Pro-lifers are facing a new challenge — and they're messing it up

When Kaya Jones, the former Pussycat Dolls singer, revealed she had had three abortions and felt regret and sadness for them, the reaction from many pro-lifers on social media was swift and vile.

One person said, “Stupid idiot and a hypocrite to boot. She is a vile excuse there will be no forgiveness. She a murder. Not just once but several. She will burn in he'll [sic] .” Another quipped, “I just don’t have compassion for anyone that has murdered their own child! I knew as a child it wasn’t something normal and I knew it was wrong. her saying she didn’t know it was wrong is absolutely BS!”

I read the same comments from pro-lifers when I talk about my own two abortions. This isn’t how you speak to a woman who has had abortions and feels regret and sadness over them. Yet, it’s how many pro-lifers respond.

Besides the fact that these comments are coming from supposed Christians, women who are in similar positions, who may be seeking guidance and help, or who may be considering abortion, will run the other way. This is the equivalent of a woman walking into an abortion clinic and a pro-lifer screaming at her not to kill her baby, or just keep her legs closed.

Because women (and men) are going online to get abortion pills (chemical abortions make up well over 60% of all abortions done in this country), and the number of brick-and-mortar abortion clinics are declining, the online space is the new sidewalk. The physical space where pro-lifers have gathered in person for years to pray, to speak to women, and to offer solutions is vanishing along with those clinics and is being replaced by social media posts and Google searches. How are supposed pro-lifers reacting? Not well, according to comments online. They seem ill-equipped to handle even basic posts with compassion and love.

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