'I am the 1 in 4': Viral hashtag broadcasts women's abortion stories after Alabama ban

A new viral hashtag #YouKnowMe encouraging women to share their abortion stories is taking off in the US

Actor Busy Philipps shared her story of getting an abortion at 15-years-old on her talk-show, Busy Tonight.

Actor Busy Philipps shared her story of getting an abortion at 15-years-old on her talk-show, Busy Tonight. Source: Getty

First, there was #MeToo, now there is #YouKnowMe. 

Days after Alabama voted for an and hours after Missouri passed a bill to ban termination after eight weeks, a viral hashtag is encouraging women to share their abortion stories.

Actor and talk-show host Busy Phillips kicked off the movement with a tweet, urging her 370,000 followers to "share their truth" to "end the shame".
A week earlier, the 49-year-old had shared her own abortion story during her talk-show, Busy Tonight, after Georgia passed a new law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.


"Women and their doctors are in the best position to make decisions about what is best for them, nobody else," she said.
"The statistic is one in four women will have an abortion before age 45. And that statistic sometimes surprises people and maybe you are sitting there thinking 'I don't know a woman that would have an abortion', well, you know me. I had an abortion when I was 15-years-old."
Thousands of people have already jumped on the hashtag, with the original tweet garnering almost 50,000 likes by Friday. Most of the responses are emotional personal accounts.
Celebrities, including Lady Gaga, Ellen DeGeneres and Sarah Silverman, have also spoken out against the ban, describing it as "heinous".

"This is a travesty and I pray for all these women and young girls who suffer at the hands of this system," Lady Gaga wrote on Twitter.
On Wednesday, 25 male Republicans passed the law as part of a multistate effort to have the US Supreme Court reconsider a woman's constitutional right to an abortion. 

The only exception will be in cases where termination is necessary to protect a mother's health. 

On Friday, the Missouri Senate also passed an abortion law, banning abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy. In both cases, there is no exception for rape or incest.
Across the US, activists have vowed to fight the restrictive new laws but Republicans are standing firm against the backlash.

It is unclear if the new laws will be enforceable due to the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision, that legalised abortion in all 50 US states.


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2 min read
Published 17 May 2019 7:50am
Updated 17 May 2019 8:26am
By Maani Truu


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