From the SFLA Blog

I Was Told to Get Raped at the Women’s March; This is My Response

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Caroline Wharton - 15 Oct 2022
Guest post by SFLA Hildegard Fellow & President of the SFLA group at Coastal Carolina University Jessica Newell

GUEST POST: As a young, female activist in the pro-life movement, I’ve been told a lot of things in my work for the right to life: Relax. Shut up. You’re uneducated. That under-chin is unflattering. Get a PhD in everything before daring to have an opinion on anything. After hearing these comments from abortion supporters over the years, it became evident to me that the abortion lobby profits off of the marginalization of women — born and pre-born. If I had even a shred of doubt left in my mind, I now understand more than ever that even the Women’s March is not a safe place for pro-life women like me. 

I was reminded of this last Saturday at the Washington D.C. Women’s March when I got separated from my Students for Life of America (SFLA) group and was immediately targeted by the abortion lobby. I was holding two innocuous signs that no one in their right mind should disagree with — one that advertised “Free & Confidential Pregnancy Resources” and another that was simply a 3D ultrasound — yet I was surrounded by angry pro-abortion women and continuously harassed.

I think Susan B. Anthony (SBA), one of the women who first stood for women’s rights, would have been appalled to see how women were treating one another that day. I was cursed at and both verbally and physically intimidated by women who claimed to be “pro-woman.” As I told the pro-abortion women that the pro-life community cares for them and that we can help guide them towards healing from abortion related trauma, they continued to spew hostility. As alarming as this sounds, I was grounded in Jesus’ peace and armored with the love and truth of our message.

Captured right on video, an older woman looked at me and said, “She’s so pretty. Why don’t we just let her get raped, pregnant, and forced to have a…be a mother?” At that moment, time stopped. What these marchers stood for was clear. They weren’t in favor of a “woman’s right to choose.” They were pro-abortion. Plain and simple.

You may be thinking that one bad apple can’t ruin the bunch, right? As I looked around, the crowd of pro-abortion men and women were in full agreement. Laughing, her friend confirmed, “That’d be great. That’d be great.” I told them that I would carry that sweet, little baby full term, and they laughed at me again, saying, “You’d be traumatized for life, little girl.”

Of course, sexual assault is traumatizing, but abortion cannot un-rape a woman. It simply adds more violence on to an already violent act. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and a person in this situation needs love, care, and support — not abortion. Wishing sexual violence or any form of violence onto a person is a cold-hearted take.

Despite the trial I endured while counter-protesting, this was a day I would never take back. The experience I gained was like no other, and the most vulnerable members of our species were thoroughly represented — but this was only my personal experience. With hundreds of us standing for life across the country, the impact that I made alone can be multiplied by hundreds.

Looking at our organization in its entirety, the pro-life message is amplified by thousands daily. Each person that attended the Women’s March was there for a reason; to change hearts and minds through their personalized message. Our movement, with its many branches of individualism, is so much stronger together. This is the impact that we can have as activists.

Planting even the smallest seed of veracity has a ripple effect that can extend far beyond our understanding. Don’t let that go to waste. Love those who persecute you, and defend the oppressed. We cannot — and we will not — stop until the notion of oppression is vaporized.

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