrong and a whole bunch of other words that would get me banned :mad: .....

sometimes i just really dont understand people today

As (apparently one of the few) an anti-abortion person (can't say I'm Pro-life because I'm not against the death penalty, but that's a whole other discussion)....And let me just say that I don't want this to turn into an abortion debate, because that's not what this particular thread is about, there are other threads for that....

I personally feel that this shirt would be in better taste if it said "I murdered an innocent life". Who wants to wear THAT shirt? It states (what I believe to be) the same thing, only in more powerful words. Is this offensive to women who have had an abortion because of rape/incest/medical reasons (which I will tell you I can find justifcation for)? I don't believe so, because the rape/incest/med women are (usually) not the kind of women who would buy this shirt anyway.

Even if you are pro-choice, how can anyone make abortion as casual as a t-shirt????????

Agreed.

I've seen someone wearing this before...
 

Although I don't like the shirt and believe it's in poor taste, I understand why PP is doing this. It's part of the "I'm Not Sorry" campaign, which is trying to show women who don't regret making the choice. Instead of spurring discussion--which is what the shirt is supposed to do--it's probably going to spur more harassment.

I can see where they may have been going with this idea - but it's not a good idea, at all.

This is definitely a fumble on the part of Planned Parenthood.

I agree that this shirt is very poor taste.

There's a difference, though. The women who had to have an abortion for medical reasons wanted her baby; most people who have abortions for other reasons usually don't. Yes, seeing a family with a healthy child can be upsetting, but not nearly as much as seeing someone boldly proclaim they ended their child's life (and don't even tell me that it's just a fetus, not a child, because in the mind of a pregnant (or formerly pregnant) woman, that baby is her child--a living person--from the day she sees those two little lines on the pg test.) The same goes for women who have had miscarriages.

Allthough I don't consider myself pro-Choice, I do respect people who feel that's the best decision for them at that time. No, women do not need to be ashamed of the fact they had an abortion, but neither does it need to be glorified or treated in such a blase manner. No matter what Planned Parenthood's motive was in promoting these t-shirts, it is in poor taste and will most likely cause them more issues.

The purpose of this shirt is not to make a political statement. It's to get a rise out of people.

Judging by this thread, it works well.

It cheapens the seriousness of the decision. I'm pro choice but would be horribly put off by seeing anyone wear it. And you know high school girls would be wearing it just to look like "bad girls." I can hear it now..."Hee hee...OMG this shirt is so freaking funny! I am totally going to buy it! giggle giggle giggle."

"Mary Is My Homegirl" shirts were bad enough. :mad:

That shirt and that entire site are OUT OF CONTROL!!! :eek:
I am pro-life, but I do not necessarily want everyone who has had an abortion to regret it for the rest of their lives. That being said, the "I had an abortion" t-shirt and the "I'm not sorry" campaign are just wrong to me. The law states that abortion is legal, but I don't see why it needs to be advertised in this way. It sounds like PP is trying to convince more and more people to have an abortion. I think if someone is going to have an one they will do it and do not need PP to tell them to or that it is ok.

My friend told me what happens at an abortion (they crush the babies heads and throw em in the garbage bag, or something along those lines) and for then on, everytime I hear the word abortion, these images flash thru my head.


I think these T-shirts are just wrong IMO. If you are pro-choice, why would you even desensitize abortion. Even people who have had it done don't want to be reminded. its just not cool!

I'm Pro-Choice and I agree this shirt is in really poor taste.

I see what PP is trying to do, but I think they're going about it all wrong.

I don't think people should be ashamed of haveing an abortion but I don't think it's something they should be proud of either. The women who have abortions had one because they felt it was the right decision for them, and they should be able to contiue thir lives free from ridicule for making that decision.

I think there are a lot of women who don't have a problem admitting or talking about it in an intelligent way. That's hella different than putting it on a t-shirt. It's an important emotional issue, not a rock band tour or a truck you think is really spiffy.

There are a LOT of really asinine message t-shirts out there right now - the "Mrs. Affleck/Timberlake/Pitt etc" and "Only Old People Vote" being at the top of my list for my rabbit to poop on, but I digress.

It's in poor taste.

After all, we don't wear shirts that say
"I had my gallblatter removed"

Completely tasteless. What the hell are they trying to say with these shirts? "I had an abortion [and you can too]?" is it on a par with Nike's "Just do it?" Personally, I feel abortion is acceptable only if the mother was a victim of rap or incest, is terminally ill, or if it can be determined, without any doubt, that the baby will die shortly after birth or has died before being carried to term. Why anyone would want to advertise that procedure is completely beyond me as I see it as a last resort.

anyone remember this t-shirt???

damn shame. why would any girl wear this? its one thing to say "tee hee, look at me, im CUTE and look at my CUTE tshirt...:grin:" but to display a shirt promoting the prospect of domestic violence and getting an abortion that casually is definitely another thing.

retailers and teenybopers alike, grow up!

p.s. i saw an older woman wearing this shirt. well into her 30s. what was she thinking? not cute at all!

like all those embarassing 50 y/o suntanned women who wore the playboy bunny thirts like they were barely legal. gross!

I think one of my main problems with this shirt is the same women who are going to wear these shirts are going to be the ones who complain when they're wearing them and someone yells "Murderer!" at them. Not defending someone who would yell that, but if you're going to open yourself up like that, you have to expect consequences.

I am proudly indifferent.

Maybe it would be healthy to desensitize the issue?

Maybe it would allow the women that opt for abortions to carry around less sense of social/religious guilt?

Maybe that would lessen the emotional baggage some of them have to carry around so they can live a better life?

I think this shirt would be great to see women wearing at political rallies and stand up for choice rallies. I'd like to see the pro-life protesters actually have to confront a real person rather than just screaming obscenities in general.

om:eek:G i just saw this!!!! wow.

i hear ppl saying "wouldn't it be nice if we lived in a society where ppl don't feel ashamed" and all that.....but you also have to take into consideration that maybe ppl aren't "ashamed" of what they did b/c of how society veiws them, but b/c of what they actually did and how they now possibly view themselves. yeah, sure, society is a b*tch....but the act itself is, too....IMHO.

maybe i should print that up on a shirt: abortion is a b*tch :o

basically, i think to advertise abortion like it was abercrombie is disgusting.

Same here.

If someone decided to have or not have an abortion.. that's their own choice and their own business, and not mine.

If someone decided to wear or not wear this shirt, once again, their choice, and their business :)

'I had an abortion' T-shirts stir up controversy

By Amy Eagle
Special to the Tribune
Published August 4, 2004

On July 12, Planned Parenthood began to offer for sale on its Web site a T-shirt with the simple--yet startling--message, "I had an abortion."

Through Monday, 200 shirts have been purchased and commentators on all sides of the abortion issue have registered opinions about it. Reactions have ranged from gratitude to unease to hostility.

Emily Steinberg, 24, for one, is grateful. A graduate student in deaf cultural studies at Gallaudet University, she saw a number of women wearing the T-shirts at the March for Women's Lives, an abor-tion-rights march in Washington, D.C., this spring.

The T-shirts made a powerful statement to Steinberg, who had not even told the woman she was marching with about her abortion. She ordered a shirt for herself.

Though she has not worn it in public, it is an important symbol for her.

"It allows me to be honest with myself about the life I've had," Steinberg said.

Olivia Gans, director of American Victims of Abortion, an outreach group of the National Right to Life Committee, said her organization was "stunned and appalled" by the shirt. Gans, who speaks openly about her 1981 abortion, which she now regrets, said, "[Planned Parenthood] seems to think that if everyone just wears these shirts, [abortion] will seem more normal. In my experience, whether women are strongly pro-abortion or pro-life, the experience is never normal--it's always profound."

The shirt was designed by Jennifer Baumgardner, 34, a writer and abortion-rights activist in New York.

Baumgardner got the idea for the shirt while working on a documentary about the secrecy surrounding abortion. The film, tentatively titled "I Had an Abortion," is scheduled to be released Jan. 22, the 32nd anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion.

Noting that abortion is both legal and common, Baumgardner, who had sold 200 of the shirts via word-of-mouth before Planned Parenthood picked them up, said she wants to destigmatize abortion, not trivialize it.

"My intention isn't to be glib about abortion, but to signal how incredibly common it is and how isolated women are from other women who have had [abortions]. Part of the paralyzing stigma of abortion is reinforced by silence," she said.

Gloria Feldt, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said her organization decided to sell the shirts because "anti-choice extremists have vilified, harassed and shamed women [who have abortions] for so many years."

The shirt is intended to show that "the women who have abortions are our mothers, daughters, sisters, friends," she said.

Steve Trombley, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Chicago, said women who have had abortions have been "nameless and faceless and used as political footballs. ... The T-shirt puts a name and a face to the issue."

Baumgardner said the shirts are not meant to be offensive. "They don't say, `I love abortion,'" she said.

However, that is the message many people seem to be taking from the shirts.

Jim Sedlak, executive director STOPP (Stop Planned Parenthood) International, part of the Stafford, Va.-based anti-abortion group American Life League, said, "I don't believe any woman who wasn't proud of her abortion would wear this shirt." He called the shirts "reprehensible."

Newspaper columnists and Internet chat room participants have been outspoken about the shirts. Some have criticized the message--"My version of it is, `I'm a baby-murdering slut!'" reads one post on the Web site RightNation.US. Others have criticized the shirts for making public what should be a private matter.

And in North Carolina and Idaho, Planned Parenthood officials have expressed concern that the shirts will offend people in their communities and distract attention from the group's efforts to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Rebecca Poedy, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Idaho, told her local CBS affiliate, KCBI Boise, that the shirts distract from the organization's efforts to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

"Very disappointed," she told KCBI. "I think the issue to focus on here is the effort that Planned Parenthood goes to to prevent unwanted pregnancy. I think this is just a poor decision and we are just not supportive of it."

Baumgardner said she is "of course ... concerned that the medium hurts the message." But, she added, the shirt has been effective in "opening up debate."

"This T-shirt is powerful, whether or not it's the most `appropriate' venue for discussing abortion," she said.

In response to those who say abortion should be a private matter, Baumgardner said, "I think there are no `shoulds'--coming out or owning up to one's abortion is for individual women to decide. I wouldn't impose the shirt on anyone."

However, she sees a connection between a woman's decision to keep quiet and threats to legalized abortion. If people had to consider the issue alongside "the millions of voices and faces of our loved ones who have had abortions," she said, "I believe the right would be much more firmly protected."

Baumgardner has worried that those wearing the shirts might be harassed. Those worries have not been realized.

Rosalyn Baxandall, 59, a professor at State University of New York in Old Westbury, had an illegal abortion in 1962. While participating several years ago in a rally at which women shared their personal abortion stories, she learned the younger women felt guiltier about the procedure than the older women.

"The [religious] right has kept up such a campaign [of shame] for so long," said Baxandall; she bought a shirt to counter that message.

People in Baxandall's Greenwich Village neighborhood were conspicuously silent in reaction to her shirt. "It was like I was invisible," she said.

A'yen Tran, 23, a recent graduate of Barnard College at Columbia University in New York City, has had a mixed reaction while wearing the shirt on campus and elsewhere in the city.

"I got looks of shock and occasional disgust," she said, "But mostly people said, `Wow, that's great. That's very brave of you.'"
Copyright © 2004, Chicago Tribune


After reading this I now understand the context of the message.
Perhaps Planned Parenthood should have explained it on the website.