Livetweetingabortion – Sometimes You Need More than 140 Characters

#livetweetingabortion: A roundup of recent coverage of Angie's use of Twitter to discuss her experience with an early abortion using RU486.

Although Angie Jackson used her twitter account to explain why she chose to end an unwanted pregnancy in abortion, and even more so about why she chose to livetweet the process, sometimes 140 characters just isn’t enough to get a point across. 

She’s become much quieter on twitter, but has plenty to say in other venues that have provided her with a chance to say much more.

In her interview with Jessica Wakeman at The Frisky, Angie explains more fully why she chose to livetweet, and the surprising reaction she’s received since she started.

The Frisky: What compelled you to tweet about your abortion? Why even “demystify” it for people? A lot of people consider an abortion something that should be private.

Angie Jackson: I guess I was so terrified going into this that it was going to be horribly painful, that I was going to hemorrhage. And I don’t want to be flippant that those things don’t happen [but] what I was trying to say to people who find themselves in this position is that I was relieved to find out that I had this non-surgical option [the abortion pill] and that I was early enough [in my pregnancy] to get it. I was so relieved to see how simple it’s been. The actual process has been like a menstrual period. It’s not foreign or scary.

The Frisky: You’ve gotten a lot of press in the past few days, not just on The Frisky, but also Salon.com, Drudge Report and ABC News. What has the reaction from people been?

Angie Jackson: I’ve been astonished. I had imagined, naively, that people would accept it because I’m in a committed relationship. I was monogamous. I was using protection. I had a kid. I have health risks. We paid for this out of pocket and not out of any taxpayer means. If I can’t talk about my first trimester abortion, which was legal and in my case life-saving, then who the hell can talk about her abortion? Or his abortion story, from the women he was with?  … I’ve just been astonished by the level of hatred and death threats and threats of violence against my son. It’s been a very ugly side of people to see.

The Frisky: Death threats?

Angie Jackson: In the YouTube comments. A lot of them are sort of these throwaway statements in the comments of conservative blog and things like that. “Someone should put a bullet in her,” or “If the whore can’t keep her legs closed …” People have threatened to call Child Protective Services and take [my son] away from me because [of the abortion]. They’re either calling me a killer or calling me a monster, which is their right, but … I think we need to say quality of life matters. I don’t think an embryo gets to trump the life of my live son. I see this as risking my life.

Want to hear her in her own words?  You can visit her youtube video (watch out for the vitriol in the comment section), or you can listen to her first interview after starting the process online at The Mark, where she is interviewed by Chris Mitchell.  In her interview she explains more about why she was so public with her decision, and why she decieded to shed light on something society usually prefers to think of as taboo.

And of course, we have written on this topic as well.