A video made by Emily Letts of her undergoing an abortion has gone viral in recent days, sparking debate across the ideological spectrum.Courtesy of Emily Letts
A New Jersey abortion clinic is standing behind an employee whose video of her abortion has gone viral in recent days.
Emily Letts, 25, said when she became pregnant last fall after not using birth control, she quickly decided to have an abortion at the Cherry Hill Women’s Center in Cherry Hill, where she works as an abortion counselor. But as she prepared for the procedure, she believed sharing the experience online might help de-stigmatize abortion, with video the most powerful means available to her.
“People have such strong opinions on abortion, but they don’t actually know what it looks like,” she told FoxNews.com on Tuesday. “My video of my abortion is there only to tell women that they are not alone. Speak up. Tell your stories. Do it through words, through video, through pictures, through songs, whatever. You do not deserve to be alone.”
She posted the three-minute video – during which she’s smiling and depicted from the waist up – soon after undergoing the procedure six weeks into her pregnancy, and eventually posted it to Reddit, where it began attracting media attention. Last week, Letts reached out to Cosmopolitan.com with her story, and an op-ed she wrote appeared on the website Monday.
"I don't feel like a bad person. I don't feel sad. I feel in awe of the fact that I can make a baby. I can make a life," Letts says at the end of the video. "I knew what I was going to do was right, because it was right for me, and no one else."
Pro-choice advocates, including the women’s center at which she’s worked since January 2013, believe her decision to post the video online of a “positive” abortion experience might help others gain acceptance and have more confidence about undergoing the procedure.
“Emily’s brave decision to share her personal abortion experience and the powerful responses from other women have shined a light on the truth that good women have abortions, and good people provide them,” Jennifer Boulanger, the director of communications for the women’s center, told FoxNews.com on Tuesday. “She’s opened the door to a greater conversation that women are not alone in their experiences, and that they deserve to be treated with dignity, respect, compassion and kindness.”
But pro-life advocates have blasted both her decision to have an abortion and then publicize it in such a way.
"It is a sad commentary on our nation that someone can be rewarded for filming an event that takes the life of an innocent unborn human being," Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee, said in a statement Tuesday. "We pray that in the coming years, she will understand and be able to accept the ramifications of her actions."
For her part, Letts said she’s received both positive and negative feedback in light of the video, but said she’s been inspired by women who have asked her for help and those who feel guilty about having undergone the procedure.
Since her abortion, Letts has scrapped the rhythm method and other natural forms of birth control she used in the past, and has had an intrauterine device inserted. She says it’s “definitely” a possibility that she might have children one day, believing that she’d make an “amazing” mother.
She plans to study social work and public health at the University of Illinois in the fall, with a concentration in women’s and gender studies. Although Letts is not yet sure which direction she’d like her career to take, she says focusing on women’s health will always be the focus of her life.
As for the abortion, Letts says she has no regrets.
“I don’t think guilt is a productive feeling. I don’t think guilt does much for us,” Letts told FoxNews.com. “I forgave myself for not using birth control, I corrected it, and I moved forward.”
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