Friday March 5, 2010
Twitter RU-486 Abortion Chronicles to ‘Demystify’ Procedure Go Sour
By Kathleen Gilbert
March 5, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A blogger known as Angie the Anti-Theist caused a stir both on the Internet and the mainstream media last month after word spread that she had decided to “live-tweet” her abortion – that is, issue regular updates on the process of her RU-486 medical abortion on the microblogging tool Twitter. But what followed – a raft of complaints about severe pain and days of unexpected bleeding – may have had the opposite of the intended effect.
A Youtube video recorded just after beginning the process shows the young woman, who calls herself Angela Jackson, laying out her purpose with a wry smirk.
“I’m doing this to demystify abortion,” says Jackson, who aborted her child at 4 weeks’ gestation. “I’m doing this so other women know: hey, it’s not nearly as terrifying as I had myself worked up thinking it was. It’s just not that bad.
“So I just wanna let everybody know that you too can have an abortion if you want one. It’s ok. It’s not shameful. It’s not secret. It’s not killing a child.”
After discovering that she was pregnant, on February 13 Jackson tweeted: “I’ll be getting an abortion for Valentine’s Day (how romantic!).”
Some tweets took a more agressive approach than her stance on the Youtube video: “Why do I have to get a f***ing ultrasound? I want to KILL THIS THING,” Jackson complained. “I know my son b/came more real to me w/the 1st ultrasound. They’re a**holes.”
As she began her liveblogging journey, Jackson explained that she would opt for an abortion because, she claimed, her last pregnancy caused her to “nearly die 4 times.” Jackson scoffed at offers from Christians who wished to take care of her baby, pointing out “some Christians on twitter who think I should risk death to give them a spawn to brainwash.”
But the process of “demystifying” abortion did not go as smoothly as planned: Jackson found she had begun a much longer journey than she had anticipated. While she had apparently been told that bleeding would last “4-8 hours,” according to her tweets, her pain lasted at least another week and a half.
Minutes after taking misoprostol pills to eject her dead baby on February 19, Jackson began complaining of nausea and cramps. The next day, Jackson tweeted: “I’m not even surprised I’m having a stalled abortion. Same thing happened w/my labor!” “Just got back from 2nd trip to clinic. Hopefully it works this time! sadly only 3/10 chance it will 2nd time – grr!”
Several days of tweets thereafter described “sharp” pain, cramping, bleeding, nausea, and headaches – discomfort Jackson evidently attempted to quell by popping the narcotic Vicodin, with little success.
“Kid is calling out for me now. ugh, the walk across the house is long today,” wrote Jackson on Feb 23.
Meanwhile, pro-life blogger Jill Stanek began following Jackson on her own blog. Stanek pointed out the misinformation that the young woman had evidently been fed regarding the abortion she proclaimed would be “just not that bad” days before.
“What kind of homework did Angie do before deciding on an RU-486 abortion? Apparently none,” said Stanek. “And what did [Planned Parenthood] teach Angie about her RU-486 abortion? Clearly nothing.”
The pro-life blogger pointed out that the chairman of the company that first marketed RU-486 admitted that “a woman who wants to end her pregnancy has to ‘live’ with her abortion for at least a week using this technique. It’s an appalling psychological ordeal.”
According to Dr. Etienne-Emile Baulieu, the inventor of the medical abortion drug: “It’s insulting to women to say that abortion now will be as easy as taking aspirins. It is always difficult, psychologically and physically, sometimes tragic.”
As of 2006, RU-486, a very potent drug, has been associated with the deaths of at least six women in the U.S. since it was legalized in 2000. Over 600 adverse affects were also recorded, including life-threatening hemorrhages and septic shock.
“By live tweeting her abortion, Angie has performed a different kind of public service than she intended. No one can read her exhaustive and exhausting dismal account and want what she had,” concluded Stanek.
Another blogger, “Nextthurs,” who said she admired Jackson’s endeavor, began tweeting her own abortion on February 28.
However, after three posts complaining about “bleeding like a stuffed [sic] pig all day,” the tweets mysteriously ended.