Unplanned Parenthood Twitter Trend Spreads Anti-Abortion Message Ahead of Congress Vote To Defund Family Planning Clinics

Anti-abortion Twitter users have begun a campaign aimed at convincing young mothers-to-be that unplanned pregnancy is not the catastrophe pro-abortion rights groups make it out to be. The hashtag “#UnplannedParenthood” was a trending topic Wednesday morning, with new and not-so-new mothers and father, as well as grown children of unplanned pregnancies, sharing their experiences more than 5,000 times.

The social media trend came as Planned Parenthood, the leading U.S. provider of contraception care and abortions, faced a vote in Congress to defund its centers. “I was born the year of Roe v. Wade,” Kristina Ribali tweeted about the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion services for women 42 years ago. “Very glad my mom embraced her #Unplannedparenthood and gave me life.”

Undercover “sting” videos released two weeks ago, purportedly showing Planned Parenthood abortion clinic doctors discussing the sale of aborted fetal body parts, prompted Republican Senate leaders to fast-track the scheduling of a vote to strip the family planning centers of their federal funding on Tuesday. The vote could happen as early as Monday, the Huffington Post reported.

Planned Parenthood, which has long been a target of defunding legislation by federal and state lawmakers who oppose abortion, defended the contents of the videos after their release July 14. Clinic officials said the footage captured by the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress actually showed doctors talking about reimbursement for the expense of donating fetal tissue for medical research. While that practice was not illegal, Republicans and anti-abortion activists have used the attention to rile up other supporters ahead of the Senate vote.

Many pro-abortion rights users on Twitter did not mention the sting videos as the reason for their participation in the trending topic. However, several users said they could not imagine their lives without their unplanned children. Other said they were glad their mothers didn’t abort them, even though they could have done so legally.