Shout Your Abortion

Shout Your Abortion is a pro-abortion social-media campaign and advocacy platform that encourages people to discuss abortion openly and without shame, regret, or an obligation to present the procedure as a tragedy. Its central proposition is that personal abortion stories should be visible in public discourse, allowing people who have had abortions to describe their experiences in their own terms while challenging assumptions that abortion must be hidden or discussed only through exceptional circumstances. The campaign began in the United States on September 19, 2015, after the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation seeking to suspend federal funding for Planned Parenthood while allegations concerning the organization’s practices were investigated. Amelia Bonow responded by describing on Facebook what she regarded as a positive abortion experience at a Planned Parenthood facility. Lindy West amplified Bonow’s post to her large Twitter audience, added the hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion, and framed the campaign as a response to political arguments that depended on abortion being treated as an unspeakable subject. Activist Kimberly Morrison also became a prominent early participant; an image associated with Morrison, featuring a political tattoo on an unshaved armpit, was used as an early campaign logo. The hashtag spread rapidly across social media and was used by participants in the United States and other countries, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Within days, tens of thousands of people had posted accounts of abortions, with many emphasizing relief, agency, improved circumstances, or the absence of regret. The campaign received public support from abortion-rights organizations and figures, including Planned Parenthood executive Dawn Laguens. NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood also contacted the organizers with suggestions about how to develop the sudden public attention into a larger movement. An official website and YouTube channel were launched in November 2015. Shout Your Abortion’s public identity is rooted in first-person testimony, hashtag activism, visual art, and deliberately confrontational language. Rather than presenting abortion only as a difficult but necessary exception, the campaign argues that a wide range of experiences should be acknowledged, including accounts in which abortion enabled someone to pursue education, work, family responsibilities, or a life without children. Its organizers have also argued that people should not need to justify their medical decisions by appealing to rape, incest, medical emergency, or fetal abnormality. The campaign attracted substantial criticism from anti-abortion activists, conservative commentators, and some people who supported legal abortion but objected to the campaign’s tone. Critics used the hashtag to promote opposing messages, including claims about fetal personhood and adoption. Participants also received harassment and threats. Supportive media coverage described the campaign as a significant change in the tone of abortion debate, while critical commentary characterized it as provocative or morally objectionable. In 2018, editors Amelia Bonow and Emily Nokes published Shout Your Abortion through PM Press, with a foreword by Lindy West. The book collected personal stories, photographs, interviews with abortion providers, and movement-related artwork. In 2019, the related #YouKnowMe movement used a comparable storytelling approach in response to new anti-abortion legislation in several U.S. states. Shout Your Abortion remains best understood as a movement brand and communications platform rather than a conventional commercial company: its principal assets are its name, hashtag, website, publishing activity, community, and public advocacy message.

Shout Your Abortion emerged from the political and media controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood in September 2015. On September 18, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that sought to suspend federal funding for Planned Parenthood for one year while allegations concerning fetal tissue and organ donation were investigated. Amelia Bonow, an activist who had received an abortion at a Planned Parenthood facility, reacted by publicly describing the experience as positive and free from shame or regret. On September 19, Bonow posted her account on Facebook. Lindy West, an activist and writer, shared a screenshot of the post with her Twitter followers and introduced the hashtag #ShoutYourAbortion. West’s framing argued that attempts to defund Planned Parenthood relied partly on the idea that abortion was a subject people would discuss only quietly. Kimberly Morrison joined the early organizing effort, and an image associated with her became an emblematic piece of the campaign’s early visual identity. The hashtag spread rapidly. It was used by people in the United States and internationally to share accounts involving relief, personal autonomy, health, education, work, family circumstances, or the decision not to become a parent. On September 22, 2015, the hashtag was reported to have been used more than 100,000 times within a 24-hour period. The campaign’s organizers encouraged participants to reject the expectation that every abortion story must be framed as a confession, a tragedy, or a decision requiring public justification. Abortion-rights organizations and public figures responded positively. Dawn Laguens, then an executive vice president of Planned Parenthood, welcomed the public sharing of abortion experiences and described such accounts as a way to resist judgment and stigma. NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood contacted the organizers with advice about managing the campaign’s sudden visibility. By November 2015, Shout Your Abortion had launched an official website and YouTube channel, giving the movement a more permanent institutional and media presence while retaining its grassroots tone. The campaign also generated organized opposition. Anti-abortion activists used the hashtag to circulate messages about fetal personhood, alleged Planned Parenthood misconduct, and adoption. Conservative commentators criticized the campaign’s name and its rejection of apologetic language. Some participants reported threats, harassment, and abuse. A response video associated with the abortion-rights organization A is for used a satirical format to mock hostile social-media messages, with participation from figures including Martha Plimpton and Margaret Cho. Media treatment was divided. Supportive accounts described the campaign as a brave effort to change the emotional vocabulary of abortion debate. Critical writers argued that abortion should not be celebrated or publicly presented in the campaign’s deliberately forceful style. Other commentators supported legal abortion while questioning whether the language of “shouting” was appropriate. The disagreement itself became part of the campaign’s impact, since its organizers viewed public argument and visibility as evidence that abortion was no longer being confined to private or sanitized discussion. In 2018, PM Press published the book Shout Your Abortion, edited by Amelia Bonow and Emily Nokes, with a foreword by Lindy West. It expanded the project beyond short social-media posts by bringing together personal narratives, photographs, interviews with abortion providers, and artwork. In 2019, #YouKnowMe adopted a related testimony-based approach in response to restrictive abortion legislation in several U.S. states. Shout Your Abortion is therefore a movement-centered brand whose history is tied to hashtag activism, reproductive-rights organizing, publishing, and the broader struggle over how abortion is represented in public life.

• 2019

  Related #YouKnowMe movement emerges

  [1]Shout Your Abortionen.wikipedia.org

  A related online storytelling campaign responded to new abortion restrictions in Georgia, Ohio, and Alabama.

• 2018

  Anthology released

  [1]Shout Your Abortionen.wikipedia.org

  PM Press released a book collecting stories, images, provider interviews, and artwork connected with the movement.

• 2015

  Campaign founded

  [1]Shout Your Abortionen.wikipedia.org

  Lindy West, Amelia Bonow, and Kimberly Morrison started Shout Your Abortion after congressional efforts to suspend funding for Planned Parenthood.

• 2015

  Hashtag reaches large-scale circulation

  [1]Shout Your Abortionen.wikipedia.org

  The hashtag spread internationally and was reported to have been used more than 100,000 times during a 24-hour period on September 22.

• 2015

  Official digital channels launched

  [1]Shout Your Abortionen.wikipedia.org

  An official website and YouTube channel were launched in November, extending the campaign beyond individual social-media posts.

A grassroots abortion-rights movement brand that uses personal testimony, social media, publishing, and provocative cultural messaging to normalize abortion and challenge shame-based narratives.

• Book anthology · 2018

  Shout Your Abortion

  A 2018 PM Press anthology edited by Amelia Bonow and Emily Nokes, with a foreword by Lindy West. The volume extends the movement’s social-media format into a printed collection of abortion stories, photographs, interviews with abortion providers, and artwork. Its purpose is documentary and advocacy-oriented rather than commercial product branding, presenting abortion experiences from across the United States as varied and not inherently defined by shame or regret.

• 2019#YouKnowMe

  United States · International online

  A related internet movement used personal abortion stories to oppose stigma and respond to restrictive abortion legislation passed in several U.S. states.

  Outcome. The movement broadened the use of first-person testimony as an abortion-rights advocacy method.

  Source
• 2015#ShoutYourAbortion

  United States · Australia · United Kingdom · Ireland · International online

  The core campaign invited people to share abortion experiences publicly without shame, apology, or an expectation that the decision be described as tragic. It began as a response to efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and became a global hashtag-activism project.

  Outcome. The hashtag generated tens of thousands of posts, extensive media attention, a dedicated website and YouTube channel, and a later book.

  Source

• 2015

  Adopt public, first-person storytelling as the campaign’s central strategyStrategy

  Background

  The campaign formed during a congressional effort to suspend Planned Parenthood funding and amid public controversy over abortion and fetal-tissue allegations.

  Action taken

  The founders encouraged people to describe their own abortions openly through a common hashtag rather than relying solely on institutional messaging or exceptional-case arguments.

  Aftermath

  The approach produced rapid international attention, strong support from abortion-rights organizations, and significant opposition from anti-abortion activists and other critics.

  • Planned Parenthood — Planned Parenthood publicly supported the sharing of abortion stories and presented them as a way to counter shame and judgment.

  Source

• 2015

  Build permanent digital channels after the viral launchStrategy

  Background

  The hashtag attracted substantial participation and media attention within days, creating demand for a more durable public platform.

  Action taken

  Shout Your Abortion launched an official website and YouTube channel in November 2015.

  Aftermath

  The campaign developed from a single viral hashtag into a continuing advocacy and media project.

  Source

1. 1Shout Your Abortionen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Official Shout Your Abortion websiteshoutyourabortion.com