BuzzFeed says that through the #ShoutYourAbortion Twitter hashtag, women are sharing “their personal stories about getting abortions.” The tweets are meant to spread a story of liberation and triumph. Instead they reveal a culture of inhumanity.

It started on Sept. 19th in response to the House of Representatives’ vote to defund Planned Parenthood. According to Twitter, more than 129,000 tweets using this hashtag have been sent so far. The hashtag made it to the top 10 trending tweets in Twitter and hashtags in Facebook. These are some of the “personal stories” being shared:

I was 20, in school and my bc failed. I did not want a child. It was the right choice and I've never regretted it. #shoutyourabortion

— tamelioness.bsky.social (@tame_lioness) September 21, 2015

https://twitter.com/clementine_ford/status/645799250949836800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/gogreen18/status/646042176363741184

I had an abortion 9 years ago. I had a child 5 years ago, when I was ready. I am a better mother for it. #ShoutYourAbortion

— LetPalestineLive (@overedwaitress) September 22, 2015

I had an abortion when my son was 4 & I stand by my decision b/c it was best for my family #ShoutYourAbortion

— Samantha Updegrave (@scupdegrave) September 20, 2015

How can #ShoutYourAbortion be trending all over social media? How could anyone publicly celebrate her abortion? A fetus is an actual human being, just one in an early developmental stage. If someone confessed on Twitter that she intentionally killed an innocent person, would others want to celebrate that crime and then share it in the #ShoutYourKilling hashtag? What if Leslie confessed that she intentionally killed Bob because Bob was going to interfere with her work, school and social life? Is Leslie justified for ending Bob’s life when he was clearly innocent?

I am not saying that all women who have had abortions are criminals. Women get abortions for a number of reasons, but the killing of an innocent human being should never be celebrated. Even if the abortion was of a child conceived by rape, no one is  morally warranted to be proud of getting an abortion, much less triumphantly shouting it out.

#ShoutYourAbortion assumes that the pro-life movement wants to deliberately limit women’s rights and choices. This is false. The pro-life movement is a human rights movement, because it advocates the truth that all lives matter, even the lives of humans in their early developmental stages. It insists that they too deserve the protection of our laws. Feminists for Life of America put it this way:

Abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women. Abortion masks the unmet needs of women in the workplace, schools, home, and society. Abortion represents a failure to listen and respond to the unmet needs of women. Why perpetuate failure? Pro-life feminists recognize abortion as a symptom of, not a solution to, the continuing struggles women face in the workplace, on campus, at home, and in the world at large.

#ShoutYourAbortion perpetuates the failure Feminists for Life of America have pointed out. It does not meet the real needs of women but celebrates society’s inhuman answer to their needs. It is not a fresh, vibrant way for women to talk about choice. It’s a way to demonstrate to the world that you are willing to deprive the life of a child if he interferes with your life. It’s a fresh way to show others how inhumane and heartless you can be by saying that your life is better off without your own baby. This is not moral progress. This is moral regression.